Okutama

Miyuki and I were getting a little stir crazy in Tokyo and we needed some fresh air. We took off hiking in Okutama, the foothills of Fuji-san---a mere 2.5 hour train ride from Tokyo. Every good hike starts with lunch, right? Here we started our hike with hot odon noodle soup and a cup of tea.






Miyuki wanted me to see the fall colors outside of Tokyo. What I find fascinating about the Japanese is their intense relationship with nature. Miyuki described it as, "We are all rice farmers at heart" and "we understand the link between the season, food and life."





Some of those lovely fall colors.

Although the hike was only 10K long, it was up and down a few small mountains. At one point Miyuki laid down on the ground and started crawling. She told me that she was more of a meandering path hiker than a mountain hiker...

Miyuki is very happy to show me the sign that tell us we are nearing the end of our hike.

The end was marked by a huge alpine lake.

We celebrated our foray into the hills by hitting an onsen on the way back to Tokyo. The hot water and great food were a nice way to end the day.