A Beginner’s Guide to Climbing Some of Japan’s Most Iconic Mountains Hiking guidebooks targeted at foreign audiences in Japan are such rare beasts that new releases are much anticipated. This time it’s Lonely Planet’s turn to return to the...
Enjoy Hiking More Safely In July 2022, COCOHELI and jRO merged, with jRO becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of COCOHELI. In addition to COCOHELI’s membership-based helicopter search service, jRO’s search and rescue service was integrated. If...
MAPPLE Special Online Maps Campaign for 2021 The map images and contents of this article have been obtained with the permission of the publisher (株式会社昭文社 Shobunsha Publications, Inc.). Come February or March each year Shobunsha Publications a.k.a...
GSI Topo Maps: A Beginner’s Guide In this previous article I described in some detail the finer points of reading “Yama to Kogen Chizu” topographic maps, this time we turn our attention to the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI)...
Japan’s Second COVID State of Emergency: A Piece of Advice TL;DR State of emergency declared in Tokyo and neighbouring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa (the state of emergency was expanded to 11 prefectures on January 13). The...
Hiked on Jan 1, 2021 . “Hatsuhinode” Capturing the First Sunrise from Mt. Jinba A rite of passage for any hiker worth their salt is to witness a hatsuhinode or first sunrise of the New Year from a mountaintop and yesterday was my turn...
Hiked on Dec 29, 2020 . Enoki-toge 榎峠 – Nago-toge 名郷峠 – Mt. Sanbosan 三方山 Duration: 4 hours Distance: 10.9 km Elevation change: 244 metres Highest point: 494 metres Start: Ikusabata Station (Ome Line) ...
Hiked on Dec 16, 2020 . Kintoki-jinja Shrine 金時神社 – Mt. Nagao 長尾山 – Otome-toge 乙女峠 Duration: 3.5 hours Distance: 6.3 km Elevation change: 517 metres Highest point: 1212 metres Start: Kintoki Jinja...
Hiked on Nov 28, 2020 . Umenokidaira 梅ノ木平 – Odarumi Pass 大垂水峠 – Mt. Takao 高尾山 Duration: 6 hours Distance: 17.7 km Elevation change: 480 metres Highest point: 670 metres Start: Takaosanguchi Station...
Perennial Favourite Among Lightweight Backpackers KS ultralight gear is one of a growing number of cottage companies serving the needs of ultralight backpackers both here in Japan and around the world. It’s run by French expat Laurent Barikosky who...