Just before walking under one of the snowsheds it started to hail a little bit as part of the precipitation. The hailstones were only a few millimeters across, but definitely not sleet because it wasn’t that cold.
I ate one of the hailstones and it was great. :-)

For several long barefoot segments, I was walking in the street which was much nicer than the adjacent sidewalk. I could see way down the street and move out of the way when cars came, which they rarely did because it was so rural.

Just before Urasa Station, I interacted with two groups of people: two teenage Japanese boys who took pictures with me including @kousei_mountains on Instagram, and three people speaking English, but who didn’t seem interested in talking when I said hello and such. I felt a little sad because I haven’t gotten to speak much English (in person) during this trip.

Day 18 was