We woke up early and checked out of the CITAN hostel and made our way to the Tokyo Central station. We were going an hours train ride west of the city to hike a popular mountain called Mt. Takao, which promised views of Tokyo along with views of Mt. Fugi, an active volcano that serves as the country’s tallest mountain at 12,388 feet.
There were lots of hikers at the train station when we arrived in Takoa. There is a definitive style for hiking attire in Japan, which appears to be shorts over some kind of leggings, along with obnoxiously large expedition style hiking boots.
We took the popular Trail Number 1 up, which bypassed a chairlift that would take you up part of the way. The trail was paved and it ascended sharply from the small town. It was lined with tall pine trees I’ve never seen before that cast cool shade as we lumbered up the nearly 15% grade.
We eventually reached mid mountain where the chairlift ended and the path was lined with small shops selling street food and trinkets. As we progrssed farther along we entered a Buddhist shrine that was built in 744. People were lined up hitting rings with sticks and pouring water out of small wooden cups from a fountain. There were several large statues that dotted the path and these were interspersed along with vending machines selling soft drinks and shops and small noodle restaurants.
When we made it to the top there were about a hundred people up there. Most were children on a school field trip and they were all sitting on the ground eating lunch. The view west was grand and luckily it was a clear day and we were able to see Mt. Fuji. It reminds me of the chain of mountain volcanos on the PCT like Rannier and Shasta. It sticks up well above everything else around it, acting like some kind of snowy white warden protecting the green and brown earth beneath it.
On our way back we stopped and had some dough looking street vendor food. It was not great and my stomach got upset after it. I had no choice but to finish it because Japan basically has zero trash bins. They are incredibly hard to find, especially in Tokyo. I think you are expected to just carry your garbage around with you until you get home or get lucky and find a small garbage bin in the hidden corner of a train station.
Once back in Tokyo we made our way to another hostel where we had booked reservations. This was something called a capsule hotel and each bed is in this little capsule type thing. It feels a lot like a coffin or a freeze chamber where they store dead bodies. It was…interesting. The room was hot and my small little coffin for the night was hotter. There were about 30 little capsules on the floor and there is a flap in the front of your capsule that you pull down in front to seal yourself off from the outside.
We took showers and had a short nap and then went back out into the city. Our goal for the night was to check out the Akihabara district, which is the electronics and video game hub of Tokyo. It is known for its bright neon lights and bizzare cultural things like “Maid Cafes”. These are cafes where actresses dress in maid costumes and you act as their “master”, ordering them to get you drinks and food. It’s definately strange. While walking the streets girl maides hand out flyers enticing you to come to the cafe. Their skirts are short and their cleavage is showing and they all have too much makeup. It’s like psychological prositition in a way, and you can’t help but wonder who would go to these places. Business men in suits who have no control in thier work or personal lives probably. Looking for some order and control in an otherwise chaotic life.
Amidst the busy streets and rotating and flashing lights we came across a place called a “Cat Cafe”. For about 6 dollars you get to hang out in a room with a bunch of fluffy cats and drink coffee and tea. We checked it out and were not disappointed. Cats of all colors and breeds lounged around the cafe area. They had toys for you to entice and play with the cats. There was a middle aged man in a suit there by himself, and he was playing and petting a munchkin cat. I’ve never seen a cat like this before, but it is basically the cat version of a wiener dog. It has too short legs and looks like a sausage. Adorable. I was glad to see the man in the suit playing with a munchkin cat to unwind after a stressful week at work, rather than ordering some 14 year old looking “maid” in a costume around to get him a beer.
During the day the streets are filled with men in suits. This is what everyone wears to work. At night, the suits go out to drink. And because this was Friday night, the suits were out in full force. On our way back to the hostel the suits were drunk and falling around, stumbling out of bars and restaurants and talking loudly with thier friends, which is strange because the Japanese are rarely loud. They are a polite people, bowing and smiling, however superficial it may be, and talk in reserved and subdued tones. But not on Friday night. The work week is done and as such, the beer and saki and whiskey flows. The suits go to Pachinko parlors which are slot machine-like gambling machines. The noise is so loud inside you better have earplugs. The machines clank and pop and jingle, and when you stand on the outside looking in, men in suits sit and stare at screens and press buttons.
I wonder if people are happy here in Tokyo. I guess they are, but It’s hard to tell. Japan has an over-working problem, evidenced by the unusually high suicide rate of Japanese working men and women. The term is called Karoshi, which literally means “work to death”. Most of these deaths are from stroke, from working too long and staying up too late; not eating; never taking a break. It’s a big problem, or so I’ve heard.
But at least there are distractions: Cat Cafes, Maid Cafes, alcohol, Pachinko. There are things to lessen the burden; to make you forget that you are wearing a suit and carrying a suitcase; to make you believe you are something other than an ant crawling around Tokyos big and bright and clean streets.
