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The first thing that usually comes to mind when one thinks of Tokyo is Japan's busting capital city, packed with people making their way along busy, neon lit streets. While this is certainly a fair characterization of Japan's largest metropolis, many are unaware that Tokyo also has a much more tranquil side.
To the west of the urbanized area of Tokyo, visitors can find a perfect escape from the frenetic pace of the city center, and soothe their soul by viewing and hiking around lush mountains, exploring quaint traditional townscapes, and experiencing some of the deep-rooted spirituality that exists here.
One place where all this can be found in abundance is on Mount Takao. This beautiful mountain provides much in the way of escape from the hustle and bustle, and, incredibly, is reachable from central Tokyo by direct train in around one hour. Today, I was to experience this mountain about which I had heard so much for the first time, and enjoy its charms including some gentle hiking and temple exploring with a visit to a high altitude beer garden to round off the day.
I began my day at Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo. This train station is the busiest in the world, serving around 3.5 million passengers daily. Contemplating the sheer number of people that pass through this station's ticket gates made me all the more excited to escape city to a beautiful nature spot on its doorstep. I boarded a train soon found myself in a completely different world, seemingly a million miles away from the skyscrapers that, only an hour ago, I'd walked in the shadows of.
The train station that best serves Mount Takao is Takaosanguchi Station, and after arriving here, I made the short walk through the town at the foot of the mountain, traversing a series of quaint lanes and a picturesque central street as I did so. I had food on the brain, and was eager to find a nice, traditional restaurant in which to enjoy lunch before my energetic journey at the top of the mountain started. Luckily, I found just the place in Takahashiya, a restaurant that specializes in soba, or Japanese buckwheat noodles.
Soba is a dish that is often found in the Japanese countryside, and is usually offered in both hot and cold varieties. With the heat of the early summer sun beginning to intensify as the morning wore on, I decided to slurp down a cold offering of soba accompanied by edible wild plants. Delicious!
Satisfied and energized, I made my way out of the restaurant and walked a few steps to the cable car and chairlift station from where I opted to take the chairlift up the mountain. Both the cable car and the chairlift take visitors half way up the mountain, and with my legs dangling from the slow moving chairlift, I was able to take in some nice views as I ascended, especially near the top where turning around offered some great views down the mountain and of the urban sprawl in the distance.
