Hiking near Tokyo

info from MAP Market Action Partners

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If you have never hiked before, please first read the page on Preparations, listed in the menu at right.  You put your health and safety at risk if you do not prepare sufficiently. 
　

Below, we'll comment mostly about the fun of hiking in the mountains within an hour or two of Tokyo.  The menu at right has pages with other details about hiking.

By the way, urban walks are another cluster of interesting areas in Tokyo.  Click on the item in the menu at right, for more details.

A key point is whether someone else is organizing / guiding the hike you go on, or you are arranging it yourself.  You may think, "I don't speak / read Japanese, so I can't arrange it myself".  Japanese language ability is certainly helpful, but it isn't an absolute requirement.  Go to this page for suggestions. 

We hope the information here, helps you enjoy hiking and your time in Japan.  If so, Pay It Forward - help someone else, in some way, in the future.

Hiking near Tokyo

The focus here is on day hikes from central Tokyo.  Namely, leave (usually by 8 AM), hike, and return (usually by 5 PM to 7 PM) in one day.  Access is by train and sometimes bus; car usage is not covered.   Ideally, the hike starts and ends right at a train station.

There are dozens of day hikes from Tokyo, ranging from short/flat (=easy) ones to longer/higher (=difficult)..  You can amble along the seacoast, or climb 1000 meters.  

We think the best (and scenic) hikes in the Kanto area are:
- Iwato-yama, between Yugawara and Atami

- Kuratake-yama, on the Chuo line near Otsuki
- Kintoki-yama, on the north rim of Hakone
- Hinode-yama to Mitake-yama, on the near side of Okutama
- Nokogiri-yama, on the Chiba side of the mouth to Tokyo bay

- Shiroyama, on the Chuo line, one stop past Takao
- Miura south coast, on the west side of the mouth of Tokyo bay

Information available in English is only a small part of what is published in Japanese.  If you have a Japanese friend willing to help go through the numerous guide books in Japanese, you'll have a much larger choice.

Several organizations in Tokyo do day hikes.  These are listed on another page (see the menu at right). Checking with them will give you more flexibility in schedules and destinations. 

In the menu at right, the hike maps that are mentioned are at 1:25,000 scale, which are the most detailed published for the whole country.  We'll try to put some up, for our favorite hikes; being scanned copies of the originals, you'll have to forgive the quality.

Hope you enjoy your hikes !

Click on these pages to go to more details: