Back to Japan for the 11th time - October and November 2024 - Page 2

Here is Tokorozawa station. It is surrounded by a Seibu department store and mall, as it is on the Seibu line. That is how Japanese private train lines operate.

Home of the lions, the local c grade lacrosse team the people of Tokorozawa are very proud of.

The aviation museum is located in a big park, with a lacrosse field, and this tea house. I was too early (and too cheap).

In case you cannot go to Nara (I have been 3 times), you can always go to this park.

The most impressive aircraft is actually outside the museum - a Curtiss C-46 Commando.

The inside has a lot of black helicopters, some claiming to be the first operated in Japan by the Japanese after ww2.

The current emperor, who was the crown prince at the time, once rode on this one.

Bonus shot of main area of small museum.

Well I framed that perfectly.

What is this I see? A hiking trail map? It is indeed. Hachikokuyama park, it seems to be for mountain bikers. I saw no one at all on the trail that was a couple of km long.

Here is part of the aforementioned trail.

Dams and threatening skies. But still no rain.

I climbed up and down the dam several times, experiencing all the staircases.

The view from the top is nothing special. I was willing the rain to start.

I had the entire dam to myself. That mystery pole in the distance is part of the amusement park, there is an observation ring thing that goes up and down the pole. I saw a similar one years ago on top of a small mountain west of Niigata.

And for my final pic of the day, a blue train at Musashi-Yamato station. This is not the one that did an emergency stop.

Um-ber-rella-poc-a-lypse is unfolding before my very eyes.

After arriving at Tokyo station I first headed into Daimaru to not buy anything. They really hate cameras in here, they are worried someone will post evidence of their terrible rat problem.

Yaechika on the Yeosu side is large and corridor-y and rain free.

For my dinner, the seasonal omurice. Which means it comes with mushrooms. I believe I had the exact same seasonal special in the same place last time.

Apparently this cafe belongs to Yanmar, who have a store in the Tokyo station underground. Yanmar make outboard motors for speed boats, tractors, battleship armour. So it is important they maintain a nice cafe at the train station.

Here is the start of Ginza, and yes it is raining a lot.

And for my final pic, I stood in the rain in the traffic, in the middle of the road, in a puddle and tried to see how much water I could get in my camera. Remember, I have destroyed 2 of the same model previously via water and dust ingress!

Look at the rain! I went and had a coffee before even getting on the train to wait it out some more and look at the weather radar.

Standing on the station and it was not looking good.

By the time I arrived at Aihara station, some 2 hours later due to delays changing in Yokohama, I could kind of see blue through the cloud. There was hope.

The sun came out exactly as I passed this shrine.

It was actually about a 4km walk from the station to the start of a trail, which I started by Lake Shiroyama if you are trying to figure out where the hell I went. Oh, and these colourful houses look nice enough, but I took this photo standing in the petrol station pump area, so that is their view.

The road got quite remote, there was a gate letting only vehicles related to the dam at Shiroyama lake enter.

Before too long I ascended a hill by the lake and saw the city, but not the lake. I never got a clear shot of the lake. It is particularly clear after so much rain.

I assume the lake is some kind of hydro plant, so here is some Hitachi branded infrastructure. There was a drone flying overhead observing me...

Here is some more view, looking back in the direction of Yokohama I think.

The path was very nice for many many hours.

Behold, the giant forest penis! You can rub it for luck.

Someone is carving all kinds of things in the forest, environmental terrorism.

I was enjoying this nice sunny path.

What are all these seats for I wonder?

Another view! This lake is not the same lake as I mentioned before.

About half way in I crossed this bridge over the road. This was planned. If it was too wet or too muddy I could have got off the path at this point and followed the road down to a bus stop. But I did not, I decided to keep going much further.

The path after the bridge up to the main Takao trail was flat and smooth.

Before too much longer I was back on the main Takao trail, with its many steps and seating areas. There were really not many people around, and the outdoor cafe places were all closed.

No view of Fuji today.

Last time I was here there was a crush of people, today almost no one.

The shrine was also not very busy.

I nearly forgot to do one of these! Not bad, not bad at all.

Of course I was not going to take the cable car down, I found a slippery and rocky path instead.

These things are booby trapped.

At the bottom I passed the cable car, which is not getting much use today, and mocked the one guy sitting in it to go up. Hmm, I cannot actually see him in the photo, but there was definitely one guy sitting in it.

The last bit is this nice street at the bottom. I took a great photo from here at dawn many years ago.

I do not bother with the train that goes from the cable car to Takao station, I prefer the walk along the road lined with all the nice cafes, but after 20 minutes or so, here is my destination, Takao station. And on the train on the way back, another emergency stop! This time for 'emergency signal', only about a 10 minute delay.

