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Day 9 – Hiking In Kamikochi, What You Need To Know

Kamikochi Valley

Monday, 11 July 2011

Goodbye to Kamikochi, back on the bus to Hurau Onsen…

It was enough time in the mountains without having ice gear with me, next time that would be different! On the last I was invited up Mt Jonan, which would have been great; I had met the hut owner two nights before – famous in the area, he had been running the hut for a very long time. The climb definitely needed crampons and an ice-axe, next trip.

Hirayu Onsen is tiny, seems practically deserted after the crowds around Kamiokochi terminal. My guess is most people take buses to the terminal here, at a ‘coach restaurant’ at the terminal’ go to the public baths upstairs then leave.

I had trouble finding useful information about trekking around the Japanese alps, so here is some bits and pieces that will hopefully help others.

When you first arrive in Kamikochi you come to a visitor centre, it’s really useful – there are places to fill water, they store luggage, they know weather and contact details for the first hut. After the first they can contact the next for you – just in case you don’t turn up at the end of the day! The luggage storage is great, I can’t remember how much , but it is very cheap, your bags are locked together and you get a docket with an expected return date. It is so much easier not to have to organise to leave a bag in a hotel, who usually have very little space and don’t like to keep them.

Very quickly after the visitor centre you leave tourist land along with the day bus crowds, within an hour you are really jus with other walkers; and the scenery is beautiful!

Huts are everywhere, relatively expensive but it means you don’t need to bring any cooking gear, sleeping mats or bags, or a tent! The food tends to be fish, some sort of meat, lots of rice, miso soup, Veges, in other words a standard Japanese breakfast. For another 1000¥ (about $10) they will make you a bento box to take for the day as well. Huts always have a price with meals and without, meals are about $10 each, and are worth it! It is very hard to resist a cold beer if are walking summer, about ¥400 for a can, not outrages considering where you are.

Beds are tatami mats and futons with blankets, sheets and doonas, basically what you need. Dinner tends to be early, 5.30 or 6, its best if the hut knows you are coming by around 3 too make sure they cook enough food. Breakfast is early,6-7. Most have a 9 or 9.30 lights out when power drops. If you are really lucky some have hot baths to soak the legs in If you are in a dorm do bring earplugs, snorers and everyone wanting to be on top of the mountain for sunrise.

The size of these huts is amazing, the ones I stayed in could easily sleep a hundred people, and they are spaced every few hours walking!

You can get the maps for the area from any of the multitude of gear shops that now seem to be everywhere in Tokyo, hiking is popular, on the mountains the range of people is from 20 year old men and women through to 80s. Even on the technical climbs there seems just as many women as men, far more than Australia.

The map for the Kamikochi area is easy to find in bookshops and gear shops; it is number 37 in the Mapple series and is 1:50000, it shows the trails, huts, the time between the huts and of course the topography! Oh, and it’s bilingual…

On the hike, the water is safe to drink, although locals recommend you don’t drink from the main river, there are plenty of side streams and waterfalls, large mountains covered with snow means fresh, delicious water!

I was here in July, walking was hot, 28 degrees or so, but there was still a lot of snow as soon as you went up more than 1000m, Plenty of snow!

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Day 8 – Out Of The Valley To Where The Alps Begin!

Kamikochi Valley

Sunday, 10 July 2011

Last minute change from yari gadate to Karasawa hut. Ended up being a very good choice, the hut was great and I didn’t have ice axe or crampons with me, the mountain would have been impossible!

My pack is far too heavy for Japan, with the huts I only really need something to sleep in and snacks – no tents, stove, sleeping bag, mat etc. All these Japanese running past me with not much more than a day pack in the mountains Even the food, the huts have such good food available and really not expensive. With my full pack and my injured quads, my legs are killing me, particularly trying to slip back down the mountains when I’m crawling up the snow!

Today I arrived by 1pm, relaxed , had fresh udon, a beer and read a book. What could possibly be better, I love Japanese trekking!

Tonight was really unexpected, a local had just bought a new hotel in Matsumoto and was doing an “introduction” night.

They invited me along as the only Ausy (and pretty much the only Gaijin!).An outdoor yakiniku party, 2800m from the valley floor is a very cool place to have yakinikui! Drank, way too much saki, local wine (really good!) along with even more food. Unfortunately I knew that breakfast was at 6 am!
The party was about 40 people from Matsumoto and the mountains, hotel owners’ bank owners, tourist information etc. Matsomoto already was one of my favourite cities in the world, now absolutely!

I keep being surprised at the age of trekkers and mountaineers here, really young and just as manywome as men, totally different to Aus.

ps. The next day all the Japanese were up before then looking like they’d been to bed at sunset drinking water – how do they do it!)

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Day 6 – Goodbye To The Castle, Hello To The Mountains!

Kamikochi Valley, Matsumoto

Friday, 8 July 2011

It is with mixed feelings I am leaving matsomoto for Kamikochi, I want to get to the mountains but really enjoying it here as well!

A mad dash to the train station, just had time to grab a last resort cappuccino (starbucks ) then to the train.. Only thing is, this isn’t Tokyo, the train sat on the platform for 15 minutes before leaving ! C’est la vie…

Kamikochi here I come !

