#27 Resumption of human flow in Japan
What new measures by Japanese government brought and Ramen info.
Drop in temperature, autumn colour news from the north, Japan is in the middle of the busiest sightseeing season. Above all, it has been nearly one week since the Japanese government implemented the national travel support for travel campaigns, which had been suspended during the spread of the new coronavirus, and the removal of entry restrictions for overseas travellers. I was planning a completely different topic for the newsletter this week, but I had a surprising experience hiking in the suburb of Tokyo today. So I will write about the change of popular hiking spot “Mt Takao” this week. What I saw today may symbolize the situation of most of tourist attraction in this high season.
First of all I will simplify how new Japanese government measure has changed the tourism situation since the 11th of October.
National travel support
This scheme is so complicated, but in short a discount equivalent to 40% of the trip price is given, with a maximum of JPY 8,000 per night for travel with transport. In addition, as with GoTo Travel, local vouchers (worth JPY 3,000 on weekdays and JPY 1,000 on weekends and holidays) are given for local use. Even for trips booked before the start of the national travel support, the 'discount later' can be applied if the conditions and qualifying period applies. Reservations are limited to via specific websites such as Rakuten, and each prefecture has a set budget, which ends when the budget limit is reached.
Relaxation of immigration waterfront measures
In short, almost all previous complex regulations have been eliminated. Previously unauthorized individual travel is now permitted and there is no longer a limit on the number of people entering the country per day. All returnees and entrants must provide either a certificate of vaccination (3 doses) with a vaccine on the World Health Organisation (WHO) emergency use list or a negative test certificate taken within 72 hours prior to departure.
These two factors made significant impacts on human flow in Japan. Japanese people's desire to travel, which had been shouldering since the start of the pandemic, has exploded, and the influx of visitors to Japan that had been waiting at the gates has begun to dampen down.
Now let’s see the situation of Mt Takao for the first time after the real restriction is lifted. Mt Takao is located on the west edge of Tokyo and it only takes 80 minutes from Tokyo Station by train.
The elevation is 599.3 meters and it is one of the most popular hiking spots in Tokyo. The reason is not the only the elevation, but also it gives hikers all kinds of access routes to the top. Cable car and lift are other options which will make it easier for those who has difficulties of climbing. Cable car and lift will take you all the way to 472 meters and 462 meters elevation so that you have very easy walk all the way to the summit. From the top, you will have a beautiful view of Mt Fuji if the weather is good. In addition to the easy access to the top of the mountain, there are lots of small tea shops and religious attraction of Head Temple Takao-San Yakuo-in.
I will focus on Mt Takao in the details some other time, but this mountain is open for everybody and a place in Tokyo where you can feel the breath of the lower mountains. This mountain has various vegetation so that you can enjoy the autumn leaf in November. So, if you want have a day off and breeze the fresh air without hustles, this can be a place.
But visiting Mt Takao today there are some cases that you should be aware and avoid. Today when I reached Takaosanguchi station just before 10:00, I doubted my own eyes. There were hundreds of people standing by to climb Mt Takao. There was a continuous flow of people to the entrance of the mountain. Today I took what they call footpath No.6 which go along Biwa Fall and the stream. There were congestions in several places along the way due to the groupings. The footpath was too narrow to overtake once a slow group stays on the footpath. A big climbing group blocked some of descending hikers and it was a big problem. I have not seen such congested footpath in my life and I told myself that I should not come Mt Takao on weekends. I can say it would be much worse when the autumn leaf season comes. After three to four weeks I can imagine the situation in this mountain.
I started walking around 10:00 and it took one hour to get to the summit of Mt Takao. It took 10-15 minutes longer than expected course time due to the congestion. I was so much surprised again when I reached to the summit. There were so many people that I could hardly find a place to sit down and another concern started to grow in my mind. What’ll happen when these people start going down after lunch. It was going to be the same situation as I was climbing. So I decided to descend after 10 minutes break. I took Inariyama Route for descending. Inariyama Route is on the ridge through Mt Inari. I was very lucky that there were not so many people on the footpath. But I think it must have crowded with people after the lunch. It took just over 2 and a half hours going up the summit and coming down to the station. So it is a good half day hike. As a conclusion important points that you should keep in your mind when you go Mt Takao are as follows:
Avoid weekends and national holidays regardless of season.
The mountain can be congested even on weekdays during high season of October to November.
It is best to start climbing as early as possible , even if you go weekdays.
Bring your own drinks and food otherwise it can be very costly
Westbound routes to Lake Sagami can be another choice if you start descending in afternoon congestion. But this route requires more experience of hiking.
So finally, it was a surprising walk encountering bad congestion on the way up to the summit, but nice exercise for a couple of hours. There is one thing sure that all of these removals of restrictions which we had during the pandemic is causing the rapid increase of human flow not in the central cities but also in mountain and other places. So please be aware to encounter massive crowds in remote places, too. Shift the date and time to avoid congestions, otherwise you may end up with increased dissatisfaction of your holiday.
One Stop
I will start a small footnote about food. It is not a regular one and please don’t expect every time. Today I will write about “Hachioji Ramen”. As you know , each locality has their own Ramen and their soup and noodle vary depending on places. Hachioji is located near from Mt Takao and suitable place to have a lunch or dinner after the hiking. Today I stopped Takuma. The noodle was middle straight, and the soup was soy sauce-flavoured soup with a dried fish base. It was refreshing taste. There are so many of Ramen shops in Hachioji. Please try when you have a chance.
TAKUMA: 4-12-2, Myojin-cho, Hachioji-city, Tokyo
Mt Takao looks wonderful, though definitely busy! Also, I like that you posted about ramen - it's one of my favorite Japanese foods and I'm always looking for more places to try :)