Walking to Niigata will give me an opportunity to see the country at a slow pace and really give a chance to be mindful while walking.

Before coming to japan, I drove 11,000 miles around United States and discovered that I didn’t see everything very clearly because I was busy driving. On my Eastern side trip I drove past Cedar Point in Ohio and on the western side I drove through the redwood Forest at night, twice. Didn’t see a thing.

In Japan I rode my bicycle from Tokyo to Kyoto and (almost) back and even then it seemed too fast and I didn’t really get to see everything along the way.

to be honest, this time I might end up with the same thing because I do have a deadline to finish the whole trip, I need to be back at work by the end of golden week on the 10th of May.

But it gives me nearly a month and I’ll have plenty of flexibility I hope so we’ll see how it goes in terms of scheduling.

In terms of personal challenge, walking barefoot will certainly push my limits. I’ve heard that there will be potentially snow on the ground so that’s really not going to be easy whatsoever and may end up stopping the whole thing.

It’s certainly possible to walk in snow so I’m curious as to how much I will push myself through it if necessary.

I’m greatly looking forward to being able to say “I walked here from Kawasaki” near the end of my trip, which will likely be more satisfying than “I plan to walk to Niigata” at the beginning of my trip.

I’m also looking forward to the amusement parks along the way to need to start committing those to memory, as well as the other places I plan to stop.

Speaking of places to stop, I still need to go through and double check the list and make tweaks and call places where I want to stay during the trip.

One concern that comes up is that would further lock down my schedule so it might take some of the freedom out of the plan if I want to adjust things depending on what I see.

I’m looking forward to some stretches walking along railroad tracks including shinkansen tracks, though this shinkansen will probably be elevated so I won’t be able to see much.

Places I can think of now, not in order

• Yomiuriland
• Seijoen
• Aina water park
• Grampy
• Hendon Farm
• Jacky’s cafe
• Bunjee jump place
• Dragondola
• Between two rivers