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On Thursday, we left the hectic pace of central Tokyo for the relative quiet of Mount Takaosan. 50 minutes outside of central Tokyo by train, though apparently still within the city’s boundary, the mountain is considered sacred and contains several minor shrines and a larger Buddhist temple near the top. While it was a somewhat overcast day, the views from the mountain looking back at the city were impressive, if not especially photogenic.

Visitors are able to get near the summit of the mountain either by hiking, riding a cable car, or taking a chair lift. We opted for the last option. The ride itself is pretty open and is pretty much like riding a ski lift. It’s a nice, easy ride to the top and definitely made us appreciate not choosing to hike our way up.

Once off the chair lift, we headed for a monkey park. The park is home to a few dozen monkeys housed in a comfortable and roomy habitat, easily viewable by visitors. The Japanese-speaking handler seemed to be explaining care, feeding and related information to other visitors while the monkeys would knowingly tug on his pants leg for the food in his waist pack.

From the monkey park, we continued towards the top of the mountain to visit the temples. There are quite a few stairs on the way up, making it somewhat of a slow process. The temples though, were worth the walk. The craftsmanship and beauty of the architecture was easy to appreciate, and the serenity of the surroundings were a welcome break from city life. Various pilgrims made offerings, drank cleansing water from springs, and bathed in incense smoke to purify themselves.

We stayed for a while and walked around, taking time to see each of the individual shrines and statues. The descent down the mountain was significantly easier, and the chair lift ride down offered additional spectacular views looking down the mountain and back to the city.

After riding the train back into central Tokyo, we headed back for the Ginza area and found another ticket-vending restaurant to eat it. This one specialized in steak, cooked and served on cast metal plates much like those fajitas are served on. Like our first vending machine meal, this one was also a lesson in efficiency. You pay at a machine, receive a ticket, hand the ticket to a server, and get your food right away. The meal itself was awesome, and the absence of waiting for a bill and leaving a tip was nice. We could definitely get used to that. Sadly, I haven’t really heard of or seen this in the US, so it may be awhile before we can experience such a meal again. Hmmm…maybe there’s a business idea in there somewhere…

For now, sayonara. As before, some images from today can be found in the galleries.