Equipment list--shopping for the necessary

I happen to have a family member that used to be a passionate climber and hiker, and even crossed the Alps in their whole length on his own (~6 months). Consulting him and searching the web resulted in the following need-list.

• Clothing
• quick-drying underwear (~7 pairs of socks--nothing is worse than uncomfortable feet!)
• thermal underwear (long sleeves and pants)
• T-shirt to wear
• pair of trousers
• set of dry clothes (shirt, underwear, socks) packed waterproof (welded in?)
• set of clothes for the cities
• long sleeved shirt
• warm hoodie 
• warm winter-jacket
• waterproof coat (windbreaker) & trousers (gore-tex if affordable)
• pair of waterproof, sturdy trekking boots
• pair of light, easy-to-walk-in shoes
• pair of waterproof gloves
• warm beanie
• scarf
• sunglasses
• Camping eq
• sleeping bag
• sleeping mat (as light as possible)
• something usable as pillow
• microfibre (fast-drying) towel (usable as pillow?
• weatherproof tent
• camping (gas) stove
• hand-washing agent
• elastic laundry line
• large trekking backpack
• waterproof cover for backpack
• Tools
• instep-crampons
• knifes
• fire
• torch + batteries
• trekking poles
• waterproofing wax for the shoes
• 3L water bladder
• pressure altimeter & compass
• mobile phone & Japanese sim-card& charger
• camera + 1 lens & batteries & charger
• Medical eq
• stretching bandage (to fix joints if injured)
• disinfectant
• plasters (of decent size)
• painkillers
• some kind of legal stimulant (maybe caffeine pills?) for emergency situations
• thermal blanket (those silver & golden things)
• tape to prevent blisters
• "compeed" blister plasters
• Misc
• Japanese phrase-booklet

A few details:

Our tent: my buddy is bringing along an absolute weatherproof tent, the "Ortik Jet Stream 2". That will do, even in the snowy mountains.

Vegan sleeping bags: I still have a down-sleeping bag from long ago, but my buddy doesn't. He hasn't decided on a sleeping bag yet, but when he does I will post the model and his experiences with it in low temperatures.

Instep crampons: are a kind of crampon that has only four (to six) spikes in the middle of the foot. They're not suited for ice-climbing, but give good hold on icy, muddy, slippery ground.

Vegan trekking boots: are not easy to find--you can't have any leather after all. After reading a handful of reviews I was convinced that Veggie Trekker Mk 4 by vegetarian-shoes from the UK will do the trick though (they ship around the globe, even to where I live). Let's cross our fingers, they certainly were expensive enough.

Waterproofing wax: some online research let us to believe this would be a good choice. I hope it proves to be so!

Trekking Backpacks: I happen to have a backpack that is older than me but still somewhat alive. I'll test it these days and decide whether I can do with this one, or it will break my back and I am forced to get a new one.

Printing a map

We will not be following the Nakasendo reloigiously, but rather look for places along it worth a detour. We have 22 days in Japan together, and still want to see some of Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo, so we plan to spend 18 days for the trip at most.That should suffice for the trail itself plus a few detours.

Map of the Nakasendo, found on Walking the Nakasendo

I decided to print my own map from Google Maps, because I don't want to be carrying a heavy book around, and have to shuffle through the pages all the time.

Even with Google Maps it wasn't easy to find the complete Nakasendo. I took 19 screenshots and marked the Nakasendo on them, then compiled them into a pdf. Also I found a table with all 69 stations of the Nakasendo on a Japanese website, and copied it into an xls file. This way I can always see what township is next, even if we lost the Nakasendo itself temporarily.

I will print and laminate both of those so they are waterproof.

In the next two weeks I will list a handful of possible detours here.

Schedule for preparation

We only have one month to prepare, and there is a few things to take care of. Since in early January I will have my final exams for this semester, I plan to finish doing so before December 12th.

• Printing a map of the whole path (I read it's hard to find the highway in some sections - let alone when covered in snow)
• Preparing all our equipment
• Train / work out / get into shape
• Taking any kind of precautions for potential mishaps (conversations with experienced hikers / mountaineers)

In time I will link each point to a separate page and keep those updated over time.

Deciding to walk the Nakasendo, despite the time of the year

I always wanted to visit Japan, but although I live quite close, it didn't seem like it would work. Japan just is much too expensive for a poor student like me, or so I thought.

Then I learned about "nojuku", the feasibility of "urban camping" in Japan, and found this blog documenting the preparation and walk from Tokyo to Kyoto via the Nakasendo. It didn't take long and my best friend was as excited and convinced as me, that this was the perfect plan for our winter holiday.

In the following days we got more and more worried we might run into trouble along the way due to the road, especially the mountain passes we would have to cross, possibly being covered in snow. We are by no means experienced hikers, even less so in snow and ice. But our mind was made up.

The mentioned blog as well as other websites provide excellent resources and experiences about walking the Nakasendo, but there is barely any information about road conditions, weather along the way, feasibility of the walk etc. during Winter.

Another serious challenge will be to find vegan food along the way, in a country where pretty much everything is 'contaminated' with fish products. Convenience stores like 7-11 and Family Mart are pretty much everywhere, but I don't suppose the variety of vegan meals available there or at restaurants will be staggering. We will bring a camping gas stove along to be able to cook some noodles when necessary--see our equipment list.

None of us really speaks any decent Japanese. I recently started learning some, but it'd be wishful thinking to believe I can follow a dialogue with a native. I can however speak--and also read some--Chinese, which will certainly prove useful when trying to read road signs or menus.

That's why I decided to set up this blog, documenting our rather short month of preparation, as well as our attempt to walk from Tokyo to Kyoto along the Nakasendo within a maximum of 19 days, starting January 18th 2014.

May it be of use for someone out there, having similarly crazy ideas.

Be sure to check out "Walking the Nakasendo", a terrific diary of preparation for the Nakasendo and the walk itself during April.