100 mountains in Japan ~a list of good mountains

One of Japanese culture

Japanese people really likes to pick a few or many items from a area of interest something like top three something, then many people try to follow those selection as a sort of accomplishment.

100 mountains in Japan

In a hiking world, there is a famous mountain selection by a person called "100 mountains in Japan".  The person select the mountains is Kyuya Fukada, an essayist in Japan.  He visited many mountains and based on his point of view, he picked top 100 mountains in Japan.

According to Wikipedia, although the Wikipedia article is in Japanese, he publish an essay about the 100 mountains in 1964.  After that many people try to visit all 100 mountains and this is one of famous achievement as a hiker.     

The mountains are located all over Japan and this is a good goal to visit many areas in Japan.  So that this is not only hiking, but also a good thing to visit many different region in Japan.  The selection includes a famous Mt. Fuji.

My personal opinion

I am not sure if they are "famous 100" or "top 100".  This is really his selection and different people think different opinion.  Therefore, I did not translate it as "famous" or "top".   However, I also agree they are nice good mountains in Japan.   Many of selections are really famous and a sort of a symbol in a region.   Because of they may be popular in the region, many of them could be easy to access as well.  But some of them, it might be hard to approach and people may take a few days to reach the top.   So to hike all of them is not really easy task.

The reason I am writing this blog in English is trying to introduce Japan or some Japanese culture is one of my goal.   Because many information about Japan is still in Japanese.  So if people plan to do a hiking when they visit Japan, I would like to help to provide some information to them.

I thing this selection could be a good starting point to select the one.   As I mentioned above, some of them might not be a good choice for foreign people due to access to some mountains.   But many of them are really famous and relatively easy to access.   Also, it is easy to find out a guide book or information in the internet since many people visit there and post some report and articles.

In a past days, I wrote about Mt. Tanigawa and Mt. Tsurugi, the both of them are listed in his selection as well.   I will continue to introduce mountains in Japan based on my experience!!  However I just started and it may take some time to accumulate the information.  That is why I am writing about the 100 selection today.

I guess people can find some information to search in the internet with "100 mountains", "famous 100 mountains" something like that.

I hope many people visit Japan and hike some of mountains and hot spring.   That may be different from mountains in your country.  

Introducing mountains in Japan (2) ~ Mt. Tsurugi

Yatsumina in May

Mt. Tsurugi

Mt. Tsurugi is located in Toyama-ken where is about a several hours from Tokyo by train or car.
The access to the mountain is not really convenient from Tokyo area.  However, this is one of mountains I really like.  I climbed there many times when I was in Japan in different seasons.

There are some trail a regular people can climb to the top.   However, it might be harder than the other regular trails.  There are some section people needs to use ladders, some easy rock climbing with fixed chains and etc.   Also many climbers try many rock climbing routes.

In winter, Mt. Tsurugi is getting  a lot of snow.  The area is one of areas where getting a lot of snow in winter.  Like Mt. Tanigawa I introduced, the mountain could get a few meters snow in a night.  Due to the snow, in winter,  hiking / climbing based in summer time are closed in winter and people needs to take a long approach to the mountain.   Typically, it takes more than 1 day to get into the mountain.  If people who want to climb this mountain in winter time may take more than 1 week just climbed to the top.

Kurobe-Tateyama Alpain route 

For climbers, this is really nice area / mountain to enjoy various climbing.  (To climb in winter time, all parties needs to send the plan in advance.   This is enforced by local law. )

On the other hand, there is a famous sightseeing spot to look at mountains around Mt. Tsurugi.   One sightseeing line from Toyama-shi to Ohmachi-shi in Nagano called Kurobe-Tateyama Alpain route.  This line is combination of a bus, a cable car, tｒollory bus and rope way to across the mountain area.  The view is really nice and it is worth to visit to see mountains in the area.

To access to Toyama, people can take a train from Tokyo or Osaka and take a bus or taxi to the alpain route.   Also a air line is available from Tokyo (Haneda) to Toayama as well.  If people does not have time, it might be a good idea to take air plane.

To access to Ohmachi, people can take a train from Shinjuku where is a part of central Tokyo.  It may takes a few hours to get to Ohmachi station.  

