Kamikochi

Finally made it to the countryside! Kamikochi is famous for a beautiful view of the mountains, which makes it very popular for day trippers to travel for hours from elsewhere, walk five minutes from the bus station, take a picture next to the bridge, have a boxed lunch, and then return. Walk for ten minutes away from the bridge, the crowds magically disappear and you reach the campsite, our home for four days. As its the end of the rainy season, we've left the tent behind and have rented a small campsite cabin to use as a base for day walks and exploring the area. Kamikochi is in fact an important trail head for some serious trekking and mountaineering in the Japanese Alps, a fact that doesn't really come across in our Rough Guide (which seems to have a bias toward temples and shrines).

Arrived on Thursday to a desolate campsite and hardly anyone around. By Saturday the campsite was full of tents as suddenly it's the end of the rainy season and the start of the summer holidays. We took a long walk along the valley floor on the Saturday and counted hundreds, if not thousands of trekkers heading off to one of three mountain huts and campsites (alas in the pouring rain) – the season had begun!

Got some good walks done, with some really beautiful scenery – you forget how much further you can walk with only a day pack and easy going underfoot. Wondering why a lot of trekkers are walking with bells (one theory was in case the group became separated), until we saw the sign warning us that bears frequently passed through the area, now I didn't know there were wild bears in Japan! Well worth the visit to relax away from the big cities. Oh yes, also met a chap who worked at the Nissan factory in Sunderland!

It's also amazing how clean and undisturbed the countryside is considering how many visitors pass through. There is literally no rubbish anywhere to be seen, everyone sticks to the path, and no one beats new trails through to the river or has picnics outside of the designated sites.

Oh yes, one other point to remember... there's no temples and shrines, or shrines and temples! (OK, there's one, but it's small and you only need to pay a bargain 300 Yen for your wishes to be granted).

More pics here!