Tojinbo

I've been needing a change of air recently (too much kerosene inhalation), so on Saturday I decided to take a drive. I had been wanting to go to a place in a neighboring ken famous for its cliffs, but the timing never worked out. So I decided to take a little drive on my own.

Tojinbo is famous for its unique, geometrically-shaped rock formations. It is also famous as a place people go to commit suicide, so when I mentioned to my Japanese teacher on Friday that I might be going there on the weekend, she told me to be careful and not to kill myself. Of course, I was only going to experience some nature. Tojinbo is, after all, labeled a "Quasi-national park." I don't know what it takes to become a full-fledged national park, but apparently Tojinbo isn't cutting it somehow.

As I neared the end of my solitary 2-hour car journey, I noticed a strange warmth on my face. Then I realized it was the sun. Although it had been raining when I left Kanazawa, the further away I got, the more the skies cleared up. After winding through some provincial coastal towns, I reached my destination. With Monkah secure in my purse, I walked to the cliffs. Rocks jutted out of the water like the ends of a bunch of pencils. There was absolutely nothing to keep people from walking as far out on the rocks as they wanted to. I'm sure that in the States there would have been some sort of fence and/or guard to keep accidents and the ensuing law-suits from happening, but there was a refreshing lack of any safety constraints. I sat near the edge of the rocks and let the salt air refresh me. I tried to take Monkah out for some pictures, but it was quite windy so had to put him back quickly to keep him from committing accidental "jisatsu."

After staring off into the sea for a while, I went for a walk on one of the trails. Again, there were no guard rails, but there were signs which appeared to be intended to keep people from killing themselves. My Japanese is far from perfect, but I think the signs I came across said things like "Remember the faces of your friends and family," and "If you're unhappy, wait." I hiked around some more. There was even a small island you could hike around, which was completely void of any concrete or power lines. On the side of the island facing away from the land,I forgot for a moment that I was in Japan. There were wild grasses growing there and some small cliffs. It was more like the Aran Isles than the concrete wasteland I'm used to. It only took 20 minutes for me to complete a circuit of the island.

After that, I returned to my car and headed home. As I pulled away, it began to rain. At least I got a few hours of sun and nature.