KAGOSHIMA, Japan -- As we emerged from the tunnel the taxi driver gestured ahead.
"Satsuma-no-Fuji," he said, and it was immediately clear what he meant.
The classic flat-topped cone of Kaimon-dake in the distance did indeed closely resemble Mount Fuji, Japan's most celebrated volcano. "Satsuma," as the guide explained, was an ancient name for this part of Kyushu, the southwesterly of the three main Japanese islands. Fuji itself was nearly 1400 km to the northeast.
This was day two of what specialist operator Walk Japan calls its Kyushu Expedition, a title whose suggestion of adventure into the unknown and unpredictable at first seemed a little too much. Japan is after all impossibly well-organised and offers reliable public transport even to its most remote corners.
But while we encountered everything from strings of middle-aged Japanese ladies in hi-tech walking boots to groups of white-robed monks in straw sandals, there was rarely a foreign face to be seen. And already on the first day's warm-up trek subterranean rumblings in the restless landscape had caused an entirely unpredictable last-minute re-routing for safety's sake, around the rim of an alternative caldera.
Kaimon-dake remained mute, however, and the taxi dropped us at the second station on a spiral route to the 924 metre summit, at a point where the path was a gully in damp, black earth with tree roots occasionally forming staircases. The gentle three-hour climb was mostly through thick forest, occasionally assisted by staircases of spongy wood, and finally over tumbled boulders.
Brief openings in the foliage gave views down to orderly countryside striped with brilliantly reflective cloches, across the calm blue sweep of Kagoshima Bay, and to smaller islands dotting the sea to the south. The full panorama was taken in at greater leisure on the summit while enjoying a bento, or boxed lunch, picked up on the way.
Japan seems almost to have been purpose-built for trekking, its countryside largely made of (usually) inactive volcanoes whose slopes provide a choice of climbs both gentle and challenging. The views from their tops always more than compensate for the effort made, and their mineral-rich geothermally heated spring waters, cleverly piped straight to baths at your accommodation, provide the perfect balm for aching legs at the end of a day on foot.
A gentle descent to Kaimon-dake's base was followed by a walk through a sleepy village to a station on Japan Railway's most southerly section, little more than a bus shelter with a platform on an obviously uneconomical single-track country line. We arrived almost simultaneously with the Caldera Liner, a little train far less grand than its name and sparsely occupied, that rattled its way gently around the coastline to the port of Ibusiki, where our baggage waited for us at a traditional guesthouse.
The next morning we skimmed across the ocean at high speed by jetfoil to spend two nights on tiny Yaku-shima, an island that's one of the planet's least well-known World Heritage sites, perhaps because it is also one of the wettest places on earth.
It was raining steadily as we wound up and down through richly tangled sub-tropical virgin rainforest past majestic cedars two to three hundred years old to visit other hugely charismatic lichen-shrouded sugi trees that measured their ages in thousands of years. Waterfalls and busy streams could be constantly heard but were rarely seen except at the points where the route required a balancing act from stone to stone across a torrent. Hiyao Miyazaki, the renowned animator of Oscar-winning Spirited Away, found inspiration here for the landscapes of his earlier masterpiece Princess Mononoke, and the reality was every bit as enchanting.
Some trees were three-legged, a tripod of smaller trunks merging to form their main column, and the path wound beneath them through rooms of roots. Deep-brown miniature deer stood motionless within arm's length next to the path and sometimes went unnoticed until one of them fidgeted and revealed white patch on its rump.
The winding route around the mountainside eventually descended to a disused narrow-gauge logging line with thread-like rails, which offered the route for a steady descent, crossing short trestle bridges with views between the sleepers to rushing rivers far below.
A second day on Yaku-shima took us in unexpected brilliant sunshine above the trees to high marshland, where miniature monkeys groomed each other at the edges of the boardwalks and steamed gently in the sun. The more athletic walkers bounded on to conquer Miyanoura-dake, at nearly 2000m [6500ft] the highest peak in Kyushu, while others made do with a less strenuous climb for a picnic at cloud level on a precipice with ocean views.