Season to visit there

Winter time is closed and no service.   In spring, you can see a lot of snow in the middle section of the route.  The height of the both side of bus road near "Murodo" is much higher than a high deck bus.   In summer, you can see a lot of wild flowers.  In autumn, changing color on leaves is really beautiful.

This is one of good spots you can see nice mountains and nature in Japan.

Introducing mountains in Japan (1) Mt. Tanigawa

Yuno-sawa, One of major walls in Japan

Introducing mountains in Japan

Today, I introduce a mountain near Tokyo / Japan, Mt. Tanigawa in Gunma.   Some reason Japanese people like to pick some major in a category, some thing like a major wall in Japan.  Mt. Tanigawa is one of major rock wall in Japan and many climbers enjoy rock climbing over there.

Mt. Tanigawa (Tanigawa-dake in Japanese)

According to Wikipedia, 781 people dead since 1913 as of 2005.  In the Guinness book, Mt. Tanigawa is the worst mountain to take people's life.  People believes the weather is unstable, the rock is also unstable for climbing.  In addition, the mountain is close to Tokyo area and people can go there within  2~3 hours by train / car.  The approach is also short.

The another fact is the mountain is typically getting a lot of snow in winter.   One of ski resort called Tenjin-daira is one of first ski resort in the early winter / late autumn.   In a winter, it gets more than 1~2m (3~6 feet) of snow in a day.  So that, climbing Mt. Tanigawa in a winter is not easy.

Sightseeng

Other than climbing, Mt. Tanigawa is a good sightseeing spot in this area.   Ichinokura-sawa is one of most famous rock wall non climber can go there very close to the wall without a lot of effort.  Nowadays to protect the nature in the area, the car access is limited or controlled, but within 1~2 hours walking people can see the big wall without any special skill.  In old days, people can access to the area by car and many people look at the wall and take a pictures with the wall.

Also, there is a few hiking trail to reach the top of mountains.   The total elevation from the closest train station is about 1000m and regular people may take a several house to reach the top.  The easiest trail is from the ski resort name Tenjindaira.  People can take a rope way to the ski resort and around 3~4 hours, people can reach the top of the mountain.

Climbing

To climb the major wall in Ichinokura-sawa, Yuno-sawa, Machiga-sawa and around Hitsugo-sawa area, a special permission is required due to many accident in the areas in the past.　The application needs to be send by mail 10 days before the climbing expect a member of designated climbing organization.  Most of people who is from out side of Japan cannot be this category.
The application must be mailed, there is no on-line form at this moment.

There are so many rock climbing lines in the areas and depending on climber's skill, people can enjoy the climbing except winter.  Winter climbing is not recommended, but some people try winter climbing own their risk.

The rock is not really stable compare with in the other countries such as Yosemite.   Falling rocks almost all area including caused by climbers.


Climbing in Winter

Winter climbing is not easy this mountain due to the mountain is located an area where is getting much snow, especially January ~ March.   In March, depending on the weather, people may nice snow climbing / hiking with stable weather.  But the weather is getting into bad, it is back to winter condition.

In spring, many back country skiers also try back country skiing in this area.  But people need to be very careful to avoid avalanche.

Area

Near Mt. Tanigawa, there are some hot-springs and many people take a rest and relax after the climbing and hiking.

Hot to get there

If people can drive a car, it might be easiest way to get there.  If people are visiting Japan from the other countries and it is hard to drive a car.  Then, taking a train would be a good way.  People can take "Joetsu Shinkan-sen (a ballet train)" from Tokyo and get off at Jomo-Kogen station.  It takes less than 2 hours from Tokyo.  Then take a taxi.  You can ask a driver to Mt. Tanigawa or Doai that is a closest local train station.

When would be a good season to visit

People can visit there any season.   To climb / hike into the mountain, the winter time might not be a very good idea for most of people.  But the other season, people can see different view for each season.   For myself, I like autumn season very much since leaves are changing color to yellow, red, orange....  It is getting very beautiful view.   I really recommend to be there just looking at the view in autumn if you have a chance.


I will continue to  introduce other mountains in Japan

Mexican Restaurant in Alviso CA / USA

Rail road in Alviso

Group Lunch

We went out lunch to a Mexican restaurant, Maria Elena's in Alviso in San Francisco bay area.

