SW945: A Walk in Japan

May 19, 2021, Day 09 of the walk — Ise Kashiwazaki to Furusato Onsen — My favorite abandoned love hotel alone the Ise-ji: WHITE HOUSE. Abandoned for at least two years, definitely more. Let's sit outside it in the pouring rain and listen to the frogs croak like mad and the tractor trailer blast by behind me and admire the gorgeous decay of the once obviously spectacular WHITE HOUSE.

May 18, 2021, Day 08 of the walk — Misedani to Kii Kashiwazaki — Lunch at Marutanbo, 34 year old Japanese-style western food. Come sit for a few minutes with me while nothing exciting happens.

May 18, 2021, Day 08 of the walk — Misedani to Kii Kashiwazaki — Takihara shrine was empty. I walked around for forty minutes in total silence. I set up to film and then … a priest. Doing nothing exciting at all (just collecting the offering coins).

May 17, 2021, Day 06 of the walk — Okajimaya to Misedani — At two points near Kawazoe, railroad crossings, absolutely nothing going on — the local trains run few and far between in the afternoon with an occasional express barreling through — mainly just crows and mist.

May 16, 2021, Day 06 of the walk — Meki Pass to Okajimaya — Behind Yanagiharakannonsenpuku Temple under the eaves in the rain, looking down at the Miya River, birdsong, passing mist, nothing exciting at all.

May 15, 2021, Day 05 of the walk — Ise to Meki Pass — somewhere between Tamaru Station and Meki Pass, a rice paddy, recently flooded and planted, birdsong from the woods behind, cars in the distance.

May 14, 2021, Day 04 of the walk — Ise to Ise, a day "off" — just 10km or so of slowly moving through the shrines. Birdsong galore, clapping pilgrims, burbling rivers, rustling leaves, a few smacks of a hand drum.

May 13, 2021, Day 03 of the walk — A relentless humm of generators flooding rice fields with water from canals. Cars drive by.

Thirty days walking the Kii Peninsula along the Ise Kaidō and Kumano Kodō. Posting daily binaural 4k views of nothing exciting, just a small window into a moment or two on the road. Today, May 12, 2021, Day 02 of the walk — Sitting at the top of Suga Shrine, looking down at the Ise Kaidō; helicopters, bamboo swishing, finally a train.

May 11, 2021, Day 01 of 30 day walk — rice paddies, a highway in the distance, a woman walking her dog, a short express train.

November 8, 2020, 11:10am: Tōkaidō walk, day six, rest day. Mishima Shrine during shichigosan. Sitting next to the basho poem monument off to the side.

November 7, 2020, 11:51am: Tōkaidō walk, day five, north east of Mishima, at Skywalk. A bridge. You can walk over. If you pay money. The parking lot was packing on this Saturday, classical music playing over the speakers, National Highway 1 right behind, cars zooming by.

November 6, 2020, 12:58pm: Tōkaidō walk, day four, at the Amazake Chaya, between Hakone and Mishima.

November 6, 2020, 1:35pm: Tōkaidō walk, day four, just past the Amazake Chaya, en route to Lake Ashinoko, sitting beside the remaining Edo-era ishidatami stone paving.

November 6, 2020, 2:13pm: Tōkaidō walk, day four, on the banks of Lake Ashinoko, Fuji clear in the distance, a pirate ship for tourists docking to the east.

November 4, 2020, 4:02pm: Tōkaidō walk, day two, 10th floor, facing southwest down the penninsula towards the mountains of Hakone and Izu.

November 4, 2020, 1:48pm: Tōkaidō walk, day two, just in front of Keisho Well, facing up towards Keiwai-Zaka.

November 4, 2020, 9:18am: Tōkaidō walk, day two — just north of Fujisawa Bashi, next to the monument shown in the Hiroshige Print for Fujisawa Juku.

November 3, 2020, 4:03pm: Tōkaidō, between Totsuka and Fujisawa. Big highway, trucks and motorcycle gang members.

November 3, 2020, 3:05pm: Tōkaidō walk, day one, west and south of Totsuka station. Small alley between the main shopping street and Tōkaidō proper. Great light. Many people. At the end, a man asks what I'm doing.

October 25, 2020, 10:30am: Tōkaidō test walk, between Totsuka and Nihonbashi. Backstreet. Quiet, residential.

December 9, 2019, 12:30pm: Ise-ji north-south, day 7. Final day. Flat leading out of Kumano City. Coastal walking. Leaden winter skies all heavy with moisture — thankfully none of it falling down. A bench by the ocean, rotten boards, falling apart. Fifteen minutes of listening to the ocean waves rolling down the Kii Penninsula towards Shingu, the final destination.

December 8, 2019, 18:30pm: Ise-ji north-south, day 6. Hello from inside fast food. Today was a day with too many peaks (7), not enough daylight. A day of racing the sun. I stopped for no more than five minutes an hour. Finally, when I stopped for long enough to record, we were in Mos Burger. Marvel at the aural chaos of so much of contemporary life. This crispy landscape is, too, part of the history of the Ise-Ji. Christmas songs and all.

