Posts Tagged hiking in Japan
March 19, 2005 – Mountain Climbing and Movies
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Movies, The Penpal on March 19, 2015
Today I had a day off due to a shift swap with another teacher. Since it was a Saturday, I got to spend some quality time with The Penpal. We went mountain climbing and watched a movie.
For those who have been reading a while and noticed that most of my leisure activities involve sitting, singing, drinking, or all of the above at the same time, you may think that mountain climbing is a bit out of character. You would be correct. The “mountain” we climbed has a peak about 400 meters above sea level, and has a hiking trail up the side.
Mt. Kanuki is famous for a large pagoda on the top. It is also famous as a home of wild boars. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any on our hike. I didn’t get a picture of the pagoda, but I did get a great picture of Mt. Fuji from the top of Mt. Kanuki.
Mt. Fuji as seen from Mt. Kanuki
We ate lunch at the top of Mt. Kanuki and spent some time enjoying the view and hanging out. After that, we started the walk back down to the bottom and returned to my apartment. We watched Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. It was my first time to see the movie, and it was fantastic. The movie is a story about a spoiled little girl who has her family taken away and her name stolen, and she has to fight to get them back. Highly recommended!
October 11, 2004 – Hiking in Enoshima
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Greater Tokyo Area on October 12, 2014
Not very reassuring
Today I went hiking with one of my language exchange friends that I met shortly after I moved to Japan. Let’s call her Aki. We had met up a few times in the past, but hadn’t seen each other recently.
Aki is a big fan of hiking. I am not a big fan, but I do like a nice long walk at times. Despite my lack of regular exercise, my unhealthy eating habits, and my larger than sensible beer consumption, I do have an amazing ability to walk long distances.
We met near Enoshima, a small island near Kamakura. The island has a great mix of beach, rocks, hills, trees and great views of the ocean and the mainland. There is also a large shrine. Unfortunately due to the recent typhoon, there was a lot of damage to the trees. Workers were cleaning up branches and fallen trees all over the island.
From Enoshima, we walked to Kamakura. The other times I have been to Kamakura, I mainly went to the popular tourist places. Our walk took us through the city itself. We saw a rare Catholic church, and a traditional Japanese wedding in a shrine.
Aki and I hadn’t kept in touch lately, so she seemed a bit surprised at my news that I had a girlfriend and that I was moving to Shizuoka.
In total we walked for about 5 hours, stopping only to stuff ourselves at a soba restaurant. If you are near Tokyo and like hiking, Enoshima is definitely worth the trip. As with any outing in Japan, you will walk a lot more than you expect, so wear comfortable shoes.
Drinking in Japan 
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