A vicarious form of summer escape on Mountain Day [EDITORIAL]

It's August 11. Mountain Day. A national holiday in Japan, the latest to have been added to this country’s impressive list of public holidays. In fact, despite being so enamored with the frequency of Japan’s national holidays, such is their number, I’m often caught unaware of their approach. (Is that just me?)

So, it’s Mountain Day. But, without so much as a mild gradient in sight in the midst of the shimmering mid-summer Tokyo urban sprawl where these words are being typed, we’re left to reflect on mountains experienced since the last Mountain Day. (This means going back to August 8, 2021 after the holiday was moved from the 11th to coincide with the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.)

With most of Japan’s land mass being made up of mountains it shouldn’t be too hard to unearth even a mild experience of mountain interaction over the past year or so. 

We’ll go back to November and the former village of Yamada, now known as Yamada-chiku (山田地区), in the outer reaches of Toyama City in the central Japan prefecture of the same name. 

With a population of around 1300 (as of August 2020), Yamada-chiku is dominated not by passing foot traffic or buildings but by the greens, yellows, and reds of its mountain slopes, rice fields, and apple orchards. The former village served as a reminder of Japan’s remarkable ability to quickly whisk the traveler away from sleek urban efficiency to remote regions which move to rhythms of climate and weather, rather than when the next Shinkansen will arrive - at Toyama Station less than an hour’s drive away.  

After dining on massive servings of the local soba noodles and mountain-vegetable tempura we drove further into the mountains, heading south and away from Toyama City. 

Our destination was the ski slopes of Ushidake. On our approach, looking across to the other side of a steep valley, we gazed out at impressive rice terraces carved into the mountainside.

(Rice field terrace in the Yamada-chiku region of Toyama.  Photo taken November 2021.)

At the Ushidake ski “resort” (still out of season and closed at the time of our visit) we tramped up the steps to the top of the Ushidake Panorama Observatory.

A howling wind was blowing and dusk was finding its feet. It was freezing and we weren’t kitted out in the mountain gear that might have allowed us to linger a little while longer. (A downside perhaps of Japan’s ability to switch so quickly between conditions and states of comfort.) 

Still, there was enough time to take in the impressive mountain panorama to the east, where the Tateyama range forms the border with neighboring Nagano Prefecture. 

(Mountain views from Ushidake observatory, Toyama.  Photos taken November 2021.)

Now, as we sweat and smolder in Kanto summer heat, trying to save on air con energy, we should rather like to be up there in the higher reaches of Yamada-chiku braced against a stiff mountain breeze.

We currently have blogging themes doing the rounds on City-Cost through which to share experiences of summer destinations that can offer some respite from the seasonal heat and humidity.  

If you’re unable to escape to the cool of the mountain slopes this Mountain Day, hopefully these posts can offer a vicarious getaway!