A mountain in Tokyo?

One of our favorite pastimes in Japan is hiking around in the wilderness, which usually includes a mountain. This trip, since it was so last minute, we were unable to buy the item that makes traveling around Japan possible (and affordable), the Japan Rail pass. The pass can only be purchased by foreigners and must be done several weeks in advance, so we were forced to pay for our travel separately, meaning we couldn't afford to leave the Tokyo area.

This presented a number of problems for us. A friend of ours and former teacher, Junko Suzuki, is currently living in Japan again, teaching in Kobe. The last several times we came to Japan, we stopped by and visited her (and met up with her and her daughter, Akiko, in Tokyo once). This time, both Akiko and her father, Ichiro (yes, that makes his name Ichiro Suzuki) were in Japan visiting Suzuki-san, and here we are unexpectedly just a few hundred miles away, but with no way to make it down there to visit(a train ticket to Kobe from Ueno is $170 per person, one-way). We felt badly, since it's not every day you're in a foreign country halfway around the world where a friend lives. It also confined us to the concrete wilderness of Toyko Metro, where Ueno Park was considered rural and a nature walk meant strolling by the homeless people and the occasional cat.

Until we discovered Takao-san.

So, Tokyo spreads out quite a ways, more than we thought. To the west, about fifty minutes by train, is a mountain called Takao-san, which is still, somehow, in the Tokyo area. Being what we would call in the Midwest an "outer-ring suburb", the train ticket was...$4? I can't take a train to Chicago for less than $20, and yet I can take a train from Tokyo to a "quasi-national park" complete with mountain and requisite Buddhist temple for $4?

Apparently, I can.

Takao-san is a 660 meter peak with a temple that dates back to the Nara period (~700AD) and has a number of trails leading up to the top. At the peak, on a clear day you can supposedly see both Shibuya and Mt. Fuji. Well, it's clear today, let's see what we can see!

This waterfall, Biwa Falls, is where devotees meditate, chanting shakras and mantras underneath the falls. It was off-limits today, probably to prevent hypothermia.

The roots of the trees made for some natural steps on a sometimes slippery path

Once we reached the top of the mountain, we were greeted by, as would be expected in Japan, several gift shops and restaurants.

Takao-san T-shirt

O-souji kozou - Cleaning Buddhist Priest.

There was also some great vistas of the area, including, as it turns out, a view of Mt. Fuji!

Fuji-san is in the back, above the clouds.

Tokyo suburbs. Shibuya is on the right edge, but it was a little too hazy to see it.

Coming down the other side, we visited the Yakuouin Temple, which is home to a number of traditions, including a "firewalk" every Feburary, where people walk across hot coals, and, for some reason, Traffic Safety rituals for motor vehicle operators. It was far more colorful than the typical Zen Buddhist temples we are used to visiting in Japan, reminding me a little of the Taiwanese temples, but not nearly as gaudy.

Each rail of the stairs has an inscription...

...and there are a LOT of stairs!

Buddhist monks love their stairs. I counted over 300 in the temple area alone.

Ask me to fetch again. I dare ya!

Octopus god?

After a long day of hiking, we headed back to Tokyo proper and went to get some food. As is tradition, I wanted to eat at the McDonald's here. They have a new sandwich in Japan, part of the "Big America" ad campaign (that is nothing to be proud of, by the way) called the Grand Canyon burger. We had no idea what was in it, or why it was called what it was, but it would be a unique experience, so off we went.

Udon shop owner wants to be a poet...

Ueno at night

Ueno park has it's Valentine's Day lights up

Getting to McDonalds, Sumi opts for Oushou gyoza instead, so I brave the Grand Canyon burger alone!

It was big. Bigger than a Big Mac. I started feeling a little worried.

Nothing says Grand Canyon like a burger patty, a fried egg, relish, onions, bacon bits, swiss cheese, sweet BBQ sauce and wasabi

 It was the most random pile of ingredients I could imagine thrown on a bun. I can't say it was bad, but I can say I would never order it again. I sometimes really wonder at what the Japanese think of America, when this is the kind of thing they come up with. Or Sumi's American Spaghetti in Nagano, which consisted of a Caeser Salad and spaghetti....at the same time. Sumi's meal was far more standard:

Gyoza, rice...fried chicken...pork dumplings? Potato salad?!

or maybe not.

Just a few more days to go. Tomorrow there is some festival at Sensouji where some spirits come out, run around the temple grounds for about fifteen minutes and then disappear. Sounds intriguing.