Unfortunately the Kawanes’ tender care overnight had done little to improve
the pains stabbing at my leg. Following a delicious breakfast, we and the
Kawane family made our way back to the University, to be met again by Mr.
Takemoto and two doctors, Dr Kawai and Dr Yamashiro, who had brought their
own support vehicle and would spend the day in a three way tag team relay
supporting my walk and getting me through the pain barrier as we entered
Day 22.
An hour into the walk saw Dr Kawai and I arriving in Okayama City to be
greeted by a TV news crew and straight after that interview, another with
a newspaper journalist. Then back to the road. Again walking with the pain
and again, following lunch the pain numbed sufficiently for Dr Yamashiro
and I to approach a pace of 7km/hr.
Finally brought the day's walking to a close at around 7pm, 7km short of Ako town but having; completed 53km for the day. Saying goodbye to our three companions, we headed into Ako to our business hotel organised by Dr Iwasa, a yaki-niku dinner, computing and sleep.
This morning, May 5th we arrived at the start point 7km west of Ako town
to find Dr Inamoto waiting for us on his motor bike, and shortly after
my start at 8:30am we were joined by Dr Pink and Dr Pinpin in the Sono
No-Smoke mobile. Dr Pinpin (Sono) then joined me on the walk through Ako
on route 250 and around 11:30 we walked into Dr Iwasa who was waiting for
us on the brow of a rather steep hill, having ridden his bicycle from Himeji
to meet us. Having packed his bike into the Sono mobile, he joined Dr Sono
and myself, in what was for me a very painful descent down the hill to
join Route 2 again and continuing on, we arrived at Himeji Castle around
4:30pm having covered 44km and though Dr Sono dropped off the pace towards
the end, he completed the distance. It’s amazing the energy non-smokers
have.
As an added bonus, my English student Akiko from Saijo, made a special
detour to see me on her way home from a trip to Tokyo. For the past month
she had been preparing a special gift and at the end of todays walk presented
me with a string of 1000 paper cranes. Knowing how long it takes me to
fold a paper crane I am of course really impressed with someone who folds
a thousand. It has given me even more determination to continue.
Thanks to Dr Iwasa and the Himeji Red Cross Hospital we were put up in the Castle Hotel and enjoyed a Japanese dinner with the Sono doctors and Dr Inamoto, who was amazingly still awake, having worked night duty and then assisted with navigation throughout the day on his motorbike. I think we will all sleep well tonight.
Thankfully for my legs Day 24 was a rest day and started with a small
gathering of Himeji anti-smoking members and a silent demonstration/parade
through Himeji's shopping mall handing out smoker reform info-tissues and
doing a newspaper interview in the process. This was followed by a bento
lunch with the parade members and a 30 minute radio interview at FM Genki,
with myself and Dr Iwasa and Reiko, where during the intermission they
played my friend Jonathan's recording of my song, "Suwanaide Kudasai''.
From the radio station by taxi to the Himeji Red Cross Hospital, for an
official welcome by Dr Iwasa in front of about 30 guests, including the
five giant cigarettes from the mornings event, Dr Ohashi (WAT Director)
from Niihama and Mr. Morita our pro-cameraman and film crew friends, who
after filming the welcome asked if we would return to Himeji Castle for
some new pod-cast material before finally arriving at Dr Iwasa's old, rambling,
ryokan style house for a doctor cooked grilled meat and vegetables dinner.
At which time he was able to show us, the Sonos' and Dr Ohashi a genuine
antique cigarette box and cigarettes emblazoned with the Imperial chrysanthemum
seal, which used to be presented to loyal and faithful subjects by the
Emperor. "Thankfully a practice which I'm told has been discontinued
in recent years
Met the Sono's, Dr Ohashi and an amateur tri-athlete, Mr Sakamoto outside Himeji Castle and set off together in a light drizzle on the morning of Day 25 which was to be a short walk because of events organised in Kobe, so bracing myself against the pain I set off at a brisk pace with no thoughts of stopping until 1 pm. We arrived at the "No-Smoke Hyogo" group welcome at 2pm and were greeted by some 40 members including Dr Oshima who presented me with a large bag of chocolates and a book by a Japanese walker who had crossed Japan. From the meeting room, following a few short speeches and preparations the members made their way to Sannomiya's crowded shopping arcade and began a noisy anti-smoking demonstration with me as their vanguard. They chanted slogans and handed out quit-smoking info-tissues whilst I waved my banner and answered questions from reporters. I have to say, at times like this I still feel very uncomfortable making a spectacle of myself but the other members, especially Dr Pink and Dr Pinpin seem very comfortable. In the evening we attended a small welcome party, attended by 18 No Smoke Hyogo guests and with my legs again wrapped in ice.
I had planned to do several hours walking the next morning, to get me
closer to the centre of Kobe and with good intentions set out on the 20km
drive back to Nishi-Akashi to recommence the walk and connect with Mr Matsumoto
and Mr Shimizu from ABC TV network who wanted to interview and film me
walking. Fortunately for my damaged leg we spent the allocated two hours
doing the interview and only walking one kilometre, before having to retrace
our steps to the hotel and meet up with Dr Sono. From here, by “smoke-free”
taxi and car we visited the Hyogo Prefecture Medical Association at 1 pm
where we met and discussed tobacco issues with the vice-president Dr Matsunaga
and secretary general, Dr Hara, with the ABC crew continuing to record
my progress.
