Sanda, Japan

I wanted to backpack around the mountains of Japan near Sanda and toward Kyoto so I hitchhiked from Tosayamada to Otoyo then to Tokushima and finally caught a lucky ride all the way to Sanda. The stop in Tokushima was my longest but the fields in the city included large patches of lotus and some newly tilled fields had some flocks of Gray-headed Lapwing in them.

Tokushima

Gray-headed Lapwing

Sanda is in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan in the mountains above Kobe. The city is very new with large shopping malls, apartment buildings and new American style houses. But just outside the town are some countryside areas with large old Japanese houses and fields. Mountains surround the deep river valleys of the city. I was passing through Sanda for some camping and I will say that I was not received well.  I believe that people never had negative intentions but I have never been so upset in my life. I thought my days of being belittled and treated like a child were past me but sexism still very much exists in Japan. Camping alone by the riverside in a public park is completely legal in Japan but a local Japanese woman thought it was unsafe for me to be doing this alone because of wildlife and people. So... she called the cops.

They insisted that I relocate to stay with a local family. I ended up spending all night walking around since it was very far away from the places I wanted to visit. The Japanese police were very nice the entire time but I still can't imagine why they would respond to calls that don't involve any legal issues.

The countryside around Sanda was still a beautiful place but I don't really expect that this is a popular area for tourists. 

Sanda, Japan

Sanda, Japan

Sanda, Japan

A walk around at night I was able to see two dead on the road Oriental odd-tooth snakes (Lycodon orientalis), Inoshishi (Japanese Wild Boar), Tanuki (Japanese Racoon Dog), a deer and a fox! There were three species of frogs as well.

Japanese Tree Frog

Black-striped Frog

Wrinkled Frog

Oriental odd-tooth snakes (Lycodon orientalis)

The couple was only able to host me for one night so I had to cut my visit to Sanda very short since I was planning on staying for longer. It was well enough since they had stayed up all night waiting for me to get back at 5am and I was quite fed up about being treated like a child and be a burden on people who had been so nice.

Walking around during the day I was able to see a lot of birds including kingfishers, egrets, shrike, crows, black-eared kites, doves and pigeons. My favorite is still the kingfisher that are like turquoise jewels flying over the river.  

Tiger Keelbacks and Japanese Grass Lizards were out during the day even though it was a bit overcast and some rain was coming in.