Soba, Okutama and Miki the cat

Sunday 25th June. I had to get up pretty early which was a bit painful because I had spent much of the night before in and izakaya in Tachikawa. I had been with a couple of friends from work. He had just had the week off to do some back-packing up north and was delighting us with tales of soba gorging. Apparently he went to a restaurant which has an on-going eating contest. The challenge is simply to try and eat as many bowls of soba as you can in one sitting. (Soba is the cold noodles I mentioned before that are served in water and soy sauce.) The servings are small but they constantly refill your bowl. My colleague had managed to force down eighty bowls of the stuff before he reached his limit. However, he hadn't even come close to beating the record, which stands at four hundred!

I was running late but just managed to make it to the shop to buy supplies and then jump on a train to Tachikawa where I was meeting a group of teachers at 12:30. I got a bit confused in the station and couldn't find the platform (as usual) but luckily I made it just in time. They were all waiting for me. I arrived just as our train was just pulling in. There were about fifteen people, all Westerners except for the boyfriend of one of the girls, who was Japanese. He was accompanied by his ginger and white cat, Miki, who crouched in a tartan carry case. I though this was a little strange so I asked him why he was bringing his pet cat on a camping trip to the mountains (for that was where we were headed.) He replied "because Miki is my friend!" Ok.... well, I didn't want to be the one to point out that cats are not like dogs and would probably run away given half a chance. Anyway, perhaps he was well trained I thought.

The journey took about one hour and a half. The scenery was fantastic. We soon slipped out of the city and into the country. The train ran around the steep sides of mountains covered in a blanket of lush green trees, swaythed in mist and drizzle. Far below in a gorge, snaked a grey river whose path we followed all the way to our station stop. We disembarked at the tiny station and waited for some more people to join us who had left earlier for a hike. We then stopped at a sleepy local shop to pick up more supplies; sake, rice beer, barbecue food and fireworks. It had started to rain but I didn't really mind because it was so atmospheric. The mountains rose up all around and it was so peaceful. We crossed a high bridge over the river and made our way into the forest, down towards the creek.

By four we were unpacked and settling into our log cabin in the woods. The barbecue had been lit and beers cracked open. A bunch of people were playing frisby. I watched with faint amusement as our Japanese friend pulled Miki from his case.... As the barbecue was being lit I took the opportunity to catch up with a guy I had met at the training in London. It was such a coincidence - we live in different towns but had somehow got into the same social network and had by chance both been invited to the camping trip! It was really nice to see him. Although I had only known him from the three days training, we greeted eachother like old friends! The afternoon was spent eating, drinking and exploring. I went for a stroll with a guy from New York who is also really into film. Down at the river they were trying to catch fish with their bare hands. It made me laugh - three hours in the mountains and they were already going native! Mind you, one guy actually caught a couple and they cooked and ate them.

As dusk fell I heard Miki's name being called. Why did that not surprise me? A small search party was sent out. By around nine or ten we were gathered by the river to set off the fireworks. Someone made a campfire. It was really beautiful. The mountains sunk into the velvet night, and the river twinkled in the moonlight. By about eleven, people were swimming in the river, and I somehow went too close and was pulled in by some girl! It was freezing! I had to drag myself out and go back to join the other half of the party at the cabin to change. A little while later the others arrived back too; dripping wet and shivering. At midnight I was obliged to bring out my super duper phone so that the hardcore football fans could watch the next game of the world cup. (England vs Ecuador I believe.) It was so funny to see five people trying to crowd round this little screen on the floor, I think I made their day though - well actually Beckham did when he scored the only goal of the match, thus winning the game for England. I was feeling pretty tired by this point so crashed out on a wafer thin futon on the floor. Miki had been found and was asleep on someone's bed.

Early the next morning we were awoken by L telling us to get up. She was cooking sausages. One by one people roused themselves. It was then that someone asked "where's Miki?" A deathly silence fell over the group, and people started looking around them in the hope of seeing a ginger tail poking out from some hiding place. However, the terrible truth soon became apparent. Miki had gone. One of the girls had got up early to go swimming in the river, and we realised that as she had slipped out of the cabin, so too had Miki. Another search party was sent out. I was forced to put back on my wet jeans. (I had PJs but no other change of trousers. Everyone told me to go back home in my PJs but somehow I couldn't bring myself to go back to Tokyo in my slumberwear!) So back on went the cold, wet jeans. Not very nice I must confess. Still, at least I had both my shoes. (The girl who had pulled me in the river had lost one of hers and had to walk back to to the station with one bare foot.) At ten thirty we had to leave, but Miki still had not been found. The group was forced to head back to civilization leaving his deflated owner and irritated girlfiend to look for him.

The rest of my Monday was spent doing useful things with surprising interludes. Back home in Toyoda I showered and changed into dry clothes, and then headed back to Tachikawa. I had to go to the post office to cash some travellers cheques. It was a grey day but I had a very nice phone conversation outside the train station with another guy from the training in London, who had called to see how I was getting on. (He is up north somewhere living within metres of the largest nuclear power station in the world! Not that they told him that before he left the UK. I consider myself to be very lucky!) Whilst I was on the phone, a couple of familiar faces walked by. It was the guy from NY and his Chinese-Canadian friend whom I met once before on one of the Thursday night do's. They invited me to join them for coffee, so I did. It turned out to be a very enjoyable afternoon. Upon green leather seats, in between swapping potted life stories, I drank a bowl of coffee, he smoked cigarettes and she applied lip-gloss....

They never found Miki.