I posted some videos to Facebook of a drive I took last weekend. It had been a while since I had gone for a drive purely for the sake of driving. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, but due to the cost of gas and the (lack of) fuel economy in the Skyline, it just wasn’t feasible. I had a vague route planned, but ended up not following it because I got sidetracked. It turned out to be for the best, as I got to take a nice hike up into the woods and see an amazing waterfall, in addition to getting some excellent ramen.
The plan initially was to head towards Kochi City on 194 and then take 18 across the mountains. I would follow 18 until it connected with 439, and then take that back home. My detours began almost instantly, as I got stuck behind a slow moving dump truck, the driver of which had apparently never heard of a turnout. It was getting on towards noon by this time anyway (why should I get up early on the weekend?), so I stopped at a local ramen shop and had lunch before continuing. The thought of stopping there had occurred to me before, but given that all I had on me was a 10,000¥ bill, I wasn’t sure they would want to break it for me. 
Thankfully, they were more than willing to help me out, so I sat down and had lunch. My meal consisted of some soy ramen with onions. Because they were doing me the kindness of breaking a 10,000¥ bill I also ordered some gyoza to go along with it. Ramen and gyoza is a hard combo to beat, so I wasn’t too upset about the extra charge. I’ve had quite a bit of pork in my diet lately, so I mostly avoided the pork and egg in the ramen, but everything else was delicious. The gyoza were less than ideal and easily the most forgettable part of the meal. If this place wasn’t so far from my apartment, I’d probably be there a lot more often. You can tell how good it is by the fact that the parking lot is full every day that they’re open, for both lunch and dinner.
After an excellent meal, I continued on my way down 194, turning onto 18 as I had originally planned. A little way down the road, I came across a sign for Odaru Waterfall. The sign claimed it to be one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan, so after a brief debate with myself, I decided to go investigate this claim for myself. The road getting to the waterfall was barely wide enough for one car and even in my little kei car, I felt a bit nervous. The drive proved to be worth it, though. 
Once at the parking lot, I was greeted with amazing scenery
. I spent a few minutes there, just enjoying the natural beauty of the surroundings before proceeding up the path. A sign at the parking lot told me that the waterfall was about a 15 minute walk. I was skeptical and almost didn’t make the trip. The walk itself, though, turned out to be nearly as amazing as the waterfall itself. 
The pathway wound itself along the path of the river created by the waterfall, making for a
serene and beautiful setting. It may very well have taken the full 15 minutes to get to the waterfall. I don’t really know. Honestly, I didn’t care too much at the time, and the time since hasn’t changed that opinion. I was too busy enjoying my surroundings. 
I would have liked to have spent more time there, but I didn’t want to run out of daylight. It was dark enough with all the trees in the area, and being winter (or very late fall), the sun would begin setting at around 5:00. Being in the shadow of a mountain makes it just that much worse.
Once at the waterfall, I could see that my hike had been worth the effort. 
I needn’t have doubted the natural beauty of Japan. It’s one of those things that continues to surprise you long after you should have grown accustomed to it. I’ll leave you here with a few of the shots I took while admiring this spectacular wonder of nature that is Odaru Waterfall.
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