Since I made blog entries for nearly all my hikes in the Tokyo area in 2019 – there are some December ones left that I’ll write up soon – I won’t do a summary like last year. Instead, I’ll share some numbers for the past year.

Total Number of Hikes

In 2019, I had 46 outings that resulted in some form of hiking (ten more than in 2018). “Hiking only” trips within the Tokyo area, totaled 40 (also ten more than the previous year). I’m glad I achieved my personal goal of surpassing the number of hikes in 2018, and equaling that of 2017, (although 2019 had more short hikes), despite tendinitis in my left ankle that has been bothering me since the summer. The hikes were evenly divided between Saturday and Sunday, an improvement from last year when most hikes fell on a Sunday.

Hikes per Prefecture

The prefecture where I did the most hikes was Yamanashi (11) – a bit surprising since