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Today was the first day of my 11 day Summer Break! To celebrate, I decided to do a classic summer break activity in Japan: go hiking! Since I'm not that used to hiking, I decided to go to Mt. Takao. It's one of the most visited mountains in the world, and for good reason. There's easy access to it from Tokyo, and it's a relatively easy mountain to hike up, great for children and beginners.

I was a little anxious to go in the morning as it was a little rainy, but I decided to go anyways. It was still raining by the time I got to the base of the mountain at 8am, but the trails were all still open and there wasn't any concern for lightening. From the Takaosanguchi train station, I took a cable car to get me halfway up the mountain. I did debate on whether I wanted to hike all the way, but realized I couldn't miss an opportunity to ride a cool little train.

Up the mountain was a lot cooler than the base! It was very foggy too, and it gave the mountain a mystical vibe. There were several routes that take you to the top of the mountain, but I decided to go with route 4 since it seemed the most scenic. There is a bridge in the middle of that route, and on a more sunny day I'm sure you would see a really nice view from it but all I saw was a wall of white. It was still very fun though. I ended up getting to the top in around 40 minutes, but by that point the rain started getting stronger so I made my way back down.

It was still around 10:30 by the time I reached the base of the mountain, which meant I had the whole rest of the day to still enjoy. Although there isn't as much to write about for that.... I went to the hot spring next to the train station (relaxing), went to Tachikawa to go to a rescue dog cafe (got to pet so many dogs!), and went to a festival near where I live. Actually, my day technically isn't over yet... There's going to be a call on the Neo Nihongo Webring discord, although with how exhausted I am I might fall asleep before it! We will see...

Tomorrow will be a more laid-back day. I plan to go to the library and maybe draw a little... but who knows. May go somewhere too. All up to how tired I feel tomorrow morning!