Typically, we know four seasons. Japan has five, including summer, autumn, winter, spring, and the rainy one. Sadly enough, France seems to have this fifth one this year as well…
In Japan, the rainy season starts sometime around mid-June, thus, the period from mid-May until the rainy season starts is considered to be the best for outdoor activities, be it hiking, long walks in the park or any other you can think of.
Hiking from Port Kanaya to Mt. Nokogiri, Chiba.
Said became done, and so this weekend I went on a mountain hiking trip. The plan was to enjoy panoramic views from air gondola on the way up and to hike down afterwards, but as the old saying goes, the man plans and the God laughs. We traveled by train, bus, and a ferry to get to the place, just to find out that the ropeway was closed due to windy weather.
Can a suspended ropeway stop anyone? No, you guessed it! The guys in the group were “encouraging” that this is just an easy exercise before climbing Mount Fuji, and with joined team efforts we all eventually got to the very top.
Jigoku Nozoki – View of Hell, Nokogiriyama, Chiba.
The views from the mountain top are always amazing, yet there was one thing what I did not expect – queues! Knowing a number of mountains around Tokyo that are suitable for hiking, I did not expect to find a crowd on that particular one. As is typical in Japan, people were waiting nicely and patiently to get to the observation point…
And a queue! Everyone wants to see the hell…
Queuing on the mountain top, Nokogiriyama.
Back home, I was thinking what to do over the coming weekend, which had to be the last “nice” one. Yet, my colleagues have announced today that the rainy season in Kanto area has officially started… yesterday…
“Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head, they keep fallin’…
Ishidaibutsu, the largest stone figure of Buddha in Japan – 31 meters high! (Nokogiriyama)