Now that Autumn has finally come, its nice to get outside into the fresh air and see the leaves change colour. One of the easiest places to do this is in Chichibu, which is in the north western corner of Saitama prefecture, just above Tokyo.
Getting there: The easiest way by far is by taking the train on the Seibu Ikebukuro line from Ikebukuro station to Seibu-Chichibu station at the end of the line. Do yourself a favour and
take the New Red Arrow limited express train. As the reserved seat ticket only costs about 700yen extra, its much more comfortable and a lot faster (70min) than the normal trains.At seibu-chichibu, you have a few options. In the area there are a lot of small trails you can take around the area. However, we opted to jump on the Chichibu Railway line to Mitsumineguchi station. From here we grabbed a bus up to Chichibu Dam where we began our hike towards Mitsumine Shrine at the top of the mountain.
This hike was more difficult than I would have preferred, but the trees were beautiful, as were the views from the top. It was about 4km from Chichibu Dam to the shrine, but it was very very steep. I wish I had brought better shoes.
One of the nice things about hiking in Japan is that everyone brings bento boxes for picnics along the trails. Its also not uncommon to see people relaxing with a beer or two midway through the day on top of the mountain, or in some cases halfway.
At the top of the mountain we reached Mitsumine Shrine, and caught the last bus (at 17:30!) back to Seibu Chichibu Station where we caught the next New Red Arrow train back to Ikebukuro.
Our trip was thrown together very randomly. I suggest to make the most of Chichibu National Park you get yourself a good hiking map (usually you can get free ones from the station information offices in either Ikebukuro or Chichibu).
Ikebukuro to Seibu Chichibu: 1380yen
Seibu Chichibu to Mitsumineguchi: 430yen
Mitsumineguchi express bus to Seibu Chichibu: 900yen
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