Japan, April–May 2024
Life is short. Until you break out of your routine, the world tends to look the same. I followed in the footsteps of a friend to Japan—though he wasn’t there with me, he had visited a decade earlier. His trip had inspired me ever since, and I knew it was finally time for a journey of self-discovery—to test my limits and dive deep into the unknown.
I packed light: just a backpack, tent, sleeping bag, essential camping gear, a laptop, and a camera. My trip began in Tokyo (東京都), where I met up with friends from back home, a new friend from an online community, and even a friend of that friend. But soon, the road started calling. I said my goodbyes and took the train to Okutama (奥多摩町), the final stop on that line—a sudden shift from cityscape to forested foothills. That’s where I started walking.
The hike lasted four days and covered around 40 miles—three of those days were uphill. I slept in the woods, beside waterfalls, and one night I was even woken by a bear (not to mention the chorus of other creatures rustling and calling just outside the paper-thin walls of my tent). At the end of that trek, I arrived in Yamanashi (山梨県), where I stayed for three days. On the final morning, I caught a bus south, watching as the lip-shaped mountains marked the border of the Yamanashi Plateau Basin and my next destination.
I hopped off the bus and began my last hike—toward Mount Fuji.
“You’re wrong if you think the joy of life comes principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us—it’s in everything, in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at those things.”
—Chris McCandless
This trip was dedicated to my friend Liam, who left this world too soon but left a piece of his heart in Japan.
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