When Lightning Strikes

Our senpais joked with us new JETs that we’d brought bad luck with us. First, a strong earthquake hit as soon as we landed in Japan, then a village nearby caught on fire, and finally our first weekend plans were thwarted by a lightning strike.

            Nihonmatsu is dwarfed by Mount Adatara, a mountain with a summit that’s apparently shaped like a nipple (that is pretty accurate, to be fair.) In winter it’ll be our nearest ski slope, but in summer it’s a favourite with hikers. My first weekend rolled around and I had no idea what to do or where to go, (I hadn’t even properly unpacked!) but my lovely senpais took a group of us newbies to Adatara. It was another stuffy, hot day. The cicadas screamed as we navigated the hairpin turns partway up the mountain, and I was relieved to hear that we’d cheat and take the cable car up. But the Japanese were dressed in hardcore mountain gear, and they all headed for the actual trail. No one stood near the cable car entrance like us. Had we missed something?

            A member of our group was fluent in Japanese. He went to ask if the cable car was running. It wasn’t. Before we could get annoyed, we learnt the reason: lightning had struck the cable cars. That’s fair enough. That’s just a mixture of Mother Nature and bad luck.

            Our senpais came to the rescue with Plan B: the Abukuma caves. It’s a large limestone cave system that was discovered in 1969. When we arrived, we were greeted by amazing views over the forested mountains and a row of food stalls. Obon festival week was starting, so all the shaved ice and Takoyaki had been brought out.

We descended into the caves and the temperature plummeted from 30+ to 15 degrees. I was freezing. Impressive stalactites hung from the ceiling, lit up with coloured lights, and stalagmites rose from the floor in oddly familiar shapes, such as mushrooms and faces. Cold water dropped from the ceiling and hit me straight in the face when I looked up. We quickly termed this cave juice. We ducked under low passages and turned sideways through narrow openings. We passed a ‘love corner’ lit with fairy lights, and on our way out we found racks of wine bottles sealed away. Abukuma wine must be fermented cave juice, right?

            The heat was a shock as we emerged in the sunlight; I almost missed the freezing darkness of the caves. My friend chose that moment to wonder what would’ve happened if we’d been inside the caves when an earthquake struck.

            I’m very glad she didn’t say anything when we were actually in the caves. And besides, we’ve already had one earthquake, a fire and a lightning strike – our luck can’t be that bad, can it?

            Our luck held when we stopped off at a beautiful shrine on the way home. It was tucked into a forest of towering pines, and held a mountain stillness that seems to come with all the best shrines I’ve visited. Buddhas were carved into the rock face, and hundreds of little stone buddhas dotted the forest floor. We walked a way into the trees, right past a sign warning of suzumebachi (the world’s largest and most dangerous hornet), but decided it was best to turn back when thunder rumbled in the distance. Despite the looming thunder and warning of hornets, I didn’t want to leave. Even if you don’t believe in gods or spirits, I’ve always found shrines very peaceful. I love how the Japanese incorporate their beliefs with nature; you’ll often find a rock or tree ringed with paper talismans because it’s sacred.

So, despite all Japan throws at us, my first month here has been an amazing start. And it started with this trip to the Abukuma caves and the forest shrine.

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