As mentioned a couple days ago, Tokyo experienced some January temperatures in the 60s (upper teens by local Celsius measures). To celebrate, I took another of the Day Walks Near Tokyo. Walk #9 is called Tama River.

Most of the content in the book about this walk is too dated to be useful. For starters, the book (copyright 1992) states the Komiya Station (小宮駅) has only one exit. Sometime in the past 18 years, a second exit was added to the station, and, of course, that happened to be the one I took which left me instantly lost for the first of a dozen or more times during the day.

Eventually, I found myself in the neighborhood pictured in today’s entry. Parts of this neighborhood didn’t exist in 1992 (although much of the above photo probably did), but this area is along the route of the suggested hike.

There is now a firefighter training center near the Tama River (多摩川), and a group of kids were on a field trip to watch the action.

Did I mention the weather was lovely? You can see part of the kotatsu (炬燵) in this home, but the residents wouldn’t need to use it on this warm day.

Posted on January 27th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: hiking, japan pictures, people. Comments: None

Before actually getting on the trail, the road from Kori Station (古里駅) to the dirt path is very scenic.

There are thatched-roof houses, small farms, and colors galore.

After turning to the right, you will begin to climb. The views don’t last long as after a few hundred steps you will be in the trees for at least a couple of hours.

If you can’t read kanji, and are doing this hike without a Japanese person with you, you’ll want a list of what a few dozen kanji mean. The trails are well marked for the most part, but you can easily get lost if you take a wrong turn. The signs don’t have any romaji on them. There are many junctions, some going off in more than a half dozen different directions.

Posted on November 24th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, hiking, japan pictures, japanese maple, mt. mitake, signs, thatch roof. Comments: None

On a recent, extremely clear sky day, after rain and wind, I went to the top of Shinjuku to watch the sun set. It was marvelous. And yes, that is Mt. Fuji (in the upper right part of the photo) from Tokyo. The sun set on one side of the building and then…

The moon rose over the other side of Shinjuku…

And then the people came out to play…

Posted on November 11th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, japan pictures, mt. fuji, night photography, people, shinjuku, sunset, Tokyo. Comments: 1

I recently visited Kamakura for the second time in my life and first time in over 21 years. The Daibutsu (大仏) hadn’t changed, unlike Shinjuku, but it was great to be in its presence again. Photographs can’t impress the feeling that comes from actually standing at the base of this giant.

Posted on October 4th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, japan pictures, kamakura. Comments: 2