My gear

With 3.5 weeks or so being on the move I face this time new challenge. All I will have at hand is what I carry on my back or by on the fly. However I can't carry everything and kitchen sink! The more I carry the more it weights and the worse it's going to be to carry around for my legs.

I did practice all summer and fall often doing 30km hikes in nearby national park with 15kg or more as starting weight without much of issues but of course most of THAT was on forest while in Shikoku lots will be over asphalt. Furthermore there's no mountains in that national park while I will be climbing several ~500m+ ones in Shikoku...This without even considering second half that contains the over 900m tall mountains(well two).

So obviously I want to carry as little as I can. Unfortunately this still added up...

What I have come up with:

a) 3 sets of underwear(pants and t-shirt). Maybe 1 or even 2 too many as most lodgings should have washing machine but I decided to be on safe side and afterwards on Tokyo I would rather not have to worry about finding washing machine every night

b) 2 pairs of inner socks, 2 pairs of outer socks, 1 pair of regular socks. I have found 2 layer of socks to be good for anti-blisters so that's how I'll be walking. And since wet socks are recipe for blisters I took second pair to switch mid day if I get soaked in rain or it's very hot and I'm sweating too much. Regular socks for evening usage so I don't walk around bare feet.

c) portable keyboard, phone charger, travel USB battery, camera charger. Original plan was to have laptop but trying out gear it did feel quite heavy. No problem on flat land but with water and food added it might be too heavy for me on mountains. So I made plan B whereupon I use portable keyboard(280g) to write notes on my mobile phone along with voice recording comments during walking and bought 64gb memory card to my camera. Hopefully that's enough. If not I try to buy USB memory stick, borrow pc somewhere(hopefully) and transfer some of the images into that.

d) spare trouser, rain gear(pants and jacket), coat, spring jacket, hat, gloves. Shikoku is rainy place so need some anti-rain. I don't plan to walk nearly 4 weeks without washing trouser and since dryer seems to be not guaranteed no guarantee on having washed trousers dry for sure on next day. Also with what to walk around in lodging in meanwhile? Pants? As if. Jacket, hat and gloves I had hoped to be without but having seen there still can be SNOW in mountains maybe it's good idea to have them. And hey if it becomes too hot to have them and weight is unbearable I can just ship them back to Finland if nothing else.

e) shaving kit, toothpaste, taping for feet, "fake skin" bandaid for feet. I expect to get blisters anyway so bandaid good. Taping feet I found out good to support ankles and also works against blisters so I'll have couple roll with me and hope to either have legs become strong before they run out or find them on route on sale.

f) pilgrim map, stamp book, some photos of Finland to either show to people or to give if they want, USB with copy of those photos so I can print on next konbini store when they run out. Pilgrim stuff is fairly self-evident. Can't do this without SOME sort of map and I prefer paper one over phone one. Phone could run out of battery! Photos is unneeded weight but luckily konbini's allow printing more so I won't be carrying much and since I like seeing photos of new places why not do same to others and introduce bit Finnish sights :)

g) Camera, book. Camera as I love taking photos. In hindsight maybe got too big and heavy but it's still not heaviest one out there and boy it's good one without being one that you can exchange optics. I have high hopes of seeing good views and want to ensure getting good photo's out of those won't be fault of phone camera! Book is again extra weight but I pick light and small one and main purpose is to kill time on the 10h flight. If weight becomes issue I can throw it to garbage bin and buy new one before leaving. Costs like 3-4 euro's only.

For food&drink I will be eating mostly in restaurant(s) I come across, in lodgings and if no restaurants come across konbini. Or if no konbini is on route either(I try to keep eye on map regarding those scenarios) buy something in advance. Also will be carrying some high-calory/low weight stuff just in case. Drink wise Japan is full of vending machines, temples have water and lodgings obviously so it's not biggest worries. I have small water bag that I have some water(most of the time very little though as I can get drinks on the fly) in case or drinking little sip when I want rather than lots at once. But there are times when I will have to go to mountain for a longer period so that's when I will load up tad more. Max is 3l but doubt I never put max(biggest candinate would be actually 3rd day which has the aproximately 7-8 hour climb to the temple in mountain).

Lots of stuff actually. Hoped to have bit lighter but test carry doesn't feel too bad. Let's see how it feels after walking week with it! One problem I have ran into though is that the bag is actually tad small. Stuff doesn't weight that much but takes space. Rain days could be issue if I need to have food with me as camera and pilgrim book etc need to go inside. On those days food bag will be hanging out of my back bag I think.

For shoes I have Merrel light(ish) trekking shoes. With shoes there seems to be two camps on what is good. There's trail runner camp who swear on having light shoes. This is good especially on asphalt(of which pilgrimage consists a lot). One kilo on your feet feels like several on your back.

However parts of the trek will be over mountains during which, especially the heavier bag you are carrying, extra support to ankles by trekking shoes are welcome.