What I've Been Doing All This Time Part 3

No-one living in Tokyo suffers from boredom; there is always something to do, or somewhere to be, or a TV show you just have to watch. From the giant TV screens of Shibuya to the jam-packed commuter trains to the 60 hour work weeks, living in Tokyo is an endless rush. Most of the time, it is thrilling to live life at such a high pace, but eventually, the city life takes its toll.

Everyone needs to get away from it all every now and then, and day hikes into the surrounding mountains are one of the most popular ways to do this. Exhausted from city life myself, I jump on a train away from the skyscrapers of Shinjuku to the mountains at the border of the city. The buildings gradually get smaller, until suddenly low-lying suburbia gives way to steep mountain greenery. I get off the train at the end of the line, and step into a street lined with traditional wooden buildings and old Soba (noodle) houses. With a belly full of Soba, I sling my backpacker onto my shoulder and head off up the mountain. I decide against the most popular trail, a bitumen road with a cable-car to take you up most of the up hill section, and opt for the pleasantly named 'nature trail' instead. With the vast majority of Japanese hikers on the bitumen trail, I have nature all to myself, and enjoy a splendid solitary walk through the forest. Later I realize I am not alone at all; a sign cheerfully explains that there are plenty of snakes around to keep me company, and identifies which of these friends of the forest are lethal and which are not.

Which makes me wonder - why did they put it halfway, not at the start? People who get bitten in the first half of the hike are certainly in trouble, as are the people who are terrified of snakes, who are now in the difficult position of being 5km into a snake-ridden forest.

Still, it is a very pleasant walk, with forest scenery so beautiful I can't believe I am still on the outskirts of Tokyo. Once I get to the top of the mountain I look out on the city laid out before me, vast and endless. While the city rushes about its business, the mountain top is still and quiet. I stay here from a while, looking wistfully over the valley, before continuing to the other side, where the there is nothing but green mountains to see. The hustle and bustle of Tokyo is completely forgotten as I walk alone, losing myself in the quiet of the forest path...