Beer Mountain
After the last few days were spent by the Japanese telling us that the Super Typhoon Lan was going to be this catastrophic event, people were being told not to come to work and chaos would reign. I watched the typhoon come in last night, but other than thick cloud and some angled rain, it didn't seem all that bad. Of course now if I check the Japanese news I'll probably learn that hundreds were killed, entire villages swept away and thus I'll be made out as a bit of a dick, but waking up this morning nothing could have been further from the truth!
Aside from some wind, this sky would be the clearest I've seen in a long while; typhoons certainly seem to clear the air! Should I go out and get groceries today I won't need to wear my togs which is a relief!
As a follow up to yesterday's week in review, there was a particular highlight from last week that justified a blog post of it's own - Beer Mountain.
Tokyo is a huge metropolitan area, a sprawling mega city that, while featuring a lot of green space, can hardly be considered a 'natural' place. However, I was surprised to learn there is a mountain, Mount Takao, a 599m tall peak that is on the very edge of the Tokyo region, and so when a discussion was had about visiting it, I was all for it. Taking a few trains to the North West, we traveled for over an hour, the skyscrapers and endless sprawl slowly becoming more truncated with greenery and mist. Disembarking from the train, and exiting the most architecturally pleasing station I've visited in Japan, we were met with scenes of misty mountains and forestry - completely unlike anything in Tokyo proper!
We followed the river for a little while, with the intention of making our way up the mountain. At the base there is the ubiquitous temple set up, various stores selling themed souvenirs, and some delightful statues!
We opted not to cable car up, figuring it would be dark when we started the descent, so in order to get some of the view, we walked up. Immediately regretted that; while not a long walk, it was hellishly steep, and being rainy we were in jackets that trapped the heat, meaning we were well sweaty before long!
However, the path was a nicely maintained one, with signs of some cool wildlife; I shall have to come back on a good day to see what I can see! Also there were more statues and bits and pieces around - while the meaning or significance of them is lost on me, they provided
As we neared the top of the mountain, we saw reference to a restaurant at near to the summit, called 'Beer Mountain'. Turns out there is an all you can eat buffet up there, and naturally we decided that was an appropriate use of our time! We were not disappointed! Sitting at the summit, all hot and sticky despite the cool rain, we were sat in a pavilion overlooking the Westernmost parts of Tokyo, demolishing all kinds of delicious food:
Being there for two hours, we paced ourselves well, taking minimal amounts of everything so as to not crash early - immensely difficult given the variety of delicious Japanese food on offer. Strangely too, there was an Oktoberfest stand there, with various breads, sausages and salads available, as well as some German beers. Speaking of alcohol, the set up was quite straight forward in that there was a bar from which beer (Kirin or Sapporo) was issued, but for spirits there were just giant bottles with squeeze tops like you'd have on a bottle of soap, from which you could pump as much whisky/wine/sake/plum wine as you liked:
Mum, you'll be happy to know I limited myself to only one of these, with such a set up it could get out of hand very easily!
As our two hour limit came to a close, we meandered our way to the cable car, which took down an incredibly steep incline, 1km long - felt like a Disney ride, albeit in slow motion!
We returned to Komaba lodge feeling very full, quite damp, but immensely glad for our little expedition, it was highly worthwhile!
This was my second ever Japanese all you can eat buffet experience, I can say so far 100% of the time they have been a phenomenal success, and look forward to trying some more!
I'm currently preparing, along with a team of three others, for an entry into the Hult Prize which is taking a fair bit of my time, but looks to be an interesting competition to enter; and apparently it is not very well populated at Tokyo University, so we look to stand reasonably well! Looking at how energy utilisation can be adapated to help people in developing nations (the aim is to change the lives of 10 million people by 2025 - quite the mission!). I have one more blog entry up my sleeves with my current material, so when I take a break from that there may well be another entry to digest!
But until then, stay frosty out there!
Troy :)
 | |
| Devastation across the land |
As a follow up to yesterday's week in review, there was a particular highlight from last week that justified a blog post of it's own - Beer Mountain.
Tokyo is a huge metropolitan area, a sprawling mega city that, while featuring a lot of green space, can hardly be considered a 'natural' place. However, I was surprised to learn there is a mountain, Mount Takao, a 599m tall peak that is on the very edge of the Tokyo region, and so when a discussion was had about visiting it, I was all for it. Taking a few trains to the North West, we traveled for over an hour, the skyscrapers and endless sprawl slowly becoming more truncated with greenery and mist. Disembarking from the train, and exiting the most architecturally pleasing station I've visited in Japan, we were met with scenes of misty mountains and forestry - completely unlike anything in Tokyo proper!
We followed the river for a little while, with the intention of making our way up the mountain. At the base there is the ubiquitous temple set up, various stores selling themed souvenirs, and some delightful statues!
However, the path was a nicely maintained one, with signs of some cool wildlife; I shall have to come back on a good day to see what I can see! Also there were more statues and bits and pieces around - while the meaning or significance of them is lost on me, they provided
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| Blimmin' huge worm, 500yen coin for scale (26mm diameter) |
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| Japanese Little Red Riding Hood? |
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| The Gates to Beer Mountain |
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| Chocolate fountain, the highlight of any buffet situation |
Being there for two hours, we paced ourselves well, taking minimal amounts of everything so as to not crash early - immensely difficult given the variety of delicious Japanese food on offer. Strangely too, there was an Oktoberfest stand there, with various breads, sausages and salads available, as well as some German beers. Speaking of alcohol, the set up was quite straight forward in that there was a bar from which beer (Kirin or Sapporo) was issued, but for spirits there were just giant bottles with squeeze tops like you'd have on a bottle of soap, from which you could pump as much whisky/wine/sake/plum wine as you liked:
 |
| 4 Litres of Suntory Japanese Whiskey |
As our two hour limit came to a close, we meandered our way to the cable car, which took down an incredibly steep incline, 1km long - felt like a Disney ride, albeit in slow motion!
We returned to Komaba lodge feeling very full, quite damp, but immensely glad for our little expedition, it was highly worthwhile!
This was my second ever Japanese all you can eat buffet experience, I can say so far 100% of the time they have been a phenomenal success, and look forward to trying some more!
I'm currently preparing, along with a team of three others, for an entry into the Hult Prize which is taking a fair bit of my time, but looks to be an interesting competition to enter; and apparently it is not very well populated at Tokyo University, so we look to stand reasonably well! Looking at how energy utilisation can be adapated to help people in developing nations (the aim is to change the lives of 10 million people by 2025 - quite the mission!). I have one more blog entry up my sleeves with my current material, so when I take a break from that there may well be another entry to digest!
But until then, stay frosty out there!
Troy :)
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