December 7, 2019, 12:00pm: Ise-ji north-south, day 5. Hello from the steps of the recently rebuilt Buddhist temple, Kojindo, near the peak of Yakiyama. The small temple was rebuilt just a few months ago to the tune of about $200,000. The copper roof was brand new, still yet to patinated by the elements. Planes fly. Forest animals shuffle. The afternoon song of a distant village plays just barely over loud speakers.

December 5, 2019, 09:30: Ise-ji north-south, day 4. Ohayou. Perched above Furusato Onsen in a beautiful little hut looking out over the small islands running the coast of the Ise-Ji. Crashing waves. Cawing birds. Some gunshot (wild boar hunting?) in the background. A few fishing boats starting up their engines somewhere in a nearby cove.

December 4, 2019, 14:10: Ise-ji north-south, day 3. Oh, hello again. We recorded once again at Jurin in Kii-Nagashima. Think of it less as a repeat than a rhyme; new music, new customers, same countryside intonation from the owner.

December 3, 2019, 13:37: Ise-ji north-south, day 2. Why, hello. A perfect weather day — chilly when still in the shade, but just right when moving fast through the forest and villages of the Kii Penninsula. Emerged from the Misesaka Pass only to arrive at the Takihara Shrine. Come, walk with me down the gravel path, pray at the four shrines within, stand and listen to the world for a few moments, and then start to make our way out.

December 2, 2019, 12:15pm: Ise-ji north-south, day 1. Hi there. Season three begins with pouring rain in the morning breaking way to patches of blue sky around noon. The birds missed their wakeup song so they came alive just after lunch. Sitting next to Higashi Tokida Shrine. Children's daycare just off to the left, piano music giving way to afternoon recess. Above: Bird galore. Some funky warblers in the mix. The shrine tucked into a sudden grove of cedars and pines between rice fields. The birds happy, the air cool and crisp, the stone I sat on chilly. Sitting and listening to the richness of the world for the first time in a long time.

May 28, 2019, 9:45am: Standing beside Takanomiya shrine inside of the Geku of Ise Jingu as pilgrims come and clap the gods awake. Devoured by morning mosquitos.

May 27, 2019, 1:08pm: Recording after lunnch at the wonderful Jurin Cafe, near Kii-Nagashima station.

May 26, 2019, 2:35pm: Training back to the inn for the night.

May 25, 2019, 9:45am: On a bench in the forest, halfway up to Magose Pass.

May 24, 2019, 14:39pm: Sitting up at the lookout point at Yakiyama. Sitting up there, then lying outside on the benches. Then swatting away flies. All while amazing birdsong takes places in the background.

May 23, 2019, 9:52am: Sitting in front of a spring/shrine (https://goo.gl/maps/Fcou5wrVJoHM7nyq5) in the mountains supposedly made when Kobo Daishi (Kukai) stepped there over a thousand years ago. Just up above the cove-nestled Hadasu Station.

May 22, 2019, 10:17am: Standing on a small mountain road about one hundred meters above sea level, ichirizuka mile marker behind me, ocean spreading out before me. A car drives by. A bike rides by. A train trundles past in the distance along the shoreline.

S02, E05, May 18, 2019, 06:58pm: Inside my tent, ready for bed at 6:58pm, just down below the car park at Tamaki Shrine, next to some bee hives. The winds and rain hit just as we finished setting up. Soon after, nine hours of sleep.

S02, E06, May 21, 2019, 10:53am: Sitting in the middle of Oyu-no-Hara, by Kumano Hongu Grand Shrine. The weather broke. Sun was shining. Tourists were in t-shirts. We were off the mountain.

S02, E004, May 17, 2019, 11:43am: Sitting in Jikkyou no Shuku Koya, making coffee, generally feeling very fine after a very lazy and early lunch. Fellow hikers coming in and out, packing up.

S02, E03, May 16, 2019, 9:43am: Sitting at the peak of Hakkyogatake.

S02, E02, May 15, 2019, 9:49am: Sitting on the stoop in front of Omine Sanji Temple. Priest cleaning in background. Hums a little song to himself. Walks out, asks us a question. Three of us. All sitting silently. We look nuts. Just nod. He moves on.

S02, E01, May 14, 2019, 9:47am: Just as the rain began to fall enroute to Dorogawa Village on a leg of the Kumano Kodo. Two airplanes. Lots of silence. Pulling out an umbrella.

Day 25, May 9, 2:31pm: Sitting in front of poet Matsuo Basho's grave at Guchu-ji temple. Very simple, small, austere marker in a tidy little garden. Almost like a, you know, haiku. Children playing and screaming at the pre-school next door. Gardener sweeping. Water feature plonking. This concludes Season 1 of SW945. Thanks, all, for listening.

