Hiking Mt. Takao

With the discovery of high levels of radiation in Tokyo Bay, and the bringing of contaminated debris from the disaster area to Tokyo, I decided to quit my job and leave Japan. The process was very smooth, so smooth in fact, that I had a few days off in Japan to do the last few things on my list. One of them was hiking Mt. Takao to see the leaves turning.

In Japan, there is no remote countryside or extreme wilderness, and the train dropped us off right at the foot of Mt. Takao.

There were lots of little shops and restaurants, including this Fish-On-A-Stick place.

Apparently Mt. Takao is a natural habitat for flying squirrels. Unfortunately we didn't see any because they are nocturnal.

The view from Mt. Takao. You can see Yokohama, and in the distance the outline of Tokyo's Sky Tree.
There was also a monkey park, where we could see adorable baby baboons as well as very well trained adults (baboons, not humans).
Sometimes a baboon would get in the swinging bucket, and it was adorable. During feeding time some of the food ended up in the bucket, and the wittier baboons went over to eat out of it. Sometimes they would tip it over to see if more had fallen in.
Mt. Takao wasn't very much of a hike, as it was a leisurely walk up a paved and crowded road all the way to the summit. The trail up was lined with temples.

The view from the summit. Normally you can see Mt. Fuji, but with our luck, we barely caught a glimpse of it. You can also see some of the leaves turning, but it's not as dramatic as the color changes in Canada.