When I was in elementary school, I went to an open-air school on Mt.Ominesan, which is a sacred site for the religion of Shugendo. While I was there, I had the experience of “Nishi-no-nozoki,” in which someone holds your legs while you look over the edge of a precipitous cliff. I still remember how frightened I was. I was also amazed by what I saw at the shop that makes Daranisuke, a famous medicinal pill. They cut notches into the paste used to make the pills, placed a board on top of that, pressed down with the palms of both hands, gave it a turn, and presto! There were a countless number of pills. I watched, fascinated, until I had to go. There are what seems like countless appealing onsen in Odaigahara, which makes up the central part of the peninsula. The only problem is that you can't go on a “hot spring crawl” like you can a pub crawl. Getting around on the peninsula is really inconvenient. My suggestion would be to make the remaining two lanes of the Kinki Expressway cut across the Kii Peninsula to form what you might call the Sangaku (“Mountain”) Expressway, instead of taking the route along the coast. Since it would consist of numerous tunnels, construction wouldn’t necessitate destroying the surrounding environment, and the infrastructure would be useful in the event of a disaster. Such an expressway would surely propel the peninsula at once to international renown as a secluded, sacred site in Japanese culture.