After 2 long days of Tokyo's concrete jungle, we thought it would be
nice to take a break from that and do something different. We
were thinking of going to Nikko, but from Shinjuku it was going to take
us almost 3 hours just to get there. None of us felt like
spending that much time traveling, so we settled on Mt. Takao.
Mt. Takao is only about 45 minutes from Shinjuku station by a rapid
train. Instead of going to Shinjuku station, we found a station
that was a little closer to our hotel, so we tried to catch a train
from there. The only problem was, it took us longer than we
expected to reach and find the station, so we missed our scheduled
train. We quickly got back on the wifi hotspot and found a
different train was only about 10 minutes behind. We got on that
train (which required a couple of transfers) and made our way to Mt.
Takao. When we reached Mt. Takao, the area was pretty full of
people out for a Saturday morning hike. We wanted to hike up
trail #6 and down trail #1 (Here's an
English Map), so we studied some signs near the train station and
set off down the road we hoped led to the correct trail. There
were a couple of spots to turn off that were signed only in Japanese,
but we eventually found what we were pretty sure was the right turnoff
and we headed up it. It took us a little bit, but we eventually
did confirm we were on trail #6. Very quickly, we found some nice
statues and scenery:
Hiking Mt. Takao Trail #6
The hike was steep and uphill the whole way and even though it was a
cool morning, we were quickly stopping to shed our layers. For
some reason, Tyler thought he needed to basically run up the mountain,
so we passed a lot of people and made it to the top pretty fast.
When we got to the top, all of the trails converged and there were
several restaurants/shops and vending machines arranged around the
viewing areas. The day was pretty hazy, but the views were still
nice. It was a great change from being in Tokyo. We were
just a couple of weeks before full time spring there, so the trees
didn't have any leaves on them yet. I bet the area would be
pretty spectacular during the fall when the leaves are changing.
Summit of Mt. Takao
We took a break and ate some snacks, then explored the summit area a
little bit. We were lucky and on one side, you could just barely
make out Mt. Fuji through the haze. It was pretty awesome to see,
but it was too bad the haze made it tough to see.
Mt. Fuji
Family Portrait at the top
We were fed and rested, so we were ready to head down. We walked
around looking for a sign to route 1. Eventually, we just decided
it must be the biggest one leaving the top since it was supposed to be
the most popular route. We started down it and then saw some
signs that confirmed we were on the correct path. After a little
bit, we came across the first of several buildings that are part of
Yakuoin Temple. The temple buildings were really spectacular and
we stopped to take lots of pictures.
Yakuoin Temple
We explored the temple for a while and continued to marvel at the
different buildings.
Various temple buildings
Eventually, we headed down to the last several buildings. They
had some really amazing wood carvings decorating them.
Temple Carvings
We left the temple and continued our way down the mountain. We're
very glad we didn't come up this was as it was super steep (and
paved.) This is one of the few mountain hikes I've ever done that
felt harder and longer going down than going up. We stopped and
took a few pictures looking back through the haze towards Tokyo.
Looking back towards Tokyo
By the time we made it back to town, it was almost lunch time. We
knew that it would be too late to eat if we waited to get back to
Tokyo, but there wasn't much near this train station to eat, so we
headed to a convenience store and bought some sandwiches for
lunch. We bought what we thought was chocolate milk for Tyler to
drink, but he immediately complained and said it didn't taste
good. Erin and I smelled it and realized it was actually a cold
coffee drink! So we now know that Tyler doesn't like
coffee. We finished up our lunch and caught a train back to
Shinjuku and went back to our hotel to relax for a little bit and plan
the rest of our day.
We decided we would walk through Harajuku and end up in Shibuya to see
the famous scramble crossing. We headed back out around
3:30. Harajuku station is only a couple of stops away from
Shinjuku which was nice since the train we were on was packed. We
got off in Harajuku and headed to Takeshita Dori. Takeshita Dori
is a super popular street with young Japanese and is known for its
shops and filled crepes and it was absolutely packed on a nice Sunday
afternoon. We walked along the street looking for a place to buy
a stuffed crepe. I took a picture just to capture how packed the
street really was.
