Day 9 – Sirens, Sobbing, and the Cat Shrine Detour
March 17, 2025
🚨 2AM: Welcome to Japan’s Emergency Broadcast System
At 2 a.m., I woke up to what I can only describe as a horror movie soundtrack written by the government.
Loudspeakers across the city blasted a man’s very serious voice that of course I couldn’t understand in Japanese. Then—sirens. Like, the world-is-ending type sirens. The kind that make your heart stop before your brain catches up.
My first thought: "Cool, I’m about to die."
Tsunami? Earthquake? Nuclear Godzilla warning? I clutched my phone, expecting an alert. Nothing. Not a peep from the outside world. Just me, my sleeping bag, and a growing sense of doom.
Then the wind picked up and I thought, "If these sirens are just about a strong breeze?”
Ten minutes of full-body anxiety later… silence. Apparently, I lived. Deep breathing helped. Eventually, I fell back asleep—barely.
🔥 Breakfast Reveal: Oh, Just a Town Fire. NBD.
Over breakfast, I cracked out Google Translate and asked my host what the apocalyptic announcement was all about.
Turns out… there was a fire in town.
And get this—her son is the FIRE CHIEF. He and his team handled it so fast that we all survived and I only lost a few hours of REM sleep and about 2 years off my life. Kinda legendary, actually.
🐱 The Cat Shrine Detour
Maria (my new Henro homie) and I decided to hit the Omatsu Daigongen on the way to Temples 20, 21, and 22. It’s out of the way, and yes, we’d have to backtrack, but it’s a cat shrine. The detour felt justified.
Plus we started early, armed with ambition and protein. This being my first long walk. I didn’t really have a good understanding of distance and misjudged what seemed like a small detour was a very big one.
By 4:00 I still had over 5 hours to go. I bit off more than I could chew. I felt a flood on all my emotions start to bubble. I was stupid for thinking I could do this trip. I was stupid for thinking I could this entire trip. I was stupid for thinking I was strong or brave or capable.
🌧️ Crying on the Mountain: A Delicate Emotional Strategy
Somewhere on the mountain, I felt it building—the lump in my throat, the tight chest, the “hold it together or don’t” internal conversation.
I let the tears come. Not a total breakdown, but not a casual one-eyeliner-dab either. Somewhere in between. Enough to feel it. Enough to move forward.
You learn to read the weather in your body out here. Sometimes it’s mist. Sometimes it’s a storm. And sometimes… you cry in the mountains and just keep walking.
This day broke me completely. I couldn’t believe how destroyed emotionally I became when I realized I was not going to make it to my accommodation before dark. Those two mountains took a piece of my soul that day I will never get back. It was a complete low point.
