With my planned trip now less than three weeks away, I’m now facing the coronavirus dilemma. As everyone not living in a cave now knows, the COVID-19 strain has spread to half the world, including the US and Japan. Currently, the US State Department ranks Japan as a “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution” with regard to the travel. I’m still feeling OK with traveling to Japan as the only time I anticipate being near crowds or involved with public transportation are my beginning and final days of the pilgrimage as I only have a short layover in Haneda Airport in Tokyo, flight to and arrival at Osaka International Airport, subway into Osaka and a bus to Tokushima, Shikoku planned to begin the pilgrimage and a trip to the airport and flight home at the end of the trip. Otherwise, I will be on my own or having brief interactions with other pilgrims, temple priests and staff, and the occasional well-wishing local over seven weeks. My odds of contracting the novel coronavirus are extremely low so long as I diligently practice some basic hygiene along henro trail.
Unfortunately, but reasonably, my workplace has informed me that I will likely face a two week work quarantine once I return in May. Ah, well. While the Company can’t force me not to go, they can require that I stay away for a period after I get back and I completely understand. However, as things now standing, it’s a price I’m currently still willing to pay.
Reading some the blogs and Facebook groups covering the pilgrimage, it appears that I and other walking henro could benefit a little from the current situation. A number of tour bus companies have cancelled their Spring schedules, lowing the potential crowds at the temples. From my reading, the tour crowds are a mild inconvenience to the walking henro. Imagine walking several hours to a temple, having to wait in line as the temple stamps the books of all the bus henro before the bus henro get whisked away to the next temple or their hotel for the night and the walking henro still has several hours of walking before settling in for the evening. Fortunately, I’ve read the tour operators, bus henro and stamp office personnel are fairly generous in allowing walking henro to cut to the front of the line for their book stamp. In short, the disappearance of a large number of bus henro for the season would be a great convenience for the walking henro. Plus, more temples all to myself!
So, as things currently stand, I still intend to perform the pilgrimage in less than three weeks, however, if the State Department raises the travel level of Japan to “Level 3: Avoid Nonessential Travel”, obviously, my pilgrimage will be delayed until next Fall.
2023 Shikoku Henro 
I hope the locals don’t avoid you out of fear of your foreign germs!
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Hi there,
I guess your Shikoku Henro had to be put on hold due to Covid situation, which is regretful. I did my first leg of the pilgrimage in autumn 2019 (from Tokushima to Matsuyama, temples 1-51) and am (was?) intending to complete it this autumn – flight tickets already booked and purchased. Unfortunately nobody knows if this is going to be possible. If not, then I ‘ll need to postpone it further.
One thing in your post triggered a thought in my head, resulting in consequent meanders of reflections. The first one was: who am I to judge others or offer them my opinion not being asked for one – it’s quite ego-centric and selfish. On the other hand, your comments on crowds of other Henros resonated in the following way: why would you want to have the “luxury” (I’d argue with the value of it, but that’s another story…) of not having other people “coming in your way”, not having to queue for the stamps, or [quote] the disappearance of a large number of bus henro for the season would be a great convenience for the walking henro. Plus, more temples all to myself! [end quote].
Myself being quite a “convenience orientated” person I was lucky (or quite opposite, actually…) to have my 2019 Henro experience pretty much uneventful in terms of things that I (thoughtlessly?) consider inconvenient and disturbing. Having said that, those few that DID happen to me – like starting the climb to Temple #12 much too late in the day while being pretty much unfit for the challenge, or finding no available accommodation at all in one of my stopover towns – resulted in, and made, my Henro experience being more than just a nice ‘all-inclusive’ vacation trip in an ever-attractive-and exotic Japanese surroundings.
Give it a thought or ignore my comments – whichever works better for you 🙂
I keep my fingers crossed for your Shikoku Henro taking place and may it bring you whatever you are looking for. Actually, chances are it will offer you more, and those would be things you have not expected!
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Hi, Piotr,
I think I’ve watched your YouTube videos (Jell-e Vlogs?) about your pilgrimage. I’ve watched so many vlogs and read so many blogs. Don’t give too much weight to my comments about convenience. I was just trying to look for some sort of silver-lining in the situation that appeared to be developing in early 2020 … and we know how that turned out. Luckily, I’m now scheduled to leave for Shikoku in just over a week and, since I’ve had three more years to plan, I’m so much more prepared, added more days, and have included the 20 bekkaku temples, several other interesting temples and a number of cultural and historical sites to my itinerary. Wish me luck!
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I realized while laying in bed that your likely not the Jell-e Vlogs YouTuber I mentioned above, but that I recalled another Shikoku Pilgrimage YouTuber named Piotr and that you might be him.
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Hi, Bill,
quite a late reply – thus I regretfully missed the opportunity to wish you luck ;-). Indeed, I am not the youtuber you mention; I have never posted a single video on YT in my life.
My guess is that by now you are back from Shikoku again, right? Which actually coincides with my return from there just 2 weeks ago where I managed (easier than I expected) to complete the O-Henro by visiting the remaining temples, then going to the temple #1 to “close the circle” and then visiting Koya-san on Honshu.
This time it was different in several ways but still very rewarding. Being 4 years older and (unfortunately) feeling it. Surprisingly I repeated some of the mistakes I did in 2019 – must have been the time-span which made me forget the discomforts originating from my bad decisions – and making some new ones. But overall the experience was excellent – with just a healthy mix of “fantastic” vs. “quite miserable” – making it so much better than potential “smooth and uneventful”. The same formula I mentioned in my comment of 2020 above.
Please share your impressions – if you do not mind.
Kind regards.
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