JICA tour on February 1st.

Cold but surprisingly very clear weather welcomed 15 guests from JICA. Their country of origin varies 11 countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Columbia, Congo, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar).  

For some reason, arrival of some guests delayed, so while waiting for their arrival, we talked about design of Takaosanguchi station which was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Kengo Kuma is the designer of new national stadium renovated for 2020 Tokyo Olympic game. More likely, his name will be popular, and we expect to have many guests as well in this summer.

After successfully meeting with all the guests, we started our tour around 10AM.Firstly, we got on the cable car to go halfway up the mountain, then enjoyed very clear view from Kasumi-dai. It was surprisingly clear view. We could recognize not only for Tokyo sky tree and cluster of buildings of Shinjuku, but also from Yokohama Landmark tower, Yokohama Bay Bridge to Enoshima Island and Pacific Ocean.

From Kasumi-dai, we walked on the Trail No. 1 talking about vegetation, main gates, historical halls and statues along the trail, then arrived at the top of the mountain around noon. Again, it was unusually clear view, all the guests got excited by the beautiful Mt. Fuji covered with snow. 

Near the top of the mountain, we took lunch then enjoyed an attraction prepared by Hide, one of the guides from TEGNU.  The attraction was quiz about Japanized English. All the guests excited with the game, and the winner got awarded 100M yen.

After the lunch break, we started going down the mountain through Trail No.4, then took the chair lift and ended our tour safely around 2:45pm at the foot of the mountain.

Thanks to all the guests from JICA, we hope they will enjoy the rest of their stay in Japan, and safe trip back to their home country.



By Shin

The tour on the 20th January, 2020

The party today is three of us, a young lady guest from Malaysia and us, 2 old guides. You can say Beauty and Beasts.

As she was to come rather far, from Saitama prefecture, we had agreed to start the tour at 10:30 am instead of usual 9:30am.

Though we had been a bit worried about the condition of the mountain because of the snowfall on the previous Saturday, the weather was perfect with blue sky and sunshine and the staff of the information center by Takaosanguchi station told us that there was no problem except that somepart of the mountain trail could be slippery due to the remaining snow.

We took cable car up and walked via Trail No.1 to Yakuoin temple, visiting many points of interest on the way. 

Then we arrived at the summit, where we could see shy Mt. Fuji above the cloud.

Because it was a week day, the summit was not so crowded and we could sit at the table there for lunch, which was a rather rare experience for us guides even on a week day.

Then we took Trail No.4 where there was remaining snow here and there, making it necessary for us to walk carefully. Passing the so called “love-love tree” and crossing the popular suspension bridge, we returned to Trail No.1.

We climbed down by the chair lift, enjoying the fresh breeze and the panoramic view down below.

We arrived back at the foot of the mountain, fully refreshed.

We thank the guest and Mt.Takao for making us old guides feel younger.

Written by Nori.

TENGU Private Tour

Our first guest in 2020 was an English gentleman and the tour was held on 7 January. As it was just after the New Year holiday, there were still decorations for the New Year here and there. We took the trail toward Biw Falls and ascended the steep slope.

The approach to Yakuoin Temple was quiet and there were few people in front of Octopus Cedar Tree.

There was the merry atmosphere of the New Year near Nio-mon and Izuna Gongen-do; our guest seemed to be interested in the various statues like Crow Tengu, Long-nosed Tengu etc.

We took a break for lunch at the uncrowded summit and made a descent through the suspension bridge.

It was cold enough but no rain in spite of the not optimistic weather forecast, so we could have an enjoyable time with our guest. The autumn foliage will welcome you again.



(Nobby)