Day 23, May 8, 12:31pm: Between Musa Juku and Kusatsu. Sitting in a small park just meters away from the Shinkansen tracks. Near silence punctuated by four whooshes.

Day 22, May 7, 3:30pm: Near Musa Juku. Sitting in the back if Okuishi Shrine, listening to the birds and wind rustle leaves. Every so often you can hear the deep whoosh of the shinkansen fly by in the distance — it rattled the very earth, like it was operating at some fundamental resonant tone to the land.

Day 21, May 5, 2:45pm: Walking down from the pass between Maibara Jyuku and Torii-imoto Juku. Weirdly, was asked for directions. And wasn't asked which country I came from.

Day 20, May 4, 9:45am: A cafe near post town, Goudo.

Day 19, May 3, Reiwa 3, 6:40pm: Come walk with me from my hotel, outdoors, around the exciting world of Kanou Post Town and Gifu Station.

Day 18, May 2, Reiwa 2, 9:30am: Between Hosokute Juku and Mitake Juku, looking out over the valley, two children playing, sun shining, bees out in full force polinating the world.

Day 17, May 1, Reiwa 1, 11:16am: Between Ooi Juku and Ookute Juku. Standing next to an expanse of rice paddies, ready for their seedlings to be planted, filled with frogs, giddy and loquacious in the rain.

Day 16, April 30, Heisei 31, 11:48am: Standing atop the ichirizuka (mile marker) at Shinchaya, just on the edge of Magome post town. You can hear the noon town song begin playing about 12 minutes in.

Day 15, April 29, 2019, 10:04am: Sitting in a bamboo grove next to a river between Nojiri and Tsumago post towns, along the "historical road" starting at the Ne-no-ue Pass.

Day 14, April 28, 2019, 1:31pm: Sitting on the steps at Gyokurinin Temple, in Agematsu Post Town, as friend eats nuts sitting to my left.

Day 9, April 23, 2019, 9:45am: Join me in the lobby of the classic Mampei Hotel, located just off the old Nakasendo highway.

Day 13, April 27, 2019, 9:50am: A small but bustling cafe in a 180 year old Edo-period building.

Day 12, April 26, 2019, 10:30am: Sitting on a bench at the top of Shiojiri Pass, looking down over Lake Suwa as rain patters my hat.

Day 11, April 25, 2019, 1:30pm: A man gave me frozen bacon. In a loopy state, a rare episode of narration.

Day 10, April 24, 2019, 11:27am: Hiding from the drizzle under the mon/gate in front of the Waki Honjin in Otaijuku.

Day 8, April 22, 2019, 12:53pm: Technical difficulties led to this one being short. But some of my footfall walking up the old Nakasendo mountain path to the Usui Pass that splits Gunma Prefecture from Nagano Prefecture.

Day 7, April 21, 2019, 11:55am, recording (b): Sitting in the engawa of the Honjin Teahouse, about 10 kilometers outside of Takasaki City. It's one of the very few original buildings on this strip of the Nakasendo. It was under private ownership until twenty years ago when it was donated to the city. Intermitten traffic noise is from vehicles on the Nakasendo, just outside the garden walls.

Day 7, April 21, 2019, 10:45am, recording (a): A bowling alley just outside the downtown limits of Takasaki City, past an abandoned shotengai.

Day 6, April 20, 2019, 9:45am: Recorded a few kilometers north of Fukaya City, in a small temple tucked in between farms — Fusaji-in. Workers a few hundred feet behind me were loading their trucks with broccoli for the market, politicans off in the distance were blasting their get-out-and-vote messages, and cars were zooming by on the Nakasendo.

Day 5, April 19, 2019, 10am (when the parlow opened): (Warning: This one is pretty noisy.) Just a few clicks north of Kitamoto station. Pachinko parlor. Weekday morning but packed. Like walking into an ash tray. Sat on a sofa in the front and recorded. Lots of side-eye but no staff questioned me.

Day 4, April 18, 2019, 11:45am (slow morning): On the Nakasendo, just outside the Hikawa Shrine grounds. Kumaya coffee.

Day 3, April 17, 2019, 9:45am: A harsh one. Noisy city, part and parcel of the road heading out of Tokyo. On the Nakasendo, one kilometer north of the Zero Milestone at Nihonbashi, the official starting point of the route.

Day 2, April 16, 2019, 9:45am — on a bench in a small park several km north of Yokohama station. A group of 80 year olds playing "ground golf" (something like croquet), children playing, trains whipping past.

Day 1, 9:45am, on the ridgeline above Kamakura. Best listened to with headphones.

Hi there. I’m Craig Mod. This is SW945. For the next six weeks I’m going to be walking across a big chunk of Japan. I'm going to record fifteen minutes of binaural audio from 9:45am to 10:00am each and every day. Wherever I may be. I hope you enjoy this weird little walk across Japan with me.