A Visit to Takao-san

A quirk of the japanese language is that the same kanji can be pronounced multiple ways. For example 山 means "mountain" and is usually pronounced yama. However in the name of a particular mountain it's usually san, which is also the way you politely address people. So Takao-san is either Mount Takao or Mr. Takao.

(If you can actually read japanese you cannot make this mistake.)

Anyway, Mount Takao is the nearest decent sized hill to central Tokyo. We decided to visit. It's too close to make a decent day out on its own so we decided to get the bus out to a village called Jinbakogenshita, to a longer ridge walk finishing at Takao.

After a short but steep climb we arrived at the top of Mount Jinba, from whose summit magnificent views could be combined with early lunch.

Most viewpoints around here are judged on how good a view of Mount Fuji you get. Mount Jimba would get a high score in clearer weather.

There's also this concrete horse statue. No further comment.

These forest paths are beautiful but they are hazardous if you are prone to tripping.

About half way along the ridge you come to Mt. Kagenobu, where there are some charmingly basic snack shacks. This is the kind of thing I expect to find on some South East Asian island, not 10 miles from Tokyo!

After the quiet of the trail, Takao itself is completely built up and overrun with visitors. Ingrid doesn't like tourists.

So we got the incredibily steep funicular railway down to the bottom, and then hopped on the Chuo line back home.