Friday, August 17, 2007

How to make up for a lousy Friday

On Saturday morning, from Shinagawa, board the Keikyū line. From Tokyo, the JR Yokosuka Line. Descend at Kurihama. A short walk or taxi ride will get you to the port, where you board the Tokyo Bay ferry for the trip across the Uraga Channel.

From Kanaya Port you can climb up the mountain to the abandoned quarries of Nokogiriyama and the great sandstone Buddhist statues of the Nipponji.




Or take the local train from Hanakanaya to Iwai. Climb the double peak of Tomiyama, where the terrifying coordinated pulsing of the cicadas sounds like the dropping of ball bearings on steel plate or a million imps sniggering. In the late afternoon catch the rolling surf at the uncrowded Iwai Kaigan.



Or, if you have the time, you transfer at Tateyama and ride all the way to Wadaura, the whaling village, where the hike to the summit of Karasubayama up the Hanayome Kaidō takes you through some of the best preserved coastal broad-leaved evergreen forest in the Kantō region...



...and the hike down takes you past the black waterfall.



Just get out of Tokyo, this weekend. Next week is going to be hell.

All photos MTC, 2006.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And did you get out of Tokyo this past weekend and will you share your wonderful photos with us?

There are plenty of us anticipating a lousy Monday.