Visiting Mount Ooyama

Back in mid September, to celebrate three months of living in Kanagawa, a friend took me back to Oyama -- a mountain in the middle of the prefecture. I had been halfway up before, but this time, we would challenge hiking 1,252 meters (about 4,000 feet) to the summit.

We took the cable car first...

I sat in the rear of the car, to enjoy the view. Next to me, was one of the driver's seats:

The car travels quite fast and we went though several tunnels...

The last station, Afuri-jinja, is located about about 800 meters up. I enjoyed the temple here and prayed for a safe hike before departing.

Temple station:

Temple at mid day:

 Tomorrow, I'll show more photos from the climb up and views from the summit.

Oyama is located in central Kanagawa, and is part of the Tanzawa - Oyama Quasi National Park. Access: Odakyu train line to Isehara station. Take a Kanachu Bus (North exit, bus stop No.4) to Oyama Cable station. Wild deer and bears are in this area, so exercise caution when hiking. 

**Special Bonus**
I usually enjoy cake or some sweets to celebrate my anniversary of moving to Kanagawa. For September, I enjoyed this pudding...

...of two cute rabbits. In Japan, September is "moon viewing" season, when the night weather is still warm and one can enjoy viewing the full moon. Japanese people believe a rabbit lives in the moon, much like western people believe in seeing a man's face on the moon.

Either way, the rabbits were really cute. Although, their red eyes are a bit scary....o_O