And just when I thought the fun was over, back at Shimbashi station and the local branch of Aum Shinrikyo and or the APA hotel group owner are atop their black truck screaming nonsense. The guy in the foreground is strutting around in a strange manner. Sometimes freedom of speech is overrated. As you can see I got back from hiking after dark. Long day was long.

Jimbocho has a street full of lanterns and things covered in blue tarps. Whatever is under those tarps shall forever remain a mystery to me.

I stopped for curry pretty much straight away. I was not really that hungry, but decided I must be.

Guitar store street. Not that you can tell from this angle. About half the stores were closing at 8pm.

Now for some shots of Ochanomizu station, first the top down shot.

And now from the bridge of the exposed platform, complete with the red train on another line that belongs to a completely different company.

I arrived at Akihabara, without any intention of really looking around on this visit, in a few weeks time I will be staying one station away in Kanda.

And so for my last pic of the evening, a random shot of the main street that I have taken a few times before. OK bed time.

Hinatawada station. There is a convenience store 500m back towards Tokyo along the main road.

Photo of the day is the gorge view at Hinatawada. I have many great gorge shots along this train line that goes to Okutama.

The view in the other direction is also good, but the direction of the sun makes it less spectacular.

I passed the 'plum park' and realised I had been there before, by accident! A few years ago the train stopped at this station due to typhoon damage a few days prior. I did not know it was going to stop, so I was mad that my hiking plans for that day were ruined, so I looked on the map and saw the plum park. Today I went past it again and remembered that story, I can look it up using the search and reminisce, I will do that later.

Here is the start of the hiking trail proper, time to unleash the bear bell.

It was a great trail immediately. I saw only 2 other people before Hinodesan, so for 2.5 hours.

There was a shrine of sorts along the way.

The shrine had a view. A bit of hazey cloud was rolling in making the sky less blue.

Logging often provides the only view, today it was not the only view, but just one of the views.

Lots of logging.

I was surprised to come to this road. It is for logging of course, and there are many gates to stop cars, but you can walk on it and probably cycle on it.

If you like tree roots you will enjoy today's hike.

Here is the last bit to get to the top of Hinodesan, it is very developed.

There are people at the top. Most have come from nearby Mitake and have taken the cable railway up. There are lot of people between Hinodesan and Mitake with little dogs.

Before much longer I too was on the top of Mitake. This cat came to greet me. There is a little village at the top and big shrine, all of which I have photographed before. A lot of the staircases were being repaired so I got lost.

There is even a street full of little shops. With a permit you can drive up here, I have walked down the twisty road from here twice before, not today though!

Here is the way up to the main shrine.

There is not really a good view spot from the shrine at the top, but here is the shrine for the sake of completeness.

Best I can do for a view.

Now on my previous trips, I have taken the twisty access road down, where as today I am continuing further west. So today I actually went past the cable train station area, which has this view.

Here is the cable train station area, the actual shed it comes and goes from is to my left, but you can not actually see it until you pay for a fare. I did not know until today that there are also chair lifts to take you up to the top of the shrine area from the cable car station.

Here is the highest point of today's hike, Otsuka. It is not very high and has no view.

Just below the Otsuka summit is this abandoned picnic area, covered in rust and moss like they all are these days.

The path down was through more logging area, but we are not out of the woods yet! I cannot believe I have never actually typed that on this website before.

It took quite a while to get all the way down, but eventually I popped out of the forest at Kori.

Time to cross the Tama river and check out the gorge from here. Not as good as earlier due to the hazey sky.

Kori station in all it's glory. I had to wait 30 minutes for a train so headed across the road to 7-eleven and bought some chocolate coated banana chips.

Now full of chocolate and deep fried bananas I had just enough time to stand on the train overpass and take a shot of the village of Kori before boarding for the long 2 hour journey back to Tokyo. Now I will go and see if I can get arrested for illegally participating in Halloween, some say I always look like I am wearing a scary costume.

Shibuya station area is STILL a construction site. A 20 year project.

Approaching the crossing and it is all very stage managed in a way that ensures there really is no crossing experience.

Hachiko (small dog statue) was boarded up last year too. So now we all take a photo of the sign advising that you cannot see Hachiko. Next year - a sign advising that the sign advising that Hachiko is boarded up.

The crossing, you can only cross in certain directions as some of the start and end points are closed off.

Not nearly as many people as previous years, note the signs on the light poles.

This was new this year, stay in your lane or else!

You had to follow the planned course and not stop. Note that no one at all is wearing a costume.

Time to go elsewhere.

In previous years this street has been full, now empty.

And here it is, my spicy Thai drunk chicken noodles. It looks quite a bit different to the order on your phone menu picture, but it was pretty good.