S05E02 Walk for Japan
Where in I acknowledge the Japanese nationalists, cringe on behalf of someone and the cast is extended by one.

After 311, the great eastern earthquake, there were many different initiatives to support japan. One Swiss guy, Thomas Köhler who worked as a tavel agency specialised on Japan, saw the business dwindle and decided to make use of the sparetime. He flew to Hokkaido and walked the 2900 km from the very north of Japan to Kagoshima, the very south of Japan (outlying islands not counted) in a journey from Cape soya to Cape sata.
The arrival an be seen on youtube:



This effort inspired some different initiatives and/or copycats. Amongst others, one site aimed at free roaming tourists decided to make a small version of the walk. This is a site I had started to monitor a long time ago, because they had extensive reporting on the sakura season. Following their sakura news helped me time all my travel to japan so far. Meaning I was always in reach of a city with a great park where flowers were in full bloom each time I came to Japan in the spring.

Checking this site before going to Japan this time, I found out about their version of the 'walk for Japan'. It was set up with their reporter moving across the country from south to north and for every major site they added a stop and hosted a local walk. For a local walk, they drummed up local support and encouraged anyone to join them on a walk between local sites. During the walk they documented the progress and show cased stuff to do and see all over Japan.

The schedule of the walk coincided with us being in Nagoya, so this was a cool thing to add to the itinerary.


To join the walk in Nagoya, the site only said to meet up 10 o'clock at a certain exit gate of a train station. We posted ourselves 10 meters outside the gate, in the middle of the floor. A slightly chaotic place, with people constantly exiting the station, but we had great overview and would be able to spot the walk-leader. Or so we thought.
Time passes, no one appears. 5-10 minutes after the meetup time has come and gone, we spot another westerner standing in a similar position as us. He does not look as lost as us, but he do looks to be waiting for someone who doesn't show. After a while we get contact and can confirm that we all are here for the walk. So now we only need to locate the walk-leader...
The guy, who is much more savvy, starts to roam the surroundings and comes back with the message that he has found the leader in another section of the station. We walk over and pretty far off from the gate we find not only the leader but a few more people gathered.

- We nearly missed you! says I to the leader.
- Well, yeah it was so chaotic by the gate so I changed the meetup spot!

It must have been done pretty last minute. We had not noticed any updates on the website pointing us to the gate. No worries, it all ended well, but in retrospect I feel this is significant for future events.

The entourage is now the walk-leader plus 8 others. Mostly expats, but also two Japanese ladies who are there from a sponsor. I learn later that this is one of the bigger turn-ups on the entire tour, which is really good timing as the sponsors only joined this segment of the walk and thus could report back it was a big success.


All in all, this episode is not very exciting. Except for one significant detail: Here is where we add a new character to the plot.

I have very little interactions with the walk-leader on this outing, but she will appear in later episodes so she needs a name for future references and events. Let's call her Ms Sling. Sling? As in...?
Perhaps as in her Singaporean connection? Perhaps as in a tendency to strap things up? Perhaps as in the simple yet effective weapon? Perhaps as in the sweet, fruity or the slightly bitter savours of the drink? You'll be the judge. But only if you stick around a few more seasons.

The day in itself is not very exciting. By no means bad, just not exciting enough to warrant a lot of coverage. As we mostly are foreigners, we only talk amongst ourselves and we walk around the city and watch some normal touristy sites. Talking with interesting people is nice, but not material for the story. Two incidents stick out though.

At one point we see a demonstration, with 40-50 Japanese walking under some kind of banner. One of the expats get excited and tells us to line up. We do so on the pavement, without questioning his motives, and on command we wave and cheer the group. We are the only ones, not a single Japanese on the street is cheering. Or, for that matter, giving any sign that they even noticed or cared for the demonstration.
A minute late, he explains:

- That's the Japanese nationalists. No one really cares about them. But one thing they want is all foreigners off the streets and out of Japan too. So we made them very uncomfortable just by acknowledging them!

OK, we failed to see the logic but it was fun stirring up things. (That is as far as stirring up anything goes in Japan)


When the walk is done, most of us are starving and we head for a dinner together. With food out of the way, we all know the party is about to break up and people start to ask for contact info. A piece of paper is circulated and we all add our name and e-mail address to it. On the way to my brother the list goes past one of the Japanese ladies from the sponsor team. She just quietly passes it on, without adding her contact details. My brother, who is a very social person (in terms of a Nordic person anyway) notices the missing info and sends the list back to her.
I've already realised that she, for some non-disclosed reason, doesn't want to give her info and in typical Japanese manner avoids making a fuzz about it. But my brother keeps pushing, thinking she didn't understand the purpose of the list or was too shy to add her name to it.

I so feel for her and cringe on the inside. I really should kick him under the table to make him stop. But that'll make more people awkward, so I find another way. Starring down my plate, speaking directly to the last piece of a delicious Tonkatsu, I say in a casual, non-emotional voice in swedish:

- Just let go of it, I'll explain later.

It works. No one else even knows what happened, the situation is defused and the lady is off the hook.

Did I just act Japanese?! Protecting the common from unnecessary confrontation and preserving harmony (和 / Wa)? Oh, maybe I am a bit Japanese after all!