It has been just over two weeks now since I landed in Tokyo for the JET program orientation. The orientation itself was a blur of ballrooms and buffets at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku where the event was held. Sleep was lacking for all of us there trying to enjoy a few days in Tokyo before being sent away to our various placements. Breakfast started at 7:00 each morning, orientation events continued through most of the day until around 5:00, and nights were spent going out and meeting friends, exploring and reminiscing on the neon streets of Shinjuku. After two-and-a-half days of this relentless schedule, I finally boarded the plane bound for Tokushima city carrying all 19 of us incoming JETs to be dispersed around the prefecture. A welcome crew from my city of Miyoshi stood waiting at the airport holding up big posters that read: “Welcome to Tokushima” followed by the names of the three of us headed to Miyoshi city as we arrived 45 minutes late to the Tokushima Awaodori Airport. There was little time to process the fact that I had just taken my first ever steps on the island of Shikoku before we were whisked away in a hurry to complete our registration at the city office and bank before they closed.

After that, I was taken grocery shopping before being driven another 45 minutes south where I finally arrived at my new apartment in the Iya Valley. It’s a small, cute space (not on the level of the micro-apartments famous in big Japanese cities) and feels perfectly comfortable for a single inhabitant. My BoE (Board of Education) had generously furnished the apartment before my arrival and even provided daily necessities such as kitchen knives and bath towels which immediately came in handy. Later that night, A group of current JETs and one “forever ALT” working in Miyoshi took us newcomers out to a beautiful mountain onsen near my apartment where we beheld a starry sky plastered behind layers of mountain ridges whose outlines could almost be mistaken for colossal black waves rolling toward us in the dark of night. It would be my first of many surreal, wonderful experiences living deep in the mountains of Tokushima prefecture.

Two days later, on my first full day of work, I woke up and found my car looking a little saggy thanks to what I later learned was a giant screw sunk deep into the rubber of my front left tire. I had been warned to expect the unexpected going into the JET program, but the example of this given by the speaker at orientation was that her light fixture was broken when she moved into her apartment, and I felt that this would still be preferable to my tire situation. It ended up being a relatively easy fix though, thanks to the very friendly crew at my village’s gas station, and I now count myself lucky that I wasn’t the JET I later heard rumors of who was the only one present as an older member of their BoE collapsed from heat stroke while showing them around their apartment for the first time.

But that is one theme of the summer here on Shikoku: heat. Although it’s not quite so deathly hot where I am in the mountains, much of the island experiences consistent temperatures in the low 90s (~33-34 Celsius) daily. Heat stroke is certainly something to be wary of for those living on Shikoku. However, it’s been my opinion since studying abroad in Tokyo that one of the quintessential summer Japan experiences is to throw caution to the wind, go out in the middle of the day to do some strenuous outdoor activity, and become one with the blazing heat. Luckily, a few days ago, I was able to have one of these experiences as I joined a group of 4 other ALTs to go hiking up to the highest point on the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage.

On Shikoku, there is a 750-mile (1200-km) pilgrimage route that visits 88 temples around the island, and it just so happens that #66 Unpenji, the site closest to Miyoshi city, is the highest point along the trail with the main hall of the temple sitting right around 900 meters (3000 ft) above sea level. Upon completing the two-hour hike up to the temple, we were greeted by the disciples of Buddha, an array of 500 carved stone statues, many making funny facial expressions and carrying stone-carved pet animals from snakes and dogs to what looked like chimera. As we leisurely strolled around the temple complex, the smell of burning incense and the ringing sounds of ritual brought me back to all the beautiful and serene temple visits I had made across the country during my time as an exchange student. It was hard to believe I was back here, exactly where I wanted to be.

From there we hiked up another 100 meters to the mountain’s summit where we ascended an observation tower inside of a massive statue of what looked to be a warrior brandishing a trident. Lining the walls of the spiral ramp up the tower were artistic depictions of all 88 temples on the pilgrimage route, and at the top, we were rewarded with a panoramic view and the gorgeous scenery of the inland sea past Takamatsu city.

When I returned home that night after a quick stop at another onsen near my apartment, I couldn’t help but feel the wildness and loneliness of the mountains in my area. Here there are no cable car rides down from the mountain tops, no bustling trails or temples full of pilgrims and sightseers. If you dare enter the mountains here, you are alone, lost amid the mechanical symphony of insect chatter, perhaps encountering the occasional monkey, gecko, or wild boar. Here, we all survive on the steep slopes of Iya birthed by Mother Nature. And, if on some clear night, we ascend to the very top, we may bathe in the brilliant starlight of our cosmic home within the greater universe, the Milky Way.