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Day 5 – Over The West, Here Come The Alps!

Matsumoto, Tokyo

Thursday, 7 July 2011

After a quick look at the view from the Metropolitan government building, it was off to Shinjuku station and the train.

My favourite type of traveling, sitting on a train going through geen forests, eating food from the trolleys and going to mountains!

Looking over my map to work out my walk, would be easier if my leg had recovered, all of these fantastic 3000 meter or so peeks surrounding Kamikochi, where I am going…

AT first though, an overnight stop in Matsumoto.

Why is it that mountain towns always feel so nice? Matsomoto is definitely on the best I have been to, small enough to still be a mountain town but big enough to have culture. And the food is fantastic! I would love to come here in spring for cross country skiing, it seems to be a big past time here – along with mountaineering of course.

Continue reading »]]> Day 3 – Another Day In The Streets Of Edo

Tokyo

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

I have just made a note to myself, don’t come to Tokyo in July!

9.00 am I glanced at the thermometer, already 35 degrees, I can’t wait for the cool of the Alps in a couple of days…

Still, regardless of the heat, I’m heading out into the city and into the long days of walking that is being a tourist… I’ve never been someone who runs between a million tourist sites, I would much rather go to one or two and spend time sitting around watching how things work…

Ginza…

delicious sashimi, cheap and fresh – being so close to the fish market has it’s benefits! 950 ¥ for the plate, including another plate of vegetables and iced tea,

Ginza is very quiet, I wonder if its the economy, the earthquake or just the heat – it is whatever the reason it is nothing like the crowds of Shinjuku yesterday – although even they were far less than Sydney in a work day!

I visited a local supposing tourist site the “Tea House Gardens” – empty, should stick to people watching here…

Akihabara, still not massive crowds – but a lot of people, it’s not area to be a tourist (although all the cafe maid girls are different!) but I would love to have it available when making things at home.

Continue reading »]]> Too many ways to write, means this blog gets neglected; time to stop twittering focus!

The last couple of weeks have been a combination of a couple of my favourite things; Japanese culture and a film festival. This time of year brings the Japanese Film Festival to Sydney. With Sydney having 40 degree days right now it is perfect.

We get very little Japanese film in Australia, apart from the normal Anime and a few very big releases, so the festival coming means lots of time spent in a dark room.

We managed to get tickets for the opening celebration; always fun to put on nice clothes, have a few drinks, eat nice food, then go to a movie!

We started with The Handsome Suit (ハンサム★スーツ) , a pretty light comedy that almost felt Italian – very visual. The movie was a good opener, appeals to everyone, enjoyable, a small message that what is inside counts not what is outside, but basically just good entertainment.

Next was Goemon, I think the director had spent far too much time watching huge Chinese war epics of the sort where 5 people take on an army of a few hundred thousand and win! Lots of blood, a bit of Bollywood dancing for some weird reason and of course plenty of wire work . Watchable an identical way to all of these movies but not something I would normally rush to.

Movie number three was K-20 Legend of the Mask (K20 怪人二十面相・伝) . I had no idea of the story so I went in not knowing what to expect, this movie was fun. I was told it was changed quite a bit from the original story so it wasn’t at all predictable. It is cool to see Parque in movies rather than traditional wire work – challenging! I really hope this movie gets Australian general release, everyone should get a chance to see it.

And many good things, they sometimes come to an end; I went to the finale, The Chef of the South Pole (南極料理人). I am interested in Antarctica and this is a true story so I was keen to see this movie, I did not expect it to be so good! I cannot say enough good things about this movie, it’s hilarious, the entire cinema laughed through most of the movie. It gives you a great insight into what it is like to be completely isolated for a long time, 1 year, with a small group of people – how you stay sane. The director and author (the actual chef) were there to answer questions, most of the scenes were real – people actually do get that strange. A lot of it was filmed in the far North of Hokaido, so it’s cold. It’s about a base in Antarctica where the average temperature is -57, and then comes wind chill! If you have any chance at all, do yourself a favour and see this movie, you won’t be disappointed.

So after lots of Asahi, Ramen, and Sencha that’s it for the festival for another year, roll on the next one…

Continue reading »]]> Although Tokyo is easily one of the most crowded cities I’ve been in there are some beautiful places away from the city really not very far out of town.

Today we were spoilt by an old school friend of M’s being a tour guide. She picked us up from Yokohama station and gave us the luxury of a car for the day. We headed to a temple area about 45 minutes away called Kamakura.

The area contains the usual assortment of beautiful buddhist temples and giant buddhas, One particularly stood out.

To finish the day we jumped on the monorail down to Odaiba for something both M and have been sorely missing in Australia; a relaxing stretch in a super hot Onsen. Oedo Onsen Monogatari is a mini theme park with the idea of an old Edo village, despite being a theme park it is really done very well. It’s very easy to imagine you are in a small village a couple of hundred years ago, none of the over top chince of somewhere like Asakusa. Of course, a soak at 42 degrees in a cool spring night is hard to beat.