Japan: Far West Tokyo

We made a special trip to the Ghibli Museum, a theme park of sorts for Hayao Miyazaki anime movie enthusiasts. Having watched more than half of his films, we felt compelled to check it off our list. Photography was not allowed inside. It felt a bit like a continuation of our surrealist tour that began with the Dali Theater in July 2022. (Tip for fellow travelers: tickets go on sale at 10 am on the 10th of the month for the entire following month. Queues start before 10.)

The day before we left Tokyo, we finally had a free day and the weather was great . Even though it was Sunday, we took the suburban train to Mount Takao and walked up to the summit at 599 meters on Trail 1. On the way down, we took Trail 3, then connected to Trail 6.

On that Sunday, many people, mostly Japanese, were on an outing. From the top, there was a view of Mount Fuji (60 km away). Before this trip, we had only seen Mount Fuji for 5 minutes from Hakone (40 kms away), and the top of it in the clouds from an airplane, despite spending over two months in Japan. This time, we were finally able to see Mount Fuji from various places around Tokyo. Suddenly, Japanese people's reverence for Mount Fuji, which had previously confounded me, made sense

View of Mount Fuji from the Train on our way to the Ghibli Museum


Ghibli Museum




A Fleeting view of Mount Fuji from the Train on our way to Takaosan (Mount Takao)


Ascending the paved and popular Trail #1 to Takaosan (Mount Takao).




View to Shinjuku (back left) while scending Takaosan (Mount Takao)


Fall Colors.


We pass through Takaosan Yakuōin Yukiji Buddhist Temple about halfway up.










Soon we are at the summit - 599 meters above sea level - and take a rest to soak in the view of Mount Fuji, 60 kms in the distance, and eat our lunch.






The descent on "wild" Trail #3 is uneventful.