100 Things You Should Know About Hiking Japan In spite of the fact that blogging is often thought of as a solitary pursuit, most of us count on the support, wisdom, and good deeds of others to cobble things together. This blogger included. I...
Navigation Toolkit You Need to Safely Hit the Trail Over the years one thing this blog has tried to hammer home probably the most is keeping safe and out of harm’s way on the trail. Even with the best preparation it doesn’t take much for...
Viewing Interactive GPS Maps Then & Now Not long after starting this blog I began using the pro version of WP Google Maps, a WordPress plugin to plot ‘polylines’ to display my hiking routes on Google Maps. As I commented at the time not having...
Where Neuroscience Meets Navigation Whenever I head out for a solo hike which happens to be the bulk of my forays into the mountains, I every so often have a niggling worry that I’ll utterly lose my way. Though statistically it’s a slight...
Navigating the Japanese Wilds with Ease Way back when I first started this blog one of the first topics I tackled was Japanese hiking maps with the emphasise on reading common kanji found out on the trail. This post remains popular and is updated...
Central reference point for all Japanese surveys First up this sightseeing locale is only really recommended for mapping diehards. To give some perspective the place doesn’t even make TripAdvisor’s list of 623 ‘things to do’ in the Minato ward...
Navigating the Pitfalls of Garmin Japan As someone who enjoys in the simplicity of navigating using a map and compass to find my way, I never really saw the necessity of investing in a handheld GPS unit. However, it’s not always beer and skittles...
Vintage Maps that Continue to Soldier on After years of faithfully pointing sightseers in the right direction, these mostly painstakingly hand drawn Japanese hiking maps take on an ethereal quality of their own. Though they may have withered and at...
What’s in a Name: Daisen vs. Oyama Reading the correct kanji for a particular mountain or any uncommon place name for that matter would arguably be the most challenging aspect of the Japanese language. Most kanji have at least two readings:...
Enjoy Precision Navigation with the Suunto A-30L Compass Along with a detailed topographic map an accurate compass is a must have for any backcountry adventure. In a previous post I offered a summary of what to look for when choosing an outdoor...