Japan's Beer Gardens

Sac-Man, Rene, Fineburge, and Mike enjoying some good beer, sorry about the picture.  We took our old camera

Sac-Man and Larissa as we wait for our table.  

Up at the Mt. Takao Summit

It was nice and cool at the top

Nice relaxing ride up the mountain

SacMan, our guide (lab tech at the clinic), Rene and Fineburge.

More stairs up to the beer garden

Beer Garden, good Italian food, beer, wine, etc.....

Drunk Japanese trying to get this guy to drink more.  

Humidity here is Japan is on the rise.  I was hoping we would escape the hot humid weather that seems to have come a bit late this summer.  Yesterday, Rene and I set out for a 4 mile run, followed by a 10 mile bike ride.  Not really knowing how demanding our evening at Mt. Takao would be, we soon realized we had over done it.  Mt. Takao is located out of Hachioji City and overlooks Tokyo with a fantasic night view of the city.  Its elevation is around 599 meters and it is surrounded by beautiful temperate forests, tall trees and wildlife.  What a relief when the group decided to take the chair lift up.  Above the summit sits a beer garden where you can get a great buffet and all the beer you can drink for 3,300 yen.  I would estimate this place can sit around 800 people at a time, and it was crowded.  Our wait was 2 hours, but during those two hours we were able to walk the grounds and take advantage of the wonderful summit views.    Beer gardens here ar seasonal and only open from July 1-September 30th.  We sat, ate, relaxed and drank beer for two hours.  One added plus was the free beer given out while you waited.  I was amazed that somewhere in Japan you could actually get something free.  The crowds were enjoyable and the staff spoke great English.   Just six more days to climb Fuji and I am getting pretty excited.  I will attend the base briefing this Thursday, rent my gear and mentally prepare myself for the 8 plus hour adventure.