Currently, a design team is visiting San Francisco bay area for a system bring up and we took them to the restaurant as a regular group lunch today.

Alviso

Alviso is a small residential area near San Jose / Milpitas next to San Francisco bay.  It is a little far from business area, but there are a few restaurant in this area.

Maria Elena's is one of them.   This restaurant is very popular in lunch time and many people are waiting outside of the restaurant in lunch time.   I went there with colleagues more than ten years ago.  The restaurant is still running the business over there.

I guess many Mexican restaurants belong to a big group like Chevy's in this area.  But this is one of my favorite independent restaurants in the bay area.   Most of time, I went there for lunch and the lunch menu has many combination menus around US$10.  They also has a la carte, so that people have many choices in a reasonable price.  I guess it is worth to try it!  

Taking a walk after lunch!


After lunch, we took a walk around the area.   There is a park and some trails from Alviso along San Francisco bay.   It is a good place to take a work and relax!

I do not know the flower name, but it was beautiful!

It was a little windy since the trail is right next to the bay.  However, the view from there was really beautiful, the sky is really clear and we saw Mission Peak, Dumbarton bridge.  Due to less rain this winter, the water line is lower than a regular years.

I think this is a nice area and a restaurant, maybe try them in the weekend!!

Garmin Training Plan (2)

Last year I mentioned about Garmin Training Plan.  Here is some update based on my experience.

My situation

In my case, I got stress fracture on my left leg.  After the injury, I did not run or any training that impacts to my leg at all.  Therefore, my leg was getting weaker than before.   I picked a plan for full-marathon, but it seemed to be too much after the injury.   I got another injury, which was plantar fasciitis, after a few months of training for full marathon.

I was not ready to take full marathon plan.

Other similar cases

Many people who used to run when they were young.   However, if they have not run for a long time, they could not be ready to take full marathon plan, either.

It is not clearly indicates any notes, but I think it assume that people who take the plan need to have some level of running experience.   So that if people are not ready to take the plan, they will also get some injury during the plan.

I would think they need to start something less distance first and stepping up to the next level.

My near term plan

Due to another injury, I am not running on a road or treadmill in a gym.  Because they are cause of some impact to my legs.   A doctor suggest me not to do any training that impacts to legs.
So that I am only doing elliptical and stationary bike for a while.   Now, my left foot is getting better.  I only feel some pain when I get out from a bed in the morning.

After the pain is completely gone, I would start with 5km plan and step-by-step to increase the target distance.

I think many people who just resume running or first time to try long distance running.  I would recommend starting with shorter distance first.   It may not be a good idea to try full marathon menu.
I guess most of first time runners might not try full marathon for the first time.  However who had some experience to complete full marathon before might want to try full marathon after resume running.   They might need to be more careful to take such long distance plan in the beginning.

The situation could be vary and some people might be OK to start with full marathon plan.  Even starting with 5km plan, some people may get injury and they might start with walking or something easier menu.   People may need to understand where they are.

Adobe Photoshop Element 12 ~ compatibility problem between a download version and DVD retail package version

I got a trouble again!

I was getting a several trouble since last year, I got another trouble again.

The problem this time is a problem for Adobe Photoshop Elements 12.

What’s happened?

We need to edit photos and we downloaded a trail version from Adobe web site in early January this year.  The trial period is 30 days and the expiring date was coming soon.  So that we decided to buy a license.   We just found a retail package in Costco that is lower price than the on-line download version price and we bought it in Costco.

We tried to put the serial number from the retail package since the software complained the expiring date is coming soon.   Unfortunately it did not work.   We gave up and uninstall the software and installed it again from scratch with the DVD in the retail package.   It seemed to be working all right in the beginning.

However, it was suddenly not working after a few days.  We did not know what was going on.  We did not change anything for Windows and did not install any other software to the PC.

 We tried to make it work and tried uninstall and install so many times.   The problem was only launch “PhotoEditor”.   “PhotoOrganizer” was working no problem.  Since we did not touch Windows including update and it seemed to be a problem in Adobe application.

