I have a new job for a Japanese company, which means semi-frequent trips to the head office in Tokyo.  Japan has never really been on my “list” of places to visit, but I’m always up for traveling to new places, especially when I’m not paying for the plane ticket!

 

I arrived in Tokyo on a Saturday evening, and first thing Sunday morning got up and took the train to Kamakura, a coastal town an hour’s train ride south of Tokyo famous for the Great Buddha and lots of old temples and shrines. There were even some neat little trails through the woods connecting sights. It was a very nice little day trip.

 

With a 3 week visit, I had 2 whole weekends to get out of the city and explore the mountains! Mt. Fuji was the obvious choice, but it turns out Japan has a lot of other great hiking. Planning a hike in a foreign country is considerably more complicated than back home. The internet does not answer all questions, even for well established routes, or at least, not in English. Transportation was my other big limiting factor – I would not have a car, so I had to choose hikes I could get to via public transit. In Japan, this is actually not too difficult, since public transportation is so widespread. But again, language made figuring out the routes and schedules difficult. Google Translate has its limitations.

Before leaving home, I had picked up a copy of Lonely Planet’s Hiking in Japan, and between that and a few websites, decided I simply had to get to the “Japan Alps”. I emailed back and forth with a gal in the Tokyo office and she helped me figure out the bus schedule to get from Tokyo to Kamikochi – a popular tourist destination and access point for many hiking trails. Weather determined that my first weekend I’d hike in the Alps, and the second weekend I would hope for good weather for a climb up Fuji.

Leaving late Friday night, I took an overnight bus to Kamikochi, hoping to sleep on the way, but it was not that kind of bus ride. I got a nice early start (something like 6:00am) and started my planned route up the Dakesawa valley toward Okuhotakadake (Mount Hotaka). This would be the start of a clockwise loop following the Daikiretto (knife’s edge) to Yarigatake and down the Yarisawa valley back to Kamikochi. Being mid-June, it was definitely early-season for hiking in these mountains and I expected a lot of snow. I was not expecting a bunch of clouds and some raindrops. About 3 miles in, and over 3000′ of up, I found myself walking straight into the clouds (and it didn’t seem like I would simply climb above them) on a completely snow covered slope that looked rather like an avalanche chute, with no visible trail and no one else around. I was definitely concerned about conditions up on the knife’s edge, so I made the responsible decision to turn around.

 

I backtracked down to Kamikochi and took the loop in the counterclockwise direction instead, another 14 miles and 5600′ away. The weather in Yarisawa valley, on the leeward side of the mountains, was wonderfully warm and sunny. It was an easy hike, though it turned into a bit of a slog on the steep slopes the last few thousand feet up to Yarigatake. I was glad to have my crampons.

 

The Japanese are really into mountain huts, and I was super glad to pay ~$80 (USD) and make use of Yarigatake-sanso, a fairly big complex situated on a saddle a couple hundred feet below the summit of Yari. Communal bunk accommodations are not really my cup of tea, but being so early in the season, I had an entire room to myself, and it was really nice to not have to bring equipment for camping on an international trip. The kerosene heaters didn’t hurt either.

 

I dropped my pack, wolfed down a pretty terrible mystery dinner provided by the hut, and climbed to the summit of Yari for the sunset. I was pressing the shutter button of my camera pretty continuously.

 

 

The sunrise the next morning was pretty great too. I hoofed it back to Kamikochi and grabbed lunch among the crowds of tourists before catching the bus back to Tokyo. Good weekend!