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The physical challenge
Trying to learn Japanese is not the only thing I’m supposed to do, in order to prepare for the Shikoku pilgrimage. Three years of living in Germany have left me the gift of a sizeable beer belly that it’s very difficult to get rid of. One month away from my departure for Japan, I am…
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The language challenge
A-I-U-E-O Ka-Ki-Ku-Ke-Ko And so it goes… As soon as I land on Shikoku, the biggest challenge will be to communicate with the natives there. Learning Japanese is no easy challenge, but it’s also not impossible. They do have three different alphabets (better call them “syllabaries”) though. And they can use these three writing systems together…
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Preparing the equipment
What am I going to bring to Japan? This question has been in my head for the last few days. Even though my article (in Italian) about what to put in your bag for the Camino has been one of the most successful on my blog, I still haven’t fully decided on what exactly to…
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Announcing my next travel
The time for the big announcement has finally come. This blog was started with the idea of telling the story of this travel in particular: the Shikoku Henro. As described on Wikipedia, it’s a multi-site pilgrimage on the Japanese island of Shikoku, around 1200 Km long. It will be the first time for me outside…
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Journey to Portugal
Let’s warm up this blog with the short story of a travel I just finished. Last July, two friends of mine and I took a caravan along the Portuguese coast. One of them, Giampaolo, moved to Lisbon a few months ago, while the other, Massimiliano, has been living in Prague since almost ten years. Our…