Fighting For Noodles and An Unexpected Friend by Sam

We woke early on our last day in Beppu and wandered the town before hitting the road toward Takachiho Gorge. The drive was 2.5 hours, winding through rolling hills and thick forests of the Japanese countryside. We eventually arrived and followed a trail up to a bridge that looked out over the gorge. The view was unreal, rushing water carved through dramatic rock walls, surrounded by so much green. It was cloudy and gloomy, rain was definitely heading our way, but the place still felt like something out of a dream.

We crossed the bridge and made our way down to the main gorge trail, pausing every few minutes to take photos. Everything around us looked like it was out of a painting. Eventually we reached the waterfall—the iconic one we’d seen in a hundred photos online. But no picture does it justice. It was stunning. Crowds had gathered around it, people lining up to pose in front of the falls, but I wasn’t too bothered. I just wanted to soak it all in.

Not far from the waterfall was a tiny restaurant tucked between the trees. They served noodles in a bamboo shoot that was cut down the middle with cold gorge water running through it. You had to catch your noodles with chopsticks as they floated past, then dip them in chilled broth. It was a very fun and unique experience!

Noodle Restaurant!

After lunch, we drove to a lookout point we’d found on the map. It was on a hill, with a winding road leading up. We parked at the bottom and started walking. Soon it became a photoshoot with the landscape—Grant and I wandering off to get our own shots. At one point on the road, there was a view of a bridge in the distance, almost floating above the fields. It looked completely out of place but beautiful in a surreal way. 

Kunimigaoka Lookout by Grant

At the top, the view opened up and I could see all of Takachiho. The trail up there felt like the edge of the world! There was a wooden bench swing waiting at the end. I sat for a while, rocking while I stared at the incredible view around me. Grant joined me and we took some photos of eachother and watched the sun begin to go down.

By then, we were starving. Takachiho is a tiny town, so we didn’t have many options. We found a yakiniku place that looked promising and walked in, only to be told they were fully booked—even though the place had just opened and was completely empty. We left the restaurant confused. It started to get colder so we grabbed some jackets from the car, and started heading to the only other open restaurant: a ramen shop down the street. As we passed the yakiniku spot again, the host rushed outside and waved us in saying “actually, we have availability! you can come in now!” Apparently a table had “opened up.” Mysterious, but we didn’t ask questions.

Inside, the lighting was warm and low, with only a few picnic-style tables. We ordered the meat, and of course some fun drinks. We cooked the meat ourselves and felt like chefs preparing the food for each other. The whole time we were in there, only one other couple had come in. I wonder if they really were fully booked for the night. 🤔 Dinner was delicious and cozy enough to make us forget the earlier confusion.

Yakiniku for Dinner!

Afterwards, we drove to our Airbnb, tucked away on a quiet, almost abandoned-looking street. It felt like the entire town lived on this one road. The buildings looked frozen in time, many with closed shutters and faded signs. We would only be staying there for one night so we booked a cheap place that seemed to be similar to a hostel situation, but we had no idea what to actually expect. We walked in to find a huge room with hammocks, a table with chairs, shelves filled with books and plants, instruments strewn around, a bin full of luggage, and art on every wall! It felt more like a shared studio than an Airbnb. So cool! 

Our host gave us a tour of the rooms, traditional style, with tatami mats and sliding doors. There were 5 people our age from various parts of Europe standing and talking in the kitchen. We said hello and headed up to our room. On our way back downstairs, we met a girl our age named Ida, sitting at the table eating dinner. We joined her, and what started as casual conversation turned into hours of storytelling.

Ida was from Denmark and had been traveling solo for months. She’d cycled through South America with a friend, cycled across Africa volunteering with the locals, and hitchhiked all the way from Tokyo to Takachiho (which is wild, considering hitchhiking isn’t really a thing in Japan). She was taking a few years off before university, which she said is the norm in Denmark. After staying in Takachiho for about a week helping the Airbnb host, she was planning to do a 10-day silent meditation retreat in South Korea, then spend Christmas in Sri Lanka with her family, before heading to India by herself! I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She carried her entire life in a big backpack and wandered the world with this calm confidence I couldn’t stop admiring. She was living my traveling dreams. We exchanged travel stories, but we ended up mostly just listening to hers because I couldn’t stop asking questions. We followed her on Instagram and I still live vicariously through her story posts.

Selfie with Ida!

During our conversation with Ida, our host invited us and a few others on a walking tour of the town. It was getting late, around 10 or 11pm, but of course we joined. We followed her down the main street as she pointed out each storefront, sharing what was there, or what used to be there and her hopes to one day restore the town to what it once was. She dreamed of reviving every shop, one by one, to bring people and life back to Takachiho. She said that so many people moved to big cities like Tokyo or Kyoto to get out of the tiny town, but she thinks it has a charm to it that you can’t get anywhere else.

Eventually we turned off the street and onto a stone path that ran along a stream. We crossed a wooden bridge and stood in silence as she told us about the sacred spiritual history of the land. The night was quiet, the stars unbelievably bright, and the sound of the water rushing below was the only thing breaking the stillness. I looked up at the sky and couldn’t believe how many stars were above us. No streetlights, no noise—just us and the night.

We came to Takachiho just to see a gorge, but ended up getting so much more. I’ll never forget our experiences in this city, from the waterfall, to the late night tour, and especially the wonderful conversations with those who were strangers just hours before.

Thanks For Reading! -S & G