Mt. Takao – BRB Out to Japan

Mt. Takao is one of the biggest natural attractions for the Japanese because it is so close to the Tokyo metroplex and it offers some excellent views and hiking trails along with very popular attractions, like Yakuoin Temple and a monkey park featuring over 40 Japanese macaques that you can feed and watch perform in various shows. The family and I headed there with some friends to check it our for ourselves.

Idyllic Japanese village on our way to the trailhead.

The start of our journey. The station has a cable car we used on the way down.

There are several hiking trails that take you to the top. Jeffrey likes maps a lot.

Quintessential Japanese gift shop you can find literally everywhere.

The first stretch of the hike was a pretty steep climb about halfway up the mountain to the ropeway station. I can definitely see why lots of people skip the first half, because it’s a tough hike of several switchbacks without much in the way of sights or attractions. I’m glad we did the hike though because it’s always good to get some exercise (Never skip leg day!) and we saw the world’s biggest earthworm. Seriously, we thought it was a snake at first, and I’m pretty sure its thrashing would leave some bruises. The kids loved it. (I’m pretty sure I screamed after Jeffrey touched it and it wriggled surprisingly fast!)

The trail was tough but paved and well maintained. Jeffrey handled it pretty well.

All along the trail were some really cool statues. Each one seemed to be unique and was very detailed. I tried to get pictures of them all but probably missed a few.

The monkey park was pretty cool. We didn’t watch any shows because they cost extra and the next performance wasn’t for almost an hour, but we still enjoyed just watching them for a while. There was a monkey guy in the enclosure doing stuff with them and talking to the crowd, but we couldn’t understand it. Even so, the kids had a good time.

Shortly after the monkey park we came across the Yakuoin Temple. This was one of the cooler temples I’ve seen so far in Japan. The temple itself was beautiful, and there were shops and stores along the entrance as well with awesome architecture that added to the temple.

There was an awesome stone shrine with all the zodiac animals. I took pictures of our zodiac years. I’m the snake, Jackie is the goat, Jeffrey is the rooster, and Jonathan is the pig. I missed the year of the dragon by 9 months =(

Main temple. Jeffrey liked spinning these stones that were everywhere.

Jeffrey is about to be ambushed by some tiny warriors!

You can see the one of the stone wheels clearly

After the temple, it was only a short hike (and dozens more steps) to the summit.

So many steps! (I carried the baby backpack for part of this and quickly gave it back to Taylor!)

Our reward for getting to the top. Was pretty overcast but still a good view.

Jeffrey trying to make his best Eastwood impression

I’m glad that Jonathan likes his hiking seat. He was in such a good mood all day!

On the way back we took one of the other trails that was much less crowded and featured more nature and cool suspension bridge. (It had thin trails with drops on the side…I was clutching Jeffrey’s hand to ensure he didn’t fall…he makes me nervous.) It was a good change of pace from the heavily trafficked and paved route we took on the way up. Despite being in one of the largest metropolises in the world, you can still find trails like this. No wonder this area is so popular among the Japanese.

One cable car trip later and we back at the bottom of the trail. Cable car was definitely nice because we were all pretty tired!

Taking his well-earned rest on the cable car

BRB, out to Japan – Taylor

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