But there was far more to the trip than exercise and fresh air, and as much pleasure in navigating a way through the culture, trying local dishes unlikely to appear on the menus of the average Japanese restaurant in the West, and most of all dealing with the strict etiquette of both small traditional guesthouses and modern hot-spring resort hotels alike.
Here Walk Japan opened doors that might sometimes otherwise have been closed for fear of foreign faux pas, and it was indeed right at the entrances that problems might have begun, with the obligatory hopscotch of footwear exchanges. From walking boots we stepped up into slippers for the creaking wooden corridors and staircases, but out of them to walk in only socks or bare feet onto the tatami woven matting of bedrooms and dining rooms. Ample restorative meals were taken after bathing, sitting on the floor at low, lacquered tables, wearing not our own clothes but the yukata cotton robes and short haori jackets provided.
Inevitably there was an emphasis on fish, and much that was familiar including crisp tempura, the freshest of sushi and sashimi, and stews that bubbled gently on individual braziers. But more adventurous options included raw puffer fish, raw crab claw, and even raw chicken, a local delicacy, along with deep-fried flying fish.
There were also the mysteries of communal public bathing to learn about before attempting to join others of the same sex for a naked indoor or outdoor super-heated soak in waters often slightly viscous with minerals. It was vital before entering the waters to begin by using the soap, shampoo and showers provided, not only because spotlessness was required before entering the waters, but because even if already spotless we needed to show that we weren't culturally out of our depth.
No two days were the same, and from the lushest of forests we went to high-level aridity. Back on the mainland, after a brief ride on Japan's very latest and sleekest bullet train, we switched to a local train that see-sawed its way up the side of a giant crater on a section of track the railway company staff described as "the most dangerous place in Kyushu". We alighted at Aso-dake station to walk around the rim of Naka-dake, one of the five smaller calderas contained within the larger one, ascending rapidly by ropeway to its lip.
Again volcanic activity caused a change of route to avoid gases escaping from fresh activity. While on one side as we walked there was orderly farmland far below, made fertile by regular sprinklings of ash, the land between was desiccated tumbling strata in shades of grey, ochre, and pink. On the other side the cauldron steamed, and there was a dramatic column of smoke and gases from another crater beyond.
All this geothermal power fed our hot spring resort that night with copious quantities of boiling water and where during a long soak we agreed that even six peaks in six days simply wasn't enough.
IF YOU GO TO JAPAN
GETTING THERE
Walk Japan's Kyushu Expedition begins at Kagoshima in the far south of Kyushu, well served by domestic flights from JAL, ANA, and Japanese budget airline SKY that connect to international routes at Osaka (Kansai) and Tokyo (Haneda). The final section of shinkansen ("bullet train") track between Kyushu's largest city of Fukuoka and Kagoshima is nearing completion, but for now using a combination of express train and the Tsubame "bullet train" to cross Kyushu from north to south takes around 2.5 hours. The tour finishes in arty Yufuin, with direct bus connections to Fukuoka Airport.
TREK TOUR
Full details of the eight-day, seven-night Kyushu Expedition can be found at Walk Japan's website, walkjapan.com. Tours are accompanied by bilingual foreign guides with long experience of Japan and mountain environments. Once the tour is joined almost all costs are included, with the exception of packed lunches picked up en route to each day's trek, one packed breakfast (on board the jetfoil to Yaku-shima), and alcohol with meals. Group sizes are small (maximum 14), and once a booking is accepted the departure is guaranteed. Time on foot is five-to-six hours per day, and only moderate fitness is required. Light or non-walking alternatives are available each day for those who might want a break, or if the weather intervenes.
MORE INFORMATION
The Japan National Tourism Organisation's website, jnto.go.jp, provides comprehensive information on the country's attractions, and a useful trip planner providing detailed timetables and prices for trips between selected cities.
Japan wants to be more travel friendly
