Hiking friends

One of the reasons I like hiking in Japan so much is that you meet the nicest people up mountains. People are often surprised to find us foreigners climbing mountains off the beaten track and they ask us lots of questions, share their food with us and give us hiking tips. Hiking is something that few young Japanese people seem to be into, in fact, it's mainly people over 60 that we meet on mountains. Many have been hiking their whole lives and are very fit. Just last Sunday a woman who looked like she was in her 80s overtook us halfway up Nagisodake. I hope I will be like that when I am an old timer.

A few months ago we met a group of people near the top of Mt. Miroku. We got chatting and it turned out that many of them had been in Dublin and loved Ireland. They were part of a neighbourhood retired person's climbing club called "Hiyokko" which means "Chicks". They even had matching key rings with chick motifs on them. We found this really funny as our hiking club is also called CHIC (Chubu Hiking International Club). We were also shocked to find that they know my colleague Takahashi-sensei - he's one of their neighbours. What a small world! We stayed in touch with the Chicks and we have been invited this Saturday to a lunch party at Mr & Mrs Yamashta's house. I am really looking forward to it. It is actually our first invitation to a Japanese home.