How Overnight Hikes Shaped my Journey as a Hiker There’s a unique kind of satisfaction that comes from pitching your tent under a sky full of stars, miles from the nearest road or vending machine. After a long day of climbing ridgelines, crossing...
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...
Bask in Fujisan’s Shadow On my latest getaway to try and sneak in one final hike before returning to my teaching post, I spent a night at Fumotoppara campground just a hop, skip and jump away from Mt. Ryugadake. Fumotoppara is located in Shizuoka...
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...
Hiked on Oct 31, 2020 Nov 10, 2021 . Gan-toge 雁峠 – Kasatori-goya 笠取小屋 – Tama River Headwaters 多摩川源流 Duration: 2 days Distance: 20 km Elevation change: 893 metres Highest point: 1953 metres ...
Hiked on Oct 24, 2020 . Himuro Shrine 氷室神社 – Hokora Hut ほこら小屋 – Mt. Hadaka 裸山 Duration: 2 days Distance: 16.2 km Elevation change: 1276 metres Highest point: 2052 metres Start: Hirabayashi Bus Stop...
Tracking Down Campgrounds Like Pro There is no shortage of camping locations in Japan in fact there are over 3,000 campgrounds according to this Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) travel guide. They can be found in just about every nook and...
18 Beautiful Places to Camp in Japan With everyone now under stay-at-home requests through May 31 it’s looking increasingly likely the spring hiking will pass without most of us hitting the trail – myself included. To console myself with this...
Japanese Outdoor Gear Manufacturers As a follow up to my recent blog post about Japanese outdoor brands I have decided to make the list a little more expansive thanks to some reader suggestions. The aim is to include outdoor manufacturers which...
Japanese Cottage and Mainstream Outdoor Brands With an annual mountaineering market in the ballpark of 186 billion yen, you would think large numbers of homegrown manufacturers are cashing in. The reality is that there are very few Japanese outdoor...
Hiked on Jul 25, 2019 . Mt. Senmai-dake 千枚岳 – Mt. Warusawa 悪沢岳 – Mt. Eboshi 烏帽子岳 Duration: 5 days Distance: 29.1 km Elevation change: 2021 metres Highest point: 3141 metres Start: Sawarajima Lodge...
Enjoy the Tokyo Islands on a Shoestring If you are looking for some great spots to camp around Tokyo, than the laid-back Izu Islands (Izu-shoto) are one place you should definitely pay a visit. This group of volcanic islands stretch south-east from...