Do you live in Tokyo, Saitama Ken, or Yamanashi Ken? Do you like moss covered stones? The sound of a downhill stream?

A view of Mt. Fuji?

And need a little exercise (about 700 meters of elevation gain)?

Then Mt. Kuratake is the hike for you. I followed the guidelines in Day Walks Near Tokyo which was surprisingly accurate for once. One error is the view of Mt. Fuji. Weather permitting, you’ll get to see Fuji San from the top of the mountain, not from the ridge.

Regarding the Day Walks Near Tokyo guidebook, if you are coming from Shinjuku and want to save a few hundred yen, each way, take the Keio Line to Takao Station insead of the Chuo Line on JR as suggested.

The hiking course begins at Torisawa Station (鳥沢駅). There are few services nearby. I didn’t see any restaurants or any of the typical tourist shops that can usually be found next to hiking routes this close to Tokyo. There are two konbinis near the Torisawa Station (7-Eleven and Daily Yamazaki). These will be your last chance to get a bento. There are a few vending machines before you hit the real trail. I brought my usual one bottle of water and ran out so you may want more than one.

Above is a picture of Otsuki City down below from the top of Mt. Kuratake. Even though it was a clear day, the sun was so bright many things in the distance got washed out a bit in photos. To increase your odds of a good Fuji scene start your hike early, very early if possible. If you don’t get an early start, consider arriving at the top about a half hour or so before sunset. Don’t forget your headlamp for the way home though. Also, Mt. Fuji is usually easier to see in winter. However, the trails won’t be nearly as green and enjoyable after the leaves fall (in November) and before they return again (in April). I wouldn’t really recommend this hike in the winter unless you know the skies will be clear on top and your main objective is to see Fuji San.

Near the end of your hike you will cross the Katsura River (桂川), pictured above, for the second time. This river is called Sagamigawa (相模川) once it enters Tokyo.

Your journey on foot ends at Yanagawa Station (梁川駅). Again, there are no restaurants or places to get a bite to eat in this area as far as I could tell. Otsuki is spread over a large piece of territory and has a population of only 29,000 and shrinking every day.

I’ll post more details and pictures in the future. In the meantime, here is a map you’ll want to bring with you.

And here is a short video I took of 月屋根沢 (Tsukiyanesawa?), an amazing stream you will walk along on your homestretch. You’ll cross this little river about a dozen times on the trail. I didn’t see a single person from the time I reached the top of Mt. Kuratake until I got on the train, more than two hours later. Crank it up for the sound of the water and wildlife in the area.

Posted on May 19th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: hiking, mt. fuji, video. Comments: None

While walking through Inokashira Park (井の頭公園) last Saturday we stumbled upon Rikimaru Toho (東方力丸), who I recognized from a piece I saw about him on TV. I asked him if he was the guy I saw on TV, and he said he was. We spoke only in Japanese, and he said he only does his manga readings in Japanese (while offering to do one for us). As Ryan contemplated which manga he would like Mr. Toho to read to us, he did one of his dramatic readings for another couple.

Above is his collection of very faded manga which customers can choose from. If you’d like to experience 東方力丸 in person I understand he can usually be found in Inokashira Park on the weekends during the day or at Shimokitazawa Station on weekend nights. He looks like he could be homeless, and I hear he started in this line of work by selling used manga that others had thrown away, but who knows if these things are true? I will chat with him in more depth if I ever see him again.

Even if you don’t understand Japanese, this guy is entertaining. I only took one video (below), and it isn’t great, but you can get a bit of an idea of his different voices and sound effects he uses to bring the manga to life.

Posted on May 13th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: inokashira, Japanese Manga, people, video. Comments: None

We walked from Shinagawa Station to Odaiba and back last week. The clouds threatened rain the entire time, but we only had a few drops fall on us on the way back.

The top picture is similar to one I took at night back in January.

While waiting near the dressing room in a store in Aqua City I took the following video through a wall of windows. I zoom in three times during the video. The first time is on Tokyo’s more-than-half-finished Sky Tree. The second time is on Tokyo Tower/Rainbow Bridge. The third time is on the Statue of Liberty.

Posted on May 11th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: clouds, odaiba, rain, sky tree, tokyo tower, video. Comments: None

The setting for my first picture in this series was the grounds of Maizuru Castle Park. Shingen’s troops gathered here before heading off in their regiments for the “parade.” The atmosphere was very good. The weather was fine, Mt. Fuji loomed in the background, and the samurai were getting drunk before heading off to battle (the pavement of Kofu’s streets).

The Japanese guy above was enjoying the mood as well. I was merely taking an incognito picture of his group when he spotted me and performed this “charge.” It was actually more of a pose than a charge, but I appreciated his willingness to provide a nice action shot for my camera without actually impaling me.

Let’s not forget this was a festival and not a battle reenactment. Therefore, there was plenty of yakisoba, takoyaki, and the like to be had, as well as monkeys doing tricks and other matsuri standards.

The guy in the middle of this group, with the tall helmet, is the president of his company and represented one of Takeda Shingen’s generals on horseback later in the evening. I chatted with him for a while earlier and had my picture taken with him. Photos of people like me in regular clothes with those of Japanese in samurai gear don’t look right though.

As each of the 24 regiments left the castle grounds they gave a battle shout like the one you can see in the above video I took. Some groups were more serious than others. Applause at the end seemed a little… wrong.

Posted on April 25th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: castle, festivals, kofu, people, video. Comments: None

My first game of the season was a good one. My Lions beat the visiting Nippon-Ham Fighters from Hokkaido.

Half the fun at Japanese baseball games is the cheering. Above is a video I took of one of the many cheers. Get your cheers down before the game for maximum enjoyment. Here you can practice them with music, but you need to be able to read Japanese.

The words to the cheer (for a player named 久) in the video are:
光り輝く　
日はまた昇る　
燃える男だ　
チャンスに久
かとばせ久
Go Go Let’s Go 久

Posted on April 24th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, seibu lions, tokorozawa, video. Comments: 7