On Thursday I went hiking at Takao-san (Tokyo’s only mountain!). We didn’t quite make it to the top (we probably should have started earlier and not spent so much time at, say, the monkey park on the mountain, but at least now we have an excuse to go back), but it was awesomeness. It’s still technically Tokyo, but it feels like it’s way out in the country. It was beautiful there, and just a perfect day for hiking. And there’s so much to see on the mountain! Nature! Views of Tokyo! Statues and little shrines everywhere! Monkeys! A temple! And that was only on the one trail we were on! There are, like, seven more! And if it's clear enough, you can see Fuji-san from the top! I definitely want to go back. 
Because of the time and because we knew we were going to be doing quite a bit of walking again the next day, we ended up taking the cable car on the way down. There are a cable car and a lift that go halfway up the mountain. On one hand, it was the lazy way out, but on the other hand, it made me feel super accomplished. It took a long time to get down in the cable car! And it was super steep! I climbed up all that way and more! And I wasn't even really sore in the morning! Except when I had to go climb a bunch of stairs the next day, and then it was, like, "OW."
Anyway, it was a super fab day. Who knew so much nature was so close to the center of Tokyo (45 minutes or so from Shinjuku)?
Everything is so amazingly green - wow!! Do you know what the significance is of the shoes at the little shrine? And, where are the pictures of the monkeys? I want to see monkeys!!
ReplyDeleteSuper gorgeous, yeah? I have no idea what the shoes are all about - I just thought it was super weird!
ReplyDeleteMost of my monkey pictures sucked because they were moving too fast! I kept trying to get pictures of baby monkeys, but none of them turned out. Boo!