CORRECT TITLE: Wanna Climb Tokyo?Well after last months wash out with climbing Mt Fuji (weather closed the trails), I had a second invite to climb Mt. Takao in Tokyo. Yes... Climb a mountain in Tokyo... I'm not making this shit up.Head down south to Hachioji and take a bus out the entrance to the mountain. From there it is said only to be a 90 minute walk to the top. Well if it's your first time and you're a little out of shape, like me, AND if you skip breakfast (also like me) then it's more like three and a half hours of grueling trudging up 3.3 km of mountain terrain with grades as steep as 48% in some locations.Every three hundred meters will be a little check point to show how far along you are out of the total. If you take the scenic route up called Inariyama Course, be prepared for spiders jumping on your hat, old men jogging down, and traffic jams of families dragging two, three and four year old children up on their first mountain climb, but also get ready for incredible views of Tokyo and the surrounding areas. I brought only two short lenses with me, so zooming in was out of the question, but it is easy to see Shinjuku and even Sunshine Tower in Ikebukuro from even 1/5th of the way up.When getting to the top, you will be greeted by not only a fully stocked ice cream bar but also two small restaurants, a summit lookout letting you see Mt Fuji when the sun goes gown and a few other facilities. If you feel it's too difficult to get down, then you can always take either the two person ski-lift style rope-way or a small enclosed (but not air conditioned) train. I'd suggest the rope-way as the wind feels incredible after a hard climb.Will post photos later when I get home.Cheers from Hachioji.The Nissan Juke... So Ugly, but Soooooo SexyMore to come later after I wake up.I guess you was tired after the little walk, thank you for the photos, but the Nissan view from mountain, sorry but it does not work for me, The water stop/fountain some kind of pilgrimage Looking forward to some more photosI hope you manage to get back to Mount FujiHere's the batch of images from the climb. This could have been put in the other photo thread but who really cares?ParkingOff I go!Climbing partnersA dangerous biker-gang. . . .Hello Kitty pop-corn vending machine. Awesome.Here we go!!! The first steps to the top!Pff, this is gunna be a piece of cake. Look at all the old men walking up without any trouble, pff... no problem.Hmm.. ok, it's getting a little bit tougher now...Hmm... starting to suck...This is no trick photo, folks... this is REALLY how steep this fucker is. And to add insult to injury, while I was huffing and trying to hold in my vomit, old men and old women were passing me laughing at me. Serves me right for skipping breakfast... fuck.Oh God... almost at the top!SHIT! Not even close to the top! We weren't even 1/3 of the way up!You're kidding me... right?Please watch-out for cute butterflies, green beetles that are harmless to humans AND FOUR SPECIES OF HUGE FUCK-OFF KILLER WASPS, EACH THE SIZE OF YOUR THUMB.Do Not Like.Not even the youngest climber I met along the way...This is the kind of mountain climbing terrain that I like.Break-timeTOP! Two and a half hours later...The official 'peak'Not a terrible view either... apparently at sundown, you can see Fuji.Chubby. White. Canadian. Cameraman. Sweating Buckets. Wearing the wrong shoes. Yup, got them all covered, no problem.Hey! Check it out! GOING DOWN!Step through here for good luck in the future.Goodbye upward stairs!Burial sites into the mountain. I thought they were just plaques saying who donated money. Woops.THESE are the plaques showing the names of those who donated.Lunch.Mountain Pizza. . . .Back down we go. Goodbye Mt. Takao... hope I don't need to see you in the soon future!well thanks for the great picturesbut there are a few things that are a must when you go for a hike/long walk, firstly a good breakfast, and secondly but possibly most important shoes, the best footwear you can get, wearing 2 pairs of socks, preferably cotton next to the skin, cuts down on friction, thirdly water plenty of it, my guess is you do not have to worry to much in Japan for supplies, depends on where you go, you might have to take extra supplies, also pacing yourself is extremely important, start slowlyPS start planing for Mount Fuji early, and do a lot more walking to build up your fitness, my guess is you may not go there until next year, so you have at least 6 months to get in some sort of shape for it, perhaps do some long hiking/wildlife shoots, I know what will happen you will forget all about until you go to Mount Fuji, and you will tell us how bad you felt