At 2pm we had a meeting at the Hyogo Prefecture Office with the Vice-Governor
Mr Saito, where before we even got through the front door we were greeted
again by our friends from ABC TV and by a crew from the local "Sun
TV" network. Finally entering the building we were introduced to the
President of the Hyogo Medical Association, Dr Seo and his charming wife.
I think it is probably thanks to him that we were afforded the courtesy
of an audience with the Vice-Governor and the substantial media attention
that followed. I think Mr Saito would have liked to steer the conversation
with me away from anti-smoking, to how wonderful Hyogo Prefecture is. He
tried hard, giving me the key to the prefecture (symbolic) and a very nice
picture book of Hyogo. However, as I have said from the beginning, I walk
the walk and let others talk the talk, and both Dr Seo and Dr Sono were
on hand to give their learned opinions about the state of tobacco reform
in Hyogo. Especially about the back-pedalling that has occurred in the
Prefecture Office with regard to it being completely smoke-free, and allowing
an expensive ventilated smoking room to be built so that public officers
who smoke can do less work than their non-smoking colleagues, then rely
on their medical benefits to support them when they become sick from tobacco.
It would seem that the Prefecture Office is playing politics rather than
responsible government.
Nevertheless, this meeting and the next at the WHO Kobe Center with Director Soichiro Iwao, got our "No smoking is Love" message a long story on Sun TV's nightly news. Whilst the WHO Kobe Center is an impressive building, it appears that its focus is more on research and statistics, rather than policy implementation. Dr Seo, despite his disabilities was again available to lend his influential support and again I was given a nice gift of a framed World No Tobacco Day poster from the Director but I doubt that his office has much more clout than to merely advise Japanese policy makers on what is happening in the rest of the world. Another TV interview outside the WHO building concluded the days agenda.
Day 27 saw me up at 6am, to get a solid healthy breakfast, before again
returning to Nishi Akashi to get in as much walking as possible before
our planned 2pm meeting at Nishinomiya City Public Health Office, Osaka.
Here Ms. Nomura, my companion for this mornings walk, joined me. Ms Nomura
works as a golf caddy and is constantly subjected to passively inhaling
smoke from the golfers she supports. I hope for her health such venues
become smoke free and I would add that real sportsmen would never smoke.
Anyway there is nothing wrong with her fitness at present as she matched
me stride for stride covering 24km in three and a half hours at 7km/hr.
Unfortunately we had to say a hasty goodbye and thank you at Kobe JR train
station because we were already late for our next appointment, and had
to resort to driving on the expressway to reach Nishinomiya, still a few
minutes late. A sandwich lunch and cakes had thoughtfully been provided
by Dr Sono at his office, which we gratefully ate whilst being introduced
to his volunteers and before our planned activity, a walk through the town,
requesting people to quit smoking. Our group of 15, particularly targeted
the train stations and city office buildings, chanting the slogans, "Kinen
wa Ai" and "Suwanaide kudasai", finishing up at Osaka's
famous Koshien Baseball Stadium.
We checked into our hotel next-door and retired to our room with Dr Sono,
Dr Inamoto and Mr Tokumaru who is an Australian trained chiropractor. It
was suggested that Mr Tokumaru look at my legs and try to ease the pain.
So, with me lying on the hotel bed, he went to work first doing a thorough
check. I gathered from the shaking of his head and the repetitive exclamations
of "pan-pan!" he was none too pleased with the results of the
abuse I have been putting my body through. I later learnt that “pan-pan”
means swollen, hard, tight etc. Despite not agreeing with everything he
said or recommended, his hands were firm but gentle and I decided to reserve
my judgement on the quality of his treatment and accepted an hour and a
half long full body massage followed by half an hour of giant ice bag therapy
courtesy of the hotel.
The last day of Week 4 saw me returning by train to Kobe station at 8:30am,
allowing Reiko to get some extra much needed rest, whilst I set off at
a cautious pace wondering how my legs would fare after Mr. Tokumaru’s special
treatment. The worst part of the morning was not my legs but the polluted
air around Sannomiya station where the first thing many Japanese commuters
worry about after getting off the train is lighting up a cigarette, with
no regard for the people around them.
In the late afternoon I reached my 46km goal, Ibaraki City and having
reserved my judgement all day about Mr Tokumaru’s treatment, I can now
say without a doubt he has magic hands. The pain which had continued through
the morning was now completely gone and the swelling in my left leg was
now minimal. With his “secret” techniques he is truly a miracle worker;
I have never had a treatment work so well or so fast and I owe him a great
debt of gratitude. Healthy again, I am ready to tackle the week ahead as
I walk through the large urban centres of Osaka and Kyoto with my message
of No Smoking Is Love.
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5月5日、赤穂の長坂峠にて
5月5日、姫路城に到着
5月5日、千羽鶴のあきこさんの出迎え
5月6日、岩佐さん宅にホームステイ
5月7日、兵庫県喫煙問題研究会の歓迎
5月7日、神戸三宮アーケードをデモ行進
5月8日、WHO神戸・岩尾所長さんと
5月10日、西宮保健所にて
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