GW road trip

when my teachers found out that my friends and i were going to drive from niigata all the way down to kagoshima, i got all kinds of reactions from laughter to disbelieve to "suggoi!!!". it is a long way...and if i put it into context, it's much like driving from toronto to north carolina and back on only two-lane highways with a maximum speed of 120km/hr and a minimum speed of 20km/hr (on non-toll routes). it's a long way to go in only 7 days, but we all wanted the chance to see some more of japan together before we go our separate ways in august.
we set out sunday morning and by dinner time we had made it to hiroshima (record time i might add). we checked into our hotel and walked over to the peace park in the brilliant sunshine. the sun was just setting as we reached the a-bomb dome shell which made for some nice pictures. the next morning we woke early and caught a train + ferry to miyajima, the 'floating shrine'. we also took in the a-bomb museum in the afternoon and then headed off the next day to mt. aso. honshu (the main island of japan) is connected to kyushu by a bridge so we drove over and came down through the north.
mt. aso is a still-active volcano which blew its top 2000 years ago, creating the worlds largest caldera where a town now exists. the top of the volcano still sits in the middle of the caldera, with the town built all around it. so on every side of the town is the crater of the caldera and the rest of the world lies above it. the landscape within the volcano is so un-japanlike. vast, hilly fields with grass, and even cattle (which i've never seen before in japan). we drove up and up, to the near summit of the volcano's top, but then you needed to take a rope-toe up the rest of the way and it was so foggy you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face.
from aso we drove down all the way south to kagoshima and over to sakurajima, another volcano which inhabits its own island. the volcano takes up the entire island except for a small area of land at the base where there is a town. the children at the elementary schools there walk to school and back wearing hard helmets in case of volcanic rubble. sakurajima is the most active volcano in japan, and there is a constant stream of smoke rising from the top. the last time it properly erupted was in 1994, killing some tourists. since then they have built concrete shelters in the event of an eruption.
we then drove on to where joe lives, just outside of kagoshima city. we stayed two nights there, driving down to the south of satsuma peninsula to some beaches and to a lake which houses 2-metre long eels. kagoshima ken is mountainous and extremely hilly, which made for very beautiful towns amidst the sloping streets.
from kyushu we had planned to go through shikoku island on the way back up to honshu. so we drove up the southeastern coast and caught a ferry from oita to shikoku, stopping briefly in miyazaki to check out some surfing hot spots. once in shikoku we drove straight to a national-park area called iya valley where we had booked a night in a youth hostel which was within temple grounds and owned by a priest and his wife. he met us at the train station and we followed him up, up, and up back and forth for 20 minutes up a mountain until we came to the temple perched at the very top with an amazing view of the town below. there were very few guests there and we seemed to have the huge temple complex to ourselves, with an enormous tatami room to sleep in.
the next morning we took in the view from the top and headed back to the iya valley gorge. we spent the day going on boat rides, running across vine-encrusted suspension bridges, and driving through the windy roads of the mountains.
we then left the area and began the long journey back to niigata, over the bridge in northern shikoku to kobe and alllll the way back up again.
it was a fantastic trip, spent with the original 5 from when we all first came to japan. i'm going to remember this trip with you guys forever...