Mt. Takako - Day 13

Tuesday June 24, 2025

Today we are taking a break from Disney and going on an outing out of town, to hike up Mt Takao. This is something Bryan and I did our first time to Japan, and we remembered it as being worth doing. So this time we brought Desmond, Dylan, Erik and Bethie along with us. 

We got up about the same time, and had breakfast with mom and dad in the Executive Lounge. They are taking a rest day, so they ate breakfast with us and then wished us well. We met up with Bethie and Erik at the train station, and started our hour and 45 minute trek (through “rush hour” traffic). Bryan walked Bethie through the process of using this train system, at her request, so that they would be able to peel off and do their own thing later in the day. 

My favorite part of the trip out of town was when about thirty first graders got on the train and rode with us for about six stops. Their beautiful smiles made my morning, as they bumped into each other, giggled, held hands, and goofed around. They came up to about Erik’s waist. 

We arrived outside of town and took the cable car up the side of the mountain. It was as steep as I remembered. There was a camera crew on the cable car today, filming as we went up. That was funny. Desmond goofed around, being a ten year old, grabbing on to the hand railing and letting the rest of his body hang downward across the steep slope of the cable car floor as though he were hanging on for dear life and may fall any moment. The grandmotherly Japanese women seated nearby thought that was pretty amusing. I had him stop and come stand by me, while Bryan asked Bethie and Erik where they thought he got his flair for the dramatic, and gave me a teasing “that’s all you” look. 

From the top of the cable car route, we began the hike up the mountain. We soon found the rice balls we were looking forward to. I happily decided to buy some right away at the first stand that sold them. When I approached to tell the woman what I wanted, however, she pointed to a machine. “You put your order in there.” Dylan offered helpfully. “Oh!” I’d never seen such a thing. It was like a vending machine. I pushed my selection and put my money in. Nothing happened. “Hmm… I think I’m going to need help.” (I’m going to add asking for help to my list of useful phrases, I think.) The woman kindly came out to assist me. It turns out (like a vending machine) you put your money in first and then select what you want. When I did that, a ticket dropped with my order on it. I handed this to the woman, and she went and got me my rice balls covered in walnut sauce. Yum! 

They are hot, and very chewy, and tasty.  There are many different flavors of sauce to try. So fun!  We chewed on them as we resumed our climb. 

There were a lot more stairs involved than either Bryan or I had remembered. I think it would have been a lot harder for us if we hadn’t just spent the whole cruise climbing the stairs. (The Schmidt family doesn’t take the elevators on the cruise in order to burn some of the excess calories we consume while cruising.) 

We climbed up the stairs, under the covering of the trees, through the temple grounds. I was so glad to be out of the city and in among all the lush green. 

We passed on the monkey park this time (it is an additional cost and had been very underwhelming last time). When we went through one section near the top you could hear the Buddhist chanting. Dylan bought some charms to ward off evil. As I typically do, I prayed while walking through. Prayed for God’s love to reach these people who are searching for a spiritual connection. For the joy and peace I know in Jesus to be theirs as well. 

When we got to the top of the mountain I took Desmond’s picture by the sign showing how high he’d climbed. And then we took pictures of the view. It was pretty cloudy, so we couldn’t see Mt. Fuji, but that’s okay. We sat down at a picnic table and ate some snacks together, resting from our long, steep, walk. 

As we shared our snacks there were some ants crawling across the tabletop. To keep them from our food, Dylan lay down a small piece of beef jerky on the picnic table. Thinking the piece was far too big for them, I lay down a crumb of peanut butter cracker, and smooshed it into smaller bits. Then we all watched the ants get to work. It turned out that their home was built inside the wooden picnic table, so they didn’t have a terribly long way to go with their prizes. 

We watched them for a good long while as we rested. Desmond began talking excitedly about the prospect of getting an ant farm when he gets home. 

We took a different path on the way down. This one was a dirt trail (the other was paved for much of the way). Bethie spotted a stick bug which was fun. We didn’t see any flying squirrels like the sign said we might. Better luck next time, I guess. 

We crossed a suspension bridge and I said “Ohayō gozaimasu!” (Good morning) and they said “konichiwa” (hello later in the day). I looked at my watch, and sure enough, it was after lunch time. 

So after riding the cable car, we rode the trains to try and find where we had lunch last time we’d climbed the mountain. But we could not find it. So we allowed ourselves to be seated in a different katsu restaurant. We ordered our meals. Then as the waitress was about to step away from the table she asked “Any allergies?” And I fessed up to my milk allergy. At which point she told me everything they serve has milk in the batter. So I could have rice, and cabbage, and miso soup, but no meat. This was seriously disappointing, because for the last two days at breakfast nearly all the meat has been marked as containing milk or being prepared with dairy products somehow. I wanted to cry. I assured everyone that they should stay and eat here and I would be fine. Bethie gave me a peanut/chocolate protein bar which I ate immediately. 

Another server came by and handed out bowls full of sesame seeds with pestles and we ground them up to be part of the seasoning for the meat. 

It was 4:00 by the time we finished our meal. Bethie and Erik went off in search of a material market after our meal. We took a train to a shopping area on the way back. This was probably a mistake. It was too warm, overstimulating, and when Desmond found a large Splatoon stuffie he wanted to buy, but we had to say “no” because we had no good way to get it home, he began to cry. Bryan got him a cold Sprite from a vending machine, and I took him into a pet store to look at some cute puppies, and then he was feeling a bit better. But I was done. 

We managed to buy Bryan a model he liked for his birthday tomorrow, and then took the trains through rush hour on the way home. I dislike crowds, particularly when I’m hot and tired. By the time we got me back to the hotel (past dinner time) I was really hoping the executive lounge would have something yummy I could have for dinner. They did not. They were serving Parmesan cheese encrusted chicken. I went and bought pasta from a shop nearby and ate that instead. Can’t really complain though, because Desmond basically had chips and marshmallows for dinner. 

As I coordinated the plan for rope drop at Disneyland tomorrow, Bethie let me know they would be doing a slower start tomorrow and join us at the park around 10:00AM. We decided to follow suite, so we get to sleep in some tomorrow. That will be nice. 

Want to keep Traveling with the Schmidts? Read Day 14