Kamicochi

Japan Day 10

Overview

I have a personal project of running 1000 miles on every continent. On May 27, I started running through the Indian Himalaya mountains inspired by the “Great Himalayan Trail” (GHT), a concept of linking the Himalayas together in one thru hike. In 24 days, I covered 379 miles, the great majority of which above 3400m. On June 29, I started running through Japan in Part 2 of 2025’s production of I Run Earth in Asia.

Why am I doing this? To see what I can do, see the earth, and raise money for charity! My runs have raised over $20K for charity since 2024. In this run, I chose to support Rise Against Hunger, which provides school feeding programs across the world. You can learn more about RAH and donate here.

Day 10: July 8 Kamicochi

i woke up around 6 am in the back of the restaurant owner’s minivan. Today would be all road running to the base of the north alps, so I had no urgency to get started.

I forgot how hot roads can get in the sun when the pavement soaks up the heat

Typical car on bus

I try to be as energy efficient as possible, pushing downhill and taking it easy uphill

Nagawado dam

Systems seem to operate remarkably well, especially considering Japan is in a “population crisis”. Public transportation runs on time roads get maintained, and even the mountain huts are well-staffed and well-equipped.

I’d noticed a lot of the construction and service workers are quite old. As it turns out, the percentage of Japan’s population who continues to work beyond retirement age is one of the highest of all developed countries.

Locals told me, people only tend to slow down in their mid-80s here. For that reason, the worst is yet to come for Japan’s aging population. I suspect the country could face some bigger issues with the basic functioning of society when this current population of 65-80 year olds age past their ability to work. In that vein, Japan’s social security systems like healthcare and pensions are also not currently sustainable unless major reforms are made because less and less people pay taxes each year.

How strange to come to country with declining population crisis straight from India, the country with the largest population.

I asked Paul if the population crisis is a popular conversation topic for Japanese people. He said no. People rarely talk about it. The reasons for that seem to be that people are less likely to discuss social problems here in general.

After many many tunnels I arrived in charming Kamicochi and ran my final 3 kilometers on nature trails.

at the foot of the North Alps, Kamicochi was filled with tourists who bused in for the day, shops, and hotels. I ate a bunch of Japanese dumplings and deliberated where to sleep for the night

At 5 pm, the shops closed, tourists disappeared, and I found myself all alone

I decided to make my way to the last campsite on the map to get as close to the mountains as I could. I ran about 10km from 6 to 8:30 or so and arrived at Yokoo campsite long after registration closed. Rain started falling, and then pouring, I took shelter in the bathroom.

My bivvy shell is warm, fully self-contained, rated for four seasons and did great in the Himalayan snow. But it does have one weakness: rain. It’s technically waterproof, but the shell lays against your body so you feel every drop of rain as it falls on you.

Perhaps not the ideal choice of shelter for rainy season in Japan. Anyways, fortunately the rain stopped and I snuck out to the campsite to set up camp trying not to disturb anyone. I set my alarm for 2:45 am and was sleeping around 10 pm