Takaosan

This week's escape from Tokyo: Takaosan (Mt Takao), about 50 minutes from Shinjuku. Or, if you're like us and you manage to take the local train, 1 hour 20 minutes from Shinjuku. Oops.

We have been meaning to visit this place for WEEKS. But our first attempt was thwarted by me getting randomly sick the night before and our second barely even registered, I think we were just too tired for some reason or another. So this weekend we were DETERMINED to go.

Which was a bit of a shame, really, as the weather was grey and overcast so the view from the top of the mountain? Pea soup. Not to worry, Mike and I are Resourceful. We managed to find a few fun things to do!

We took the chairlift half-way up the mountain for a start. Very entertaining, it doesn't seem all that stable and it was a bit small for Mike .. his legs nearly touched the ground most of the way up .. and at times, he COULD touch the ground which meant I spent a lot of the ride worrying he was going to catch his foot and fall face first onto the ground and then get left behind as I continued on up the mountain. But luckily that didn't happen - Phew!

The final section was about a 30 minute walk but we stopped for lunch at a noodle restaurant on the way. Yes, they have restaurants on the sides of mountains here. The staff were very helpful and came outside with us so we could point to the pictures of the udon we wanted. No pictures or English menu to be found INSIDE the restaurant!

At the top we sat and watched kids eat icecream, teenagers playing some crazy fingerplay (like drinking games without the beers) and couples wearing matching sneakers and vests. We had a drink, looked at the non-existant view and then found Trail 6, leading down Takaosan and taking us past a waterfall.

As far as waterfalls go, it wasn't all that impressive, but the walk was nice and there were far fewer people once you got off that main footpath from the chairlifts. It took about 90 minutes to walk down and find our way back to the centre of the village where we watched a guy preparing dough (?) to make soba noodles.

The highlight of our wee adventure was actually thanks to a discovery by Mike - the Trick Art Museum. It wasn't exactly cheap (￥1500 EACH) but we DID get a free drink at the end - out on the "terrace."

To see some photos from the Trick Art Museum and Takaosan click here.