Mount Odake
Hiking in Japan provides great opportunities, even if you just want to go for day trips around Tokyo. My first hike in Japan was to Mount Odake in October 2022. This hike is said to be challenging, especially in the last section to the peak. With clear sky it should be possible to see Mount Fuji, which was another reason to start with this one. The plan was to bring my tent and stay one night at the peak of Mount Odake – just for the adventure and for the option to continue hiking at the second day for the next peak.
How to get there
I started from Kasai Station in Tokyo, which means I had to cross Tokyo nearly completely. Wherever you start, the target station is Mitake-Station in the Omé-Region. First I took the Tozai-Line to Ogibuko-Station, where I changed to the Chuo-Line directing to Ome-Station. Here I changed to the Ome-Line heading for Mitake.
If you get out of the Mitake-Station, head to the left and get the bus to the Cable-Car. There are two options for the first section of the hike up to Mitake: Taking the Mitake Tozan Railway or hike the first 400m elevation. The Cable-Car is the energy-saving-option to start your hike and get to the Mitake Shrine easily.
Hiking the first part to the Mitake Shrine
I decided to walk the first part and instead take the cable car the way down to take some pressure of my knees. The way up to the village Mitake is a normal street, but meanders through a beautiful forest. The size of the trees are just unbelievable, especially for me as a European. Be aware, that the uphill is pretty steep for a long time, at least with a heavy backpack and little experience in hiking like me.
After around 400m elevation, sweating my ass off due to the heavy backpack with the equipment for the overnighter and crossing the cable car several times, I finally made it to Mitake – a village located in the middle of the forest. The Mitake shrine is located on top of the village and can easily be reached by cable car, which makes it popular as a daytrip for people from Tokyo.
From the Mitake Shrine to Mount Odake
After visiting the Mitake shrine I started tackling the peak of Mount Odake. After an easier section directly after the shrine, the hiking starts to get more challenging. Always keep in mind, that the sunset is earlier in Japan compared to Europe. I didn´t think about it and had to hike and climb the last 3 km to the peak completely in the dark. Fortunately I brought a head lamp, otherwise it would have been impossible. There are a lot of climbing sections where you have to hold ropes or take stairs – for me as an unexperienced hiker this was a tough situation.
Addtionally I started to find a lot of signs telling me to be aware of bears. For me as a german new terrain, I never expected to see these signs that close to civilization. So there I was, hiking and climbing through the dark with a 20 kg backpack, singing and making noise to scare away bears 😀
Around 5 pm I recognized I was running out of food and water…and my plan was to stay overnight on the peak of the mountain. Actually I expected to find a grocery store or at least a vending machine with some snacks in the village, but unfortunately everything was closed. So darkness, bears and not enough nutrition for such a hike made this to a (selfmade) challenging situation for me.
Around 6 pm I reached the peak, searched for a good place for my tent and finished my remaining food (a small sandwich from 7eleven after 4 h of hiking). Fortunately the place for the tent was perfect and the weather was good – I had a perfect view on Mount Fuji around sunset!
After a short and restless night without sleep (I always need some nights when sleeping in the tent) and thinking about how to handle bear attacks the whole night I decided to go back to the village as soon as possible to get some water and food. I packed my tent, took some videos and pictures with the drone and made my way back. Fortunately I found a vending machine in the village and could refill my supplies!
The last section down to the bus station I took the cable-car. After this crazy hike without food, water, sleep but fear of getting attacked by bears, this was the right decision to make!
