[Newsletter] Eerie night on the Rokkō Cable Car

▶︎ Watch the new video → https://youtu.be/PhLxHlWRaKQ

This week, yet another reminder that even when you think you know what to expect when visiting somewhere, things can go sideways. A whole new world can reveal itself when you're anticipating something else entirely.

So it was, when I rode a cable car up Mount Rokkō in Kōbe, Japan recently.

See, I thought this was going to be a simple little cable car ride and a brief exploration of the facilities and views on top of the mountain.

Well, it was. Kind of. But what actually happened was I found myself immersed in a strange, psychedelic, unusual world of shifting light and sudden, spooky weather.

Sounds dramatic – but that's what it was. Dramatic.

My plan was to get to the top of the cable car line, get a bus to an area called Garden Terrace, and be there in time for the sunset. I'd check out an unusual art installation I'd seen a bit about, and then climb an observation tower to see the city view below. Then ride the cable car back down.

As you'll see in the video, what actually happened was I got to the art installation and spent most of the time there.

It's called the Shidare, and is a round little "building" with a walkway encircling it. Overhead is a sort of wire mesh cage representing irregular leaves (the whole thing represents a tree).

As I explored the strangely-lit, hard-to-understand "nature experience" of the Shidare, the sun started going down.

Although I rarely use it anymore, I had brought my Canon DSLR camera because it has a 200mm zoom lens. I was hoping to capture the sunset with it, up close.

As I set it up though, I saw smoke. At least that's what I thought, but it turned out to be fog. Fast-moving, dense grey misty fog.

It rolled in, fast. It began obscuring the sun itself. It enveloped the formerly clear and pleasant mountaintop in a thick, bewildering cloud. So I just kept recording the shifting dark-orange sun.

Visibility dropped way down. The lights of the Shidare bounced off the mist and back onto itself. Nothing was the same.

And underground, a bronze devil figure sat forlornly beside a pile of broken old boomboxes as a young woman's voice spoke dramatically through a speaker.

None of this was going like I'd planned. And I was thrilled – it was a completely unique and unexpected experience, and I was getting some really compelling footage for a video.

I did make it back down the mountain via cable car and the ride down was a lot more interesting than the ride up: it was at night, through a dark forest full of crickets, and there were cartoonishly colored lanterns inside the cable car.

So, to sum it up, this whole evening was a kind of carnival that Mount Rokkō gave to me personally. The mountain must be a fan of the channel...

Next week: Live stream

One quick note about next week: there won't be a regular video, but a live stream. More details to follow, but it will probably be Sunday night at 8:00 pm Eastern Time, like the others I did. Come join me if you can!

▶ TRAVEL LOVERS, PARTNERS, AND MASTERS: Watch the extended 39-minute ad-free version, including the many train and bus mistakes I made getting to the cable car in the first place, my experience barely leaving the Garden Terrace, and my journey back to the train station after descending the mountain → https://patreon.com/posts/139325084

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Everywhere is worth exploring!

–Jeremy