Hiking Mt. Takao

Mt. Takao is located in Tokyo Prefecture and is around an hour ride by train from Waseda University, which makes it a great day trip out of the city. The station was right next to the base of the mountain and it was pretty crowded in the middle of the morning. There is a chair lift and cable car that can take you up halfway the mountain and from there it takes around 40 minutes to reach the top. I took the chair lift, which was very nice as the ride up was surrounded by trees and had a great view of the nearby town.

The hike itself wasn’t too hard but for some reason there were hundreds of students hiking that day as well and ranged from elementary students to high schoolers. It took longer as there were people everywhere in front of us and even at the summit there were many kids eating lunch and walking around.

That day was pretty clear and I could see Mt. Fuji at the summit. This was actually my first time seeing Mt. Fuji! I had lunch at a restaurant up there and ordered tororo soba, a specialty of the area. On the walk down I took a different route, which passed by a suspension bridge. It was definitely less crowded on this route and was more like an actual “hike” compared to the paved ground of the main trail.

Overall, this was a great trip out of the city! I was especially lucky that it was clear and I was able to see Mt. Fuji. Before heading back, I visited the onsen right next to the station. It had several different baths and was a nice way to relax after hiking.