Innai is Nice

The town of Innai located north of Kusu, sandwiched between us, Ajimu, Usa and Nakatsu, is just about the most isolated, backwater, out-of-the-way district of Oita Prefecture. Naturally that means it's utterly gorgeous and the people that make up its sparse population are adept at old timey crafts and cookery. There aren't an incredible amount of attractions to draw in the crowds, but Innai has its charms, like the Takkirikeikoku.


I don't exactly stare at my legs in a mirror and now that I see it here...Jeebus, my calfs are huge!

My companions and I today--they being Hita-ites Rachel from Canada, Adric from Australia and Maia from Boston--couldn't quite figure out what the name "Takkirikeikoku" meant from the kanji, but we think it's a literal description of the place as a valley cut with water from a granite range. The stream that did the cutting is still running through the valley today slowly doing its work and being delightfully shallow enough to walk in the entire two kilometers it runs until plumetting over a twenty-odd meter waterfall. It's a popular place while the oppressive heat of summer hangs over Japan (oppressive to some, at least) and the first kilometer or so is clogged with families on expedition, however after that point the only noises one hears are gurgles from the stream, the wet splash and slap of feet on river-smoothed rocks, birds and insects and, of course, the sounds of foreigners joking about Japanese assassin accountants, insects carrying us away as food, dismembered feet in tennis shoes and other such talk.



This isn't the first time I've walked this spectacular stream. I came here once four years back with my Chinese friend, Emily, and her Japanese friend. From the day I stepped foot in Kusu I've been looking for this place and was filled with a sense of joy for returning here coupled with a sense of sad longing for distant friends and memories. That first year in Japan was as life-changing and good as it was chaotic and messy.

--Matt