The magical road

I have found a way to time travel! Usually when I plan to just ride around the block I end up on top of a mountain. It’s probably less to do with getting inspired than it is to do with the geography of Kamigoto. Seeing as how most roads lead to one, it really isn’t hard to end up on top of a mountain,


This particular mountain adds to my LOST fantasy. When I found it the first time, the road appeared to end in dense forest at a fenced in “facility” of some kind. This time I took the road around the back, thinking it would loop around the building, but instead it started to go down. Its practically impossible to turn around and go home when you are going downhill through a mysterious tunnel of ferns when you have no place to be and nobody knows where you are. There were so many twists and turns, I lost track of what direction I was heading. The road was clean though; a perfect smooth snaking blacktop through lush green forest and smokey dusk. There was only space in my head for exhilaration. I have long since let go of questioning why there are perfectly new roads in the middle of nowhere. That is one of those Japanese things.


But, this road came out into a timeless agrarian valley. The magical road.


The mountains turn into fields at almost a 90 degree angle, making a powerful frame for the blazing orange and pink sunset that was reflecting in the new rice paddy water. Nothing can describe my feeling of awe. I rode up, undiscovered, behind the only other person around, an old man on a mama cherrie. I didn’t have the heart to say excuse me or pass him. The man was singing and putting along until he turned down another road. I was invisible to him, but he was the center of my world in that minute. Some house lights were turning on. There were no cars to be seen. Just peace and the crunching of dirt underneath my tire.


I’ve been back to this road many times, and each time I have seen something new.


Once I turned the corner to face 3 cats lying in the path. From afar they looked like sweet country cats, cousins or something. Up close they tried to jump me for my lunch money. I just narrowly passed, only to find crabs scurrying away from me with their claws held high ready to defend themselves. I laughed at how worried they seemed and at their uncanny resemblance to the stereotypical portrayal of Japanese people, fearful of big scary foreigners and ready to yell “take anything you want!” I may be big and may be scary with my red hair looking a bit electrically charged in this humidity, but I usually leave my gun at home.


The most magical time I went to this magical road was at night to see fireflies. I didn’t know this at the time, but it is the most famous spot in all the Gotos for firefly viewing. There are over 40 firefly species in Japan, and you can only see them for about 2 weeks. (I saw this translated news article of the annual firefly viewing on Ojika, another island. Please note the last caption.) Everyone on the island seemed to know this viewing was happening, except for me. At the turn off, community volunteers in vests, waving glowsticks, helped people park, the path was lit with special red lights, and there was an ice cream truck!


As you walk into the darkness, fireflies start to blink in the forest alongside you. The valley narrows at the end of the fields and turns into a river. Over this river there were literally hundreds of fireflies, their jazz jamming with their own reflections in the water. There were some floating up to the sky and sometimes you couldn’t tell what were the stars, and what were the fireflies. It seemed the stars were coming down to dance. We all agreed it was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. There was something so profoundly stunning and magical that resulted in a proportional feeling of absolute loneliness. I think because it is rare to know in the exact moment, rather than after the fact, that its beauty is once in a lifetime.