Another Doggy Shrine and a Cool Hostel – Yuru Camp Backpacking Part 4

Back to writing about Yuru Camp, yippee!! From here on, I go and visit a bunch of locations from season 2. I follow Rins footsteps to where she meets up with Nadeshiko to eat eel, and visit some of the geospots the whole gang go to too.

365Base Outdoor Hostel

We hopped on the shinkansen from Osaka to Hamamatsu, and made our way to the hostel. It was a super cool place, and it looked like it used to be an old block of flats. It also had an overarching outdoorsey/camping theme, and the whole place was decorated and furnished with camping gear and equipment. The ground floor rooms all came with a BBQ and outdoor space to chill, and there was a climbing wall in the centre of the complex too! Really cool concept actually, and just like the other hostels we stayed at, it was super affordable too. This is the communal area:

On the bookshelf, I spotted some familiar manga!

The place is called “365BASE outdoor hostel”, for those that want to follow in my footsteps 🙂

When getting dinner at a nearby kombini, I spotted a little birds nest above the entrance, and someone had hung up a branch to protect the chicks. Cute.

Mitsuke Tenjin Shrine

Shimarin visits this shrine in season 2 episode 2 by herself, on her solo excursions round the area. There are other locations further east than this, like Omaesaki lighthouse and Kimikura tea shop, but those would require personal transport of some sort.

I took a series of busses that took me close-enough to the shrine, and walked the rest of the way. I eventually reached the entrance.

In the distance is a brilliant red tori gate, in front of a statue of another doggo on a pedestal.

Yes, this is another doggy shrine. This one here is called Shippei-Taro. The legend goes that he defeated some monsters that brought a curse upon a village. But I’ll save the specifics to the shrine’s website.

There was a very nicely paved path leading towards the main shrine, which you can see in the distance.

Eventually I reach it.

The place where you’re supposed to wash your hands before you enter was covered in some beautiful flowers.

Here’s the shot where Rin says some prayers (she is tiny).

And there was this massive cow right next to it.

Looking to the right leads to the building where you can buy fortunes and other things.

Rin buys her mini Shippeitarou here.

In the anime, they look identical to the mini statues from the previous doggy shrine in season 1. But here they were different. There were different versions available too!

Of course, I had to get one.

After buying my doggy, I followed the path round the right round the back, which leads to the Shrine dedicated to Shippeitarou.

I passed by an old woman, and I greeted her with a hello and a bow, and she returned a warm smile. Eventually I reached the other shrine.

I followed the path back, taking pictures along the way to make sure I was heading the same direction as Rin 🙂

Just as I reached the main Shrine complex, I spotted the old woman I greeted earlier. She beckoned me over and I wondered what she could possibly want. She spoke some Japanese to me in a friendly tone and handed me a bottle of water of which looked like it was ice cold fresh from a vending machine. How nice of her! It was an especially hot day too, as it was the middle of summer.

After that I made my way out of the shrine, and hopped on the bus to the train station to take me to my next Yuru Camp location.

I think from now on I’ll do shorter, more frequent posts. It takes me long enough to do one big post so cutting them down into more bite-sized content should make it easier for me to write, and easier for readers to follow and digest. Stay tuned for the next one!