高尾山(Takaosan)

高尾山(Takaosan)的徒步旅行线路拥有很完备的标志点，从宽广的石铺步行1号线路到狭窄的林间小径，穿越了高尾山的山谷与斜坡。高尾山海拔599米，提供了很好的视野欣赏东京、富士山的美景，天气晴朗时甚至可以看到横滨。在半山腰上有缆车和吊椅式索道可以到山顶。

高尾山作为神山被崇拜已经有1000多年的历史了，药王院位于高尾山顶附近。游客们去那里参拜神道教和佛教的神灵以祈求好运，寺庙和山上到处可以找到一种长鼻子的神和另一种有着鸟喙的神的雕像。由于和东京中心很近，所以在周末和11月下半月高尾山会非常拥挤，而且这里成为了东京最受欢迎的红叶景点。因此，如果不仅想在东京中心观光还想到周边地区休闲的话，强烈推荐你在此期间访问高尾山。

Japan is being very densely populated especially in Tokyo, my city, so a trip to the big outdoors can be a real relief from this busy city. Mount Takao, a small but lovely mountain in western Tokyo can be one alternative for that purpose. Being only an hour away from Tokyo by train, it is very popular, especially when the sun is out.

Although I did not really shape for it, I was convinced by my friends to climb that mountain with them, to survey for the bigger event in the following week. For all of us (4 people), it was the first time. The night before, I was so pessimistic because it was raining, and the wheather forecast in Yahoo!Japan said that i’d be rain on the next day. Even so, like the Javanese proverb, “Rawe-rawe rantas, malang-malang mutung”, I convinced myself and my fellows just to go ahead. I hoped that rainy weather might also have helped keep people away, and it was really nice not to have to deal with the usual crowds.

After climbing the long and never-ending well-paved-path, we reached the Takao-San Station, a station of Japan Most Steep Railway, a station of cable car and two-seated cable chair/lift. The scenery from that point was really worth it, and fortunately the fog had cleared up. Besides, the guide sign said that we can see even Shinjuku skyscrapers and Tokyo Harbor from that station, as you can see from this image. By the way, in that station there are many convenient facilities such as toilets, vending machines, benches and some scopes (but you must pay 100 yen to see through). You can also buy some traditional snack called yaki-dango (sticky rice balls, grilled on a braise, but actually it tastes so plain ^_^).