When I first came to Nagano, I immediately wanted to go hiking — easier said than done. Where I had imagined a wealth of information ended up just being fruitless internet searches and unhelpful tourism brochures. Some of them did mention hiking, but there were no details! Well, after living here for 3 years, I’ve finally figured out some tips for finding hiking trailheads in Japan. Hopefully one of them can help you plan your next adventure!
1. Ask around
Whether you’re a tourist or a resident, asking locals is always a good place to start; they usually know just a biiiiit more than the brochures after all! If you’re unsure where/who to ask, there’s a fair chance that someone at a local tourism office will be able to help you. Or, ask the people you’re staying with; they might be able to point you in the right direction.
Of course, we don’t always want to hike in our immediate area. For those hikes not in your backyard, or if you’re trying to plan a future hike, #2 is a good option.
2. Finding trailheads on the internet… in Japanese
“Duh. If you want to find something in Japan, search for it in Japanese.” Yeah, well, I honestly expected with the amount of people hiking here someone would have put information on the internet in English; wrong. Many of the more popular hikes (like Mt. Fuji) have hundreds of guides to choose from, but of course the mountains in my backyard are not exactly nationally known. So, Japanese it is.
What I’ve found is to first locate the name of the mountain you want to climb in Japanese; a quick Google search of your mountain should be enough to turn that up. Next, put the Japanese name into Google with 登山口 (tozan-guchi, trailhead) after it and you should be able to find something! Of course, any information you do find will be in Japanese, but that’s nothing the Google Translate extension for Chrome can’t handle.
When I hiked Mt. Iizuna the second time, I forgot where the trailhead was and this method helped me find it again; happy searching!
Helpful Website #1: Hiking in Japan
You can’t go wrong with a website called Hiking in Japan! This is usually my first stop when trying to plan a hike. It by no means has every mountain in Japan listed, but it does have some of the more popular hikes (as well as a couple in my area). Plus, everything is in English so obvious bonus points. The site is regularly updated as well, making it a great planning resource. If I want to hike something not listed on Hiking in Japan, I’ll switch to Japanese and head to Helpful Website #2.
Helpful Website #2: Yamakei
While Yamakei doesn’t have information on every mountain, it does have stuff on a majority of them. I’ve used it a couple times to plan hikes and never had an issue with the information I’ve got from it! To get to the route search, hover over「日本の山＆登山ルート検索」on the top menu (third from the right) and click the third option from the dropdown menu, 「登山ルート検索」. Last, enter in your mountain’s Japanese name in the first box and hit the giant red button. Easy enough!
3. Buy a map from Mapple
Mapple is a Japanese company that makes guide books, but I know them as the company that makes awesome hiking maps. They’re called 山と高原地図 (Mountain and Plateau Maps) and I absolutely LOVE them. I’ve got one for my neighborhood mountains and one for the Northern Alps (both pictured below), and I just bought one for Kamikochi.
These annually updated topographic maps are printed on tough, synthetic paper that is difficult to tear, even when wet! They show trails, approximate hiking times, parking locations, water sources, trailheads, and more. Each map also comes with a booklet with information on specific trails, such as difficulty and written directions. I like to look up a route/information on the internet first, plan a trip, then look at the map for more specifics. I also bring them with me when I hike, just in case.
That’s it! My 3 tips for finding hiking trailheads in Japan — ask around, consult the internet, and buy a topography map. Did I miss anything? How do you find hiking information in Japan? What websites do you trust? Let me know in the comments!
