I found another river to run along, the Kanzakigawa. It runs kind of parallel to the Yodogawa, so heading in the opposite direction that takes me to the Yodogawa will take me to the Kanzakigawa. It’s also the first stop from Juso on the Hankyu line to Kobe. I think I want to run a marathon before I die. I think I need to for some reason. I figure I need to build up endurance and work on how long I can run in terms of time before I think of distance.
The plan was to set my timer for 30 minutes, set off for this new river and run as far as 30 minutes takes me. After 30 minutes, take a short break to get a drink from a vending machine and run 30 minutes back. Pretty good plan.
The first 30 minutes weren’t bad. The run to the Kanzakigawa was actually pretty short and then I ran on the path that ran on the flood plain alongside the river. Most rivers in Japan have flood plains for obvious reasons, but to conserve space, they make recreational use out of them, so it’s common to have paths in them and even baseball and soccer fields.
It was quite pleasant. Occasionally I’d come across another runner or cyclist, and under some bridges there were homeless people who set up encampments. There were also people fishing in the river. It was pre-noon and Summers in Japan are of the hot and humid variety. The sun was getting high, but buildings alongside the river still provided some shade.
After the first 30 minutes, I really need a drink so I stop running and walk back towards a bridge I had just passed. Where there’s a bridge in Japan, there are people and traffic, and where there are people and traffic, there are vending machines, right? Am I to be so lucky when there’s a lesson to be learnt? No.
Well, bridges, people, traffic, and therefore vending machines exist in abundance in this country, so no problem. I head for the next bridge down the river, where I find a vending machine and continue the run, right? Am I to be so lucky when there’s a lesson to be learnt? No.
So there has got to be another bridge soon, I continue down the river.
I walk atop a concrete barrier along the roadside, the road on the left, on the right, the concrete barrier slopes steeply down to the flood plain. The pre-noon sun has become a midday sun and the shade is pretty much gone. I walk and walk and a bridge shows up not. On the other side of the road are large, sheet-metal, warehouse-like structures. I had run my way into a light industrial area. Occasionally I hear clanging and banging coming from inside the structures. There is no pedestrian traffic, it’s hot, and I’m dehydrating.
The next bridge is no where in sight, the last bridge is far behind, there are no roads leading from this road to more populated areas, only driveways into complexes of these hulking, sheet-metal, warehouse-like structures. I can’t run or I’ll certainly dehydrate. I find myself getting frustrated and angry. Where are the fucking vending machines? Why is this happening to me? Why do I always get into these situations? Then I think about the people working in these gloomy, sheet-metal, warehouse-like structures to my immediate left. They look really hot and the open windows suggest a lack of air-conditioning.
Here I am complaining for a drink. That’s the kind of problems I have. Those are lives working in those buildings. I’m not comparing miseries, just looking at myself and what I am and what I’m doing. Would I be happier inside, rather than outside?
From the window of the apartment in Juso, I can watch the descent of airplanes in the distance as they land at Osaka airport. They fly almost directly over as I’m walking atop the concrete barrier. I never could figure out where the bloody airport was. Oh, here it is. It’s not in Osaka proper. It’s not even on this side of the Yodogawa, it’s on THAT side of the Kanzakigawa, out in the boonies. It’s actually near Toyonaka where Kazue and her husband work. There’s even a Hankyu station in Toyonaka, I can take the Hankyu to the airport.
Cruel places airports. And kind. I could get on a plane and go any where and live under a bridge in some warm, tropical country. That’s more of the life I deserve but haven’t earned yet. To get away from people and get away from my role as a participant with other people. Yes, get away.
The feeling doesn’t last. Only 25 minutes of walking and I not only come to a bridge, but a bridge with a Hankyu line running across it. All three Hankyu lines stop in Juso, and all trains on all three lines stop in Juso. Juso is a pretty important place. In fact, Juso and Umeda, the Hankyu terminus in Osaka proper, are the only stations that can make that claim. There is one station in between Juso and Umeda, on the Umeda side, but Tokyu express trains don’t stop there.
I have ¥220 on me, enough for two cans from a vending machine. It’s also enough to take me back to Juso and then I could get a drink at home and spare myself getting there on foot. No brainer. I buy a ticket and get on the platform and boom, there’s a vending machine, one of the rarer vending machines that have drinks that I can afford even after having bought the train ticket. It was too perfect, maybe someone suspected I deserved it.
