Tokyo's reputation as an endless urban jungle is well earned. The concrete buildings, chaotic narrow streets and scarcity of parks can tire even the most citified. Which is why visitors in the central city are often surprised to learn that an hour to the west by train, Tokyo is filled with mountains, streams and vistas that evoke Portland, Oregon, or Boulder, Colorado.
A day trip to the Tama region, which stretches toward Mount Fuji, provides a chance to enjoy fresh air, exercise and flora. It is also a pleasant counterpoint to the metropolitan excess that tourists typically see when they visit Japan for only a few days.
For those with only a day to spare, Mount Takao, the city's most prominent mountain, is a logical destination. There are more ambitious outings in Tokyo, but Takao has the virtue of being accessible enough that you can pack several activities into one day without emptying your wallet, something easily done by staying in town. In March and April, Takao is a great place to take in the plum and cherry blossoms that breathe life back into the city after a chilly winter; in mid-March, a fire-walking festival has revelers walking barefoot on hot embers. One of the city's more elegant and evocative restaurants, Ukai Toriyama, nestled in a small valley near the foot of the mountain, also draws day-trippers. Diners sit in huts with thatched roofs and are doted on by kimono-clad waitresses who provide hot coals to prepare sumptuous robatayaki, or grilled food.
As with so many things in Japan, timing is everything, though. Since Takao is mobbed on weekends and holidays, especially in the spring, consider visiting during the week. And leave the city by 10am so you have time to hike and eat a leisurely lunch or vice versa.
For visitors staying in central Tokyo, the easiest way to get to Takao is from the Keio train terminal on the west side of Shinjuku Station. Tickets to the end of the line, Takao-san Guchi Station, cost ¥370 (about US$3.10) and can be bought near the ticket gates. You can save up to 20 percent by buying a round-trip ticket that includes rides on the cable car up Takao. (www.keio.co.jp/english/multiple/multiple3.html; +81-42-337-3222)
Since there is no difference in fare, you may as well take an express train with an orange, blue or green sign in front. They leave about every 20 minutes from Platform 3.
During the first part of the roughly 50-minute ride to Takao-san Guchi, the train whizzes past nearly indistinguishable neighborhoods. But by the midway point, the city gives way slightly and, on a clear day, the foothills to the west come into view.
From Takao-san Guchi Station, you can head straight for the hills, stop for a light lunch at a restaurant on the shopping street to the right or take a minibus operated by Ukai Toriyama to the restaurant for a fuller meal.
But if you have arrived early enough, try tackling Takao first. Only about 609m high, its main numbered trails are roughly 3.2km long and while steep in parts, include numerous chances to rest on the way, as well as sneak peeks at Mount Fuji and the surrounding mountains. The Mount Inari Path is one of the longer ones, but less crowded, and includes beautiful spring or fall foliage.
Less ambitious hikers, or travelers in a rush, can ride the cable car or chair lift that takes passengers about halfway to the peak. Cars leave about every 15 minutes from Kiyotaki Station and Sanroku Station (for the chair lift), which are a three-minute walk from the train. The cars and lift operate from 8am until late afternoon or early evening depending on the season; one-way tickets for adults cost ¥470, or ¥900 for a round trip (Takao Tozan Dentetsu; +81-42-661-4151). The five-minute ride in the cable car has a pitch of 31o, one of the steepest rides of its kind in Japan.
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