The Low-Down on Japanese Hiking Maps 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.). Writing about topographic maps i.e. a map which uses elevation contours...
Venue for the Canoe Sprint at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics Recently I read Roy Tomizawa’s terrific book; 1964 – The Greatest Year in the History of Japan: How the Tokyo Olympics Symbolized Japan’s Miraculous Rise from the Ashes. In one chapter he...
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...
Enjoying the First Snow for Winter 2020 While the snow which fell last Saturday may not have been Tokyo’s first official first snow or hatsuyuki for 2020 (there were a few snowflakes the week earlier) it was this year’s first sizeable dumping...
A Unique Shrine Surrounded by Nature Hatsumode or the first shrine visit of the year is a big deal in Japan with literally millions rocking up to their local shrine to pray for good fortune in the year ahead. In recent years I haven’t bothered much...
Day of the Falcon Japanese falconry or takagari was a ‘sport’ widely practiced by the noble and samurai class from the fourth century to underscore their status and authority. It flourished until the Edo period but with modernisation during the...
The World’s Lightest Down Jacket When it comes to lightweight down jackets, they don’t come much lighter than the Montbell Plasma 1000 Down Jacket weighing in at a miserly 130 grams (medium size). In fact, according to this Reddit user’s data sheet...
My Favourite Spot to Photograph Mt.Fuji Over the past seven years I have regularly snapped Fujisan from my balcony in Kodaira City in west Tokyo. As the crow flies it’s 79 km (49 mi) to the centre of Fuji’s main crater but often seems deceptively...
Kamakura Travel with Ease The nice thing about living in west Tokyo is its easy access to Okutama though heading south to Yokohama and Kamakura can be a drag. However, help is at hand. Enter the little-known Holiday Rapid Kamakura ホリデー快速鎌倉 a...
Hiked on Oct 28, 2019 Aug 15, 2021 . Makihatayama Refuge Hut 巻機山避難小屋 – Mt. Makihata 巻機山 Duration: 2 days Distance: 16.3 km Elevation change: 1372 metres Highest point: 1967 metres Start: Shimizu...