Tokyo: Mt. Takao đ
Mäneka
Mt. Takao (Takaosan) is located an hour outside of Tokyo and is a well-known momoji spot. It was easily accessible from our hotel via the Keio line and has matsuri activities every weekend in November so we picked this spot for leaf-peeping. Unfortunately, the leaves had not yet reached peak in this area, but the scenery was still gorgeous.
We asked a nice man what the best thing to do was and he pointed at the map and told us that âTop of Mt. Takaoâ was the recommend spot and it would take 90 minutes to walk up. Taking the cable car or Echo chair lift would cut this to 40 minutes. Linda was not up for a 90 minute hike up a mountain so we opted for the lift, which is like a ski lift in that you sit in pairs in the open air, rather than the packed cable car. More nice elderly men instruct you when to step onto the conveyer belt, sit down, and upon departure, went to stand and run off the belt to your left. The ride up is very pleasant; you get a great view of the trees and when we went the weather was mild.
Points of interest along Path #1 to the top of the mountain include a row of huge cedar trees, an âoctopus tree,â various scenic lookouts with views of Tokyo (it was not clear enough for us to make out any landmarks), a monkey park, and a temple. I am in principle against monkey parks and Mom thinks the monkeys are too aggressive so we did not go there. The temple was tengu-themed and impressive and we spent a while trying to decipher various kanji. We also got to see a procession of priests in full regalia honking on some shell-like things as they marched in a line.
The only downer part of the day was finding out that there was a long wait to take the chair lift back down the mountain. After some confusion involving seiriken (numbered return tickets) we waited about 40 minutes in a crowded small area with everyone else who did not want to walk down. In the future I would recommend getting your numbered group ticket and then walking around some more instead of waiting around. In addition, all of the vending machines were sold out of almost everything and the one food stand there only sold mitarashi dango and corn dogs. We were feeling a bit deprived so it was a relief when we finally plopped down on the lift and headed back to Tokyo.
Linda felt that our day of hiking earned us a hefty dinner so we opted for tonkatsu at Saboten in the Odakyu department store in Shinjuku. Maisen is the standard by which I judge all tonkatsu so I will compare and contrast them here. At Saboten with your meal you receive rice (plain or with barley), miso soup with tiny clams in it, cabbage with yuzu and/or sesame dressing, and a small serving of three types of tsukemono. They give each diner a mini suribachi to freshly grind their own sesame seeds to add to the tonkatsu sauce. Linda was a big fan of these extras and the fact that they offer kaki fry. At Maisen you do not get to grind fresh sesame and I believe you do not get a choice of rice and the tsukemono is one variety. Maisen, however, gives you two different tonkatsu sauces.
Linda got a combo with two fried oysters and the omega balance pork loin. I had the festive (their description, not mine) Miyazaki kurobuta pork cutlet. For me it all comes down to the fry and while I thoroughly enjoyed my cutlet, the fry at Maisen was better. The rack that Saboten put my tonkatsu on was sagging in the middle and led the bottom to become prematurely soggy. The coating was also not quite as crisp and did not adhere to the pork as well. The actual meat was tasty, though, and I enjoyed their sauce and yuzu dressing for the cabbage. Linda reported her oysters were excellent, but was too stuffed to finish all of the pork.
Exhausted, we headed back to our hotel to rest up for our trip to Nagoya tomorrow.