Ueno Skybridge An autumn valley opens up beyond the white railings

I left the car at Kawawa Nature Park and headed for Ueno Skybridge with my friend. From the entrance, the white railings ran straight towards the distant mountains. Thin vertical cables lined both sides, with thicker cables above. I followed them with my eyes to the tower ahead, then stepped onto the bridge deck. After driving the mountain road, I could take in the scenery at my own walking pace. I wanted to slow down here.

I held the front of my pale purple jacket with one hand, and a gust from the valley slipped through the sleeve. I wore a white top, a khaki cargo skirt and black boots. The railings cast long shadows across the bridge deck, and with each step my boots crossed from sunlight into shade. My friend had stopped a little way ahead. I went to stand beside her and looked in the same direction. Past the nearby branches, mountain after mountain stretched into the distance.

The bridge is 90m high. Looking down through the white railings, I could see wooded slopes falling away towards the valley. Instead of looking up at autumn leaves, I could take in the mountain colours from the side and above. I was looking for clusters of yellow leaves, but then my attention wandered to the mountains beyond them. With the slope in the foreground and the distant ridgeline in view at once, I wanted to take it all in before reaching for my camera.

“Do you think we’re about halfway across?” I asked my friend. She glanced towards the tower ahead, then turned to look at me. The bridge is 225m long, but I kept stopping to take in the views. Today, I felt more like taking my time across the valley than watching the clock. When I set off again, the mountainside to my right seemed to draw nearer. The trees that had looked far away from the entrance were now close enough for me to make out the shape of their leaves.

At the far end, I came to Mahoba no Mori. As I stepped off the bridge and turned around, the white railings we’d just followed stretched across the valley. We took a break at the café and talked about trying the barbecue here next time. I’d love to pair a bridge walk like this with a barbecue featuring inobuta from Ueno Village. Maybe I’ll put on “PROJECT START” for the drive back through the mountains. The afternoon left me wanting to find one more view.