Hiking in and around Tokyo, Japan, is a lot easier than you might think. Mention hiking in Tokyo and many people will immediately think of Mt. Takao, which is incredibly popular, as it receives 2.6 million annual visitors. For this reason, I’ve been just once (it is nice).

Seibu Line Hikes:

To me, the nicest and most convenient hikes reachable from central Tokyo are the many hikes along the Seibu train line running west from Ikebukuro station. I’ve done 4 hikes along this train line and they have all been quite good. See below for details.

• Seibu Line Tokyo Hiking Maps ハイキングマップ埼玉県の秩父– Links to 17 hiking maps produced by Seibu railways.

See also my review of one of the Seibu hikes:

• Tokyo hiking: Murayama Mountain 丸山 , Ashigakubo Station 芦ヶ久保駅– Review and pictures from my hike of Murayama Mountain.

Tobu Line Hikes:

There are also some interesting hiking maps published by Tobu Railway. I have to admit that I haven’t done any of the following hikes, and some of them seem to include significant portions in towns (as opposed to the woods), but the ones further north towards Nikko look interesting, and they are mostly all easy day trips from Tokyo:

• Tobu line hiking‏ (north of Tokyo) ハイキングマップ東武線沿線 自然ハイキング

Oume Tokyo Hiking Map 青梅丘陵ハイキングコース案内図:

A relatively flat, double-tracked path that runs for several miles across a ridge in the hills above Ome, in western Tokyo; see: Oume Tokyo Hiking Map 青梅丘陵ハイキングコース案内図

External links:

Other resources for hiking in Tokyo and Japan that I’ve come across.

• Kanto hiking trails 関東のウォーキングコースを探そう! (Japanese)
• Let’s go walking! ウォーキングでいこう! (lets-walking.com) (Japanese)
• “Hiking in Japan” (japanhike.wordpress.com)
• “Hiking in Japan” Facebook page
• Yamareco ヤマレコ  (Japanese): user-generated content documenting various hikes throughout Japan.