Harajuku on a Sunday afternoon
We found a crepe shop that looked good and ordered a strawberry and
whipped cream crepe. It is served rolled up like a cone shape and
absolutely stuffed full of whipped cream. After our snack, we
continued down the street and made it to the main high end shopping
street, Omotesando. The street had been blocked off and was just
being opened as we arrived. There were lots of foreigners wearing
green and we guessed that we probably just missed some kind of St.
Patrick's Day parade or celebration. There were two stores we
really wanted to find so we started down through the massive
crowds. We forced our way through the crowds and eventually found
the first store, Kiddyland. Kiddyland is a giant toy store and it
didn't disappoint. Tyler and I were in heaven and spent quite a
long time going through the different floors. You had to pay on
each floor, so we got to go through many checkout lines with all of the
things we bought. After Erin finally managed to drag us out of
there, we headed just a couple of buildings down and found Oriental
Bazaar. Oriental Bazaar has lots of good Japanese souvenirs and
it was Erin's turn to be happy. They had all kinds of cheap
dishes, chopsticks, sake sets, etc. A lot of places that sold
that type of stuff had really nice pieces with really high prices, but
Oriental Bazaar had lots of inexpensive things to choose from.
After paying for Erin's purchases, we headed up the street towards
Shibuya. We weren't sure exactly which way to go, but we followed
the direction most people were going and ended up at the famous Shibuya
scramble crossing.
Shibuya Scramble crossing
It was neat (and packed), but we had heard it was even better at night,
so we had timed our visit so we would eat dinner in Shibuya and would
be able to see the scramble crossing at night. We wandered around
the streets outside Shibuya station and eventually ended up at a
Yoshinoya. Yoshinoya is a chain Gyudon restaurant that you can
find all over Japan. Gyudon is a thinly sliced seasoned beef
served on top of rice. It is cheap and quick and was what we
needed as everyone was getting hungry. Tyler didn't like the
choice and was very hesitant to try it, so we ordered him a small
bowl. I ordered a pork bowl and a few minutes later, it
arrived. Tyler was pretty nervous to try it, but we convinced him
it would be fine. He tried it, and it became one of his favorite
and most requested meals of the entire trip. By the time we
finished eating, it was getting dark, so we headed back out and
searched around for the Tokyu Hands store. Tokyu Hands is well
known for having a huge range of merchandise and it didn't
disappoint. Each floor had a seemingly endless supply of stuff
and was packed full. We found a few interesting items, but it was
getting late, so we had to rush through it a little. We headed
back towards Shibuya station and got back to the scramble crossing
intersection. It was now all lit up and awesome.
Shibuya at night
We waited for the light to turn and then everyone sped across the
intersection. The pictures don't really capture how many people
are going through the intersection or how chaotic it really is.
It certainly is a cool thing to experience.
Shibuya Scramble Crossing at night
Shibuya station is also home to the Hachiko statue. We stopped for a quick picture and headed back for our last night at the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku.
Hachiko
Since it was our last night in Shinjuku, I convinced Erin and Tyler
that we should head over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building
to see the free observatory there. It was late and we were all
pretty tired, but we decided it was our only chance to try it so we
walked to the building from our hotel. As we walked up, the whole
area was dark and there didn't seem to be anybody around, so we thought
it might be closed, even though it said it was supposed to be open much
later. We found a sign at the door which said to go down a level
and that entrance would be open. We found some stairs and headed
down and finally saw some signs that it may be open. There was no
line and we took and empty elevator up to the top. The doors
opened and the place was pretty packed! There was some kind of
wedding reception going on and there were tons of people up there
looking at the view and browsing the souvenir shops. We walked
around and looked at the various viewpoints. I was able to grab a
picture of our hotel building.
Park Hyatt Tokyo
We finished up and walked back to our hotel and quickly got ready for
bed. It was well worth keeping Tyler up late, we all really
enjoyed the view.
Continue to Day 4
Back to trip home
