Author of the Hiro Hattori (Shinobi) mysteries
The day after my ill-fated climb of Mt. Ibuki, I headed to southern Nara Prefecture–more than an hour south of the famous deer in Nara City. Most American travelers never get this far south in Nara, which is a pity, because some of the best and most beautiful parts of the prefecture lie off the beaten tourist path. (Highly recommended for nature lovers!)
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The rain should have told me climbing Mt. Ibuki was a bad idea. Unfortunately, my lack of mountain climbing experience (or even hiking experience) left me entirely unprepared for the events that followed.
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Mt. Bandai: June 15, 2018 The images in this photo supplement follow the events in Chapter 11 of CLIMB: Leaving Safe and Finding Strength on 100 Summits in Japan. The captions offer “extra features”: information that didn’t make it into the book. This decorative horse, in the lobby of my hotel near Mt. Bandai, is made in the style of traditional wooden horse carvings that originated in the Tōhōku region. The motif carried through the entire property; the onsen (volcanic hot spring bath) even had small cypress horses floating in it. My first glimpse of Mt. Bandai, out the window of
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