It was time to say goodbye to Okutama, and begin making my way back to Tokyo.
After my somewhat disastrous attempt at mountain climbing yesterday, I had started thinking about what other stuff I could do while I'm out here. I remembered that there was a mountain on the way back that had a rope-way. It should be doable to stop on the way back, store my luggage in one of the station lockers, and ascend a mountain with the power of technology.
There was no rush though, so I had my second traditional breakfast, and then went on a morning walk to visit the gorge one last time.
I still had awhile before my train came, so I thought about going to the pizza place for lunch, but it was closed. So I made my way to the station and just waited there.
The train arrived, and it was once again taking pictures out of windows time.
I got off the train at Mitake station, and from here I would be taking a bus to the rope-way station.
After looking around the local area a bit, I found the bus stop and waited.
On the bus, the elderly man sitting next to me turned out to be quite fluent in English, and we talked for a bit. He had lived in Hawaii for awhile, and had traveled around the US. When I told him I was from Ohio, he thought that was really funny, and referred to me as "Mr Ohio" for the rest of the trip.
When we arrived at the rope-way station, it turned out it was not actually a rope-way, but a Funicular train. There WAS a rope-way, but that was for a further up section, I had gotten them confused.
Regardless, my new friend and I got on the train.
The view from the disembark point.
And then was an open viewing area with tables and benches.
This is also where the ropeway left from, though it was really just a chairlift. I was going to take it, but it was closing for lunch, so I got some buns while I waited, and looked around a bit.
The sun also started to come out a bit, so I took some more photos
After eating and getting some souvenirs, I took the chair lift for another slightly higher view.
I continued up the mountain a little further, and explored a nature preserve type area. There was a fence to keep out deer, so they would not eat the rare plants growing there.
I tried going further, but it looked like I didn't have time to commit to making it to the mountain temple, so I turned back.
I took one more round of pictures, bought a tall drink, and started making my way back.
On the bus back to the train station, I ended up sitting next to my new friend again.
On the way back, one of the things that struck me was how noncommercial the area around the route to the mountain was. It was just a quiet community, uninterested in maximizing the amount of money they could extract from tourists.
I made it back to the train station just in time to hop on the next leg, and made my way back home.