When I uninstalled the application, it seemed to be everything was deleted.  However it seems that some information was still on the PC somewhere or it might check some information in a server in Adobe.   Since if I installed it from a trial image, it said the trail was expired even if I deleted all files in the Photoshop related folders.   I was not sure, but it seemed that it was a problem with the license management in the application.   The license information might not to be updated.  When I installed it from DVD.

The customer service was really USELESS!!!!

We did not have much choice.   As usual, we, I and my wife, tried to call customer service many times for this issue.   They did not help this at all.

First, the person on the phone could not do anything and they just transferred phone to the different section or person again and again.  Every time the call was transferred, we had to wait for a long time to get the next person.   Then, what they said was the customer support for Photoshop Elements 12 was not free.  It is really ridicules.

The end result was nothing we could do.   We decided to return the retail package to Costco.  The return was accepted.

Also, there was a big confusion with “trouble-shooting” function on Windows.   When I tried it, it says Windows found an incompatible application and it suggested to use some other compatible mode to run the application.   However, it was not true.   I did not believe it was a compatibility problem since it was working when we installed it for the first time and we did not touch Windows related configuration.   Also, we did not install any other application after install Photoshop Elements 12.   It was likely the license management problem between the download image and retail package.

Workaround

It was really simple.  When we bought another one from on-line and put a serial number, then it works.  We did not see any problem at all.   Somehow, Adobe makes some differentiation between the retail DVD package and the download image.  Once people install a trial version, the DVD installer could not override the license information.   Once the trail is expired, the software starts not working.  I guess it is really simple and basic thing they need to support.  

I guess it is better to do some research when people by a retail package after a trial.   It might happen a similar problem with other software.   It will waste your time to figure this out and make it work.

This experience was really bad and spent a lot of time to make this work.   Especially the due date to complete the photo editing was getting close.   We did not have much time to solve this case.

Be careful to proceed repair SONY product in the US!!

   In the end of last year, one of my camera lens was not functional.  After more than 1 months, the repair had been completed and sent it back.  Now I can shoot daily photos like before.

   However, I had a problem with SONY for this repair and I would like to share my experience.


Flat Rate Repair






   Whenever people make a repair request, they do care how much cost they need to spend.  A good thing for the process this time is "flat rate repair" when I placed the request on SONY USA web site.  The price was reasonable and I thought it was a great idea.

   There are seven exceptions not to apply the flat rate repair.  I do not believe anything can apply my case.  But actual cost is not the one showed when I place the order.

    Here is the exceptions:

• Replacement of display parts such as LCD
• Internal corrosion or moisture damage
• Cosmetic parts
• Any condition resulting from physical abuse, misuse or excessive wear
• Business and professional product or any product used commercially, or in a manner other than originally designed or intended.
• Devices older than seven years from last market date
• Damage resulting from any prior repairs

In my case, the problem was just stuck focus ling and I do not think anything above could be applied.

I am in a trouble!!




The initial process was very smooth.  The initiation was very easy on SONY USA web site.  SONY also called me when they receive the lens.

The operator for the first confirmation call told me they would evaluate the lens before proceeding the repair.  He also told me it might take a several days.  However, a status was changed suddenly, the process was pending and waiting for my approval to pay higher cost than the initial "flat rate price".  There was no phone call to explain this at all.  It was just web status.


What!  It was not flat rate!?

Once I saw that message on the web, I went SONY USA site to make sure the conditions again.  Yes, it clearly says, the device to qualify "the flat rate repair".  I also confirmed all exception cases.
I called SONY customer service to complain this.  The operator kept saying that the initial price was generated by the system and it was just a place holder.  I tried to explain about the flat rate I saw on the web.  But they did not listen to me at all.

My option could be dispose it or sending it back with my cost if I did not agree the new higher price.

After long time conversation with the operator, finally I agreed to pay the amount.  I did not have much choice and I like the lens and the price range was still below the maximum price I set.  After that, everything was smooth and the repair had been completed within 1 week and sent it back to me.

Overall, this thing was really bad.  What SONY did to me was really bad!!!!!!

SONY sent a survey today and I gave all my complaints to them, but nothing was happened.  I guess people need to be careful to buy SONY product or ask a repair to SONY.

I am not sure if people had a similar experience like this.  I am considering to post this experience somewhere on the internet.  If you have any suggestions / advice, please let me know.