23.8.2018 - Day 8

Today we headed to mount Takao to do some hiking. Still inside of Tokyo prefecture (50 minutes from Shinjuku by private rail), this mountain is on the outskirts of the city with a temple on top and provides great view of the city. We choose the main route and enjoyed great views on the way. About three quarters to the top is located a temple which has a great approach with great pine trees and many great stands with gods.

As I climbed the steps I saw the monks bringing out wood to barricade the windows on the temple gate. A sign that the Typhoon was approaching. As we reached the top of the mountain it started raining heavily. After a while the rain let down a bit and we started our descent. This time we went beautiful route that went quickly down the mountain into a valley where we then went part through a stream and then next to a river. It was in a gorgeous forest, but sadly I couldn’t take too many pictures because of the rain.

After returning to the main city we spend two hours chasing down Zelma’s JR Pass which gave me plenty of opportunity to watch the weather of the incoming Typhoon. Once all done and with tickets for tomorrow’s Shinkansen we went back to the hotel and ate at a local ramen shop which had above its counter the following: “No Ramen, no life.” Needless to say I had great ramen.

Finally a note on the weather. There have been two Typhoons making way north to Japan. One wend west of Kyushu and across South Korea until continuing through the sea of Japan to Hokkaido. Second Typhoon followed immediately after and went through Shikoku and western Honshu, then also into the sea of Japan and continuing north, this meant more bad weather for tomorrow when we were headed north.