Hiking! We're going to climb a mountain, huh?

It's nine degrees (C) there today

It's the high. At the top?

I don't know about the top.

I actually think Mount Takao is one of these smaller ones in front.

We're at Mount Takao. We made it to the bottom, next we have to go find the lift.

Go Super Mario team!

Here we go. Up the main street.

So Mommy — our first hiking trip with the kids, what do you think?

I've already been told by one kid that he's too tired to walk.

Already? Oh yeah.

Cool, huh?

Here's our cable car.

You ready? Let's go?

You want to go up in the front?

I want to go in the front!

Here, we'll go right in here.

I'm just going to stand.

Hey look guys. The other car is going to go right by — are you watching?

Whoa!

(In Japanese) Have a good trip!

Yea - we made it.

Here we go.

They're tired from the cable car.

OK, let's sit.

Look! Can you see everything over there?

I see some houses.

Did you see SkyTree? Where?

Look! Where is it? Oh! Way over there!

Look way out there and you can see SkyTree.

OK, let's start climbing guys?

And we're off. Here we go.

We don't have any paths?

Yea, it will just be dirt here pretty soon.

It will be like a real trail, OK? What?!

Scary! Can we fall off?

If you're not careful! What?!

You're going to be careful though, right? I think so.

Say "I'm going to be careful." I'm going to be careful.

Alright, no problem then.

I want a [pocket map] Here's your pocket map.

(Laughs) For a very big pocket.

This is a huge tree, huh guys?

And it's a beautiful tree.

It is a pretty tree, isn't it?

Ok, right now we're right here, at the gate.

And we can do [trail] 4 and go up, or we can do [trail] 1 and go up.

I think... 4. 4?

Ok, hold daddy's hand. Ready?

Look! Look over there!

Oh my!

That's the big tunnel we came out of on the way here. That's cool, huh?

No graffiti on this tree, please.

I don't love this. I don't love this. Hiking is not even cool.

It's not even cool?!

It's cool, but it's scary on this part!

It's so cool — it's like Zelda but in real life, right?

Because he climbs, he hikes everywhere, he climbs up the mountain, right?

He gets really cold on the snowy mountains.

That's right — so that's like the same thing, we're just doing it in real life now.

Hey Big J, there's a really cool bridge over here.

It moves even.

Let's go - wow!

That's so cool — do you feel it?

Ah! Too scary! Can we get off?

This is really cool actually. It is really cool!

See that's not so bad, is it guys?

It's not even bad. It's really fun.

Whoa look! Up on the roots! So cool Dude.

Awesome! You want to go up there? Ok

Yes!

Here's our stairway.

(humming and singing)

Show me what you found.

A hiking stick. I want to use it!

Well she's using it now, let's go!

I find one! No, that's stuck to a tree.

What's it say Sarah? Can you read it?

How far from the top are we?

We're here. We've done just this. Only that?!

We have to do all that stuff.

We got it.

Hiking up Mount Takao today. It's a gorgeous day.

It's so gorgeous. So gorgeous, a little bit chilly...

and tired... And tiring, but all the stairs help you get real warm real fast.

We're almost to the top.

When we just got on the path, I tripped on one of these and was like "whoa!"

I hate heights so bad. This is not my cup of tea.

You're doing good!

More stairs! How many stairs do you guys think we've done so far?

Five. Five?

No, 20. (In Japanese) Hello!

Konichiwa!

I think 4.

Look guys! Mommy was the first to see the building at the top! Yeah! We're almost there!

It's the last stairway, we got this Sarah. Let's do this thing! Here we go!

What do you see Sarah?

More... the end!

It's the end!

Here's the end!

We made it! Ahhh!

Uh! There's the top right over there!

Here's the girls.

Good job guys!

Look — we're almost to the very top.

Whoa! I see Mount Fuji! Where's Fuji Yama?

There's Mount Fuji dude, do you see it?

Yeah. Yeah, we did good.

Good job.

We made it to the very top of Mount Takao.

After getting a picture at the summit and grabbing a bite to eat, it was time to head back down the mountain.

For the descent, we choose the wide and friendly trail 1, which was a good thing with tired kids.

While it was packed with people, everything moved very smoothly.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather, especially for February.

Hi boys! Well, hello!

Are we stopping for a little break?

Yeah? I found this place.

You found it?

(inaudible dialogue)

We had a great day hiking Mount Takao.

We picked it because of its proximity to Tokyo and it’s accessibility

it’s one of the easiest mountains to climb with little kids, especially when the cable car does half of the climb for you.

Trail 4 ended up being quite a challenge with little kids, which at times was so narrow we held on to the kids hands for dear life!

Sarah and Ruth certainly didn’t care for that aspect, but we still had such a great adventure.

Now the kids ask “Are we becoming a hiking family?”

Japan is certainly a great place for that!

In the future we plan on exploring more and more of our beautiful country.

What did you think, Becster Booster?

It was so fun. I was like the tree queen.

The Tree Queen? You sure were. You led the way a lot of it.

Go Super Mario Team!

Like us! Life in Japan!

Subscribe!

We'll see you next time in Life in Japan!