Where to Hike as a Family in the Greater Tokyo Area Hiking with children is a great way to get them connected to the outdoors and enjoy nature but knowing exactly where to go can be a challenge. Thankfully the Greater Tokyo Area has plenty of...
Hiked on May 5, 2017 Nov 13, 2022 . Mt. Bonomine 棒ノ峰山 – Mt. Sobatsubu 蕎麦粒山 – Mt. Tenmoku 天目山 Duration: 2 days Distance: 19.8 km Elevation change: 1171 metres Highest point: 1576 metres ...
Tokyo a City of Extremes With near on 14 million people living in the Tokyo Metropolis it goes without saying there isn’t much in the way of personal space. The corollary to this craziness is excellent food, shopping, nightlife and entertainment...
Exploring the Backwoods of Okutama One of the places I love frequenting in Okutama, Tokyo is the rather obscure Kurasawa Valley a lazy 20-minute bus ride from Okutama Station. Flanked on either side by precipitous cliff faces it was once home to the...
Caving in Tokyo: Then and Now There was a time not so long ago when visiting a tourist cave was a popular way to spend a lazy weekend. Rewind to the early 1980s and there were seven such caves operating in Tokyo now sadly more than half of them have...
The Kurasawa Bridge (Kurasawabashi) One could be forgiven for thinking the Tokyo Gate Bridge is the highest bridge in Tokyo and while its truss sections rise some 88 metres, the bridge’s “clearance” when measured from the deck of the road comes in...
The Mystery Surrounding Kanto’s Longest Cave The Greater Tokyo Area features some fairly good tourist caves including the Nippara Limestone Cave in Tokyo and the Fujido Cave in Gunma Prefecture which are worth checking out. Recreational caving...
Hossawa Falls on a Wintry Morning During a previous visit to the Hossawa Falls in early spring a few years back, splendid greenery complemented Tokyo’s most renowned waterfall. This time was a little less joyful, arising at the crack of dawn on a...
Okutama at its Finest: Mitsugama Falls In short, there are few more beautiful places in Okutama than the Unasawa Valley. The main drawcard are three waterfalls which snake their way along the Unasawa Creek downhill of Mount Odake. The hiking course...
The Biggest Cypress Tree in Tokyo This remarkable tree in Okutama on the outskirts of Tokyo traces its ancestry back to the Muromachi era around 600 years ago, though some have estimated its age closer to 1,000 years. Either way the Kurasawa...
Hiked on May 16, 2016 May 26, 2024 . Hyakuhiro Waterfall 百尋の滝 – Mt. Kawanori 川苔山 The route from Kawanori Bridge Bus Stop to Mt. Kawanori has been repaired and reopened as of July 21, 2022. For more information about the...
Terrific Day Trips Within Reach of Tokyo With inbound tourists visiting Japan surging to a record 19.73 million last year means more visitors than ever are looking for avenues to not only escape the crowds, but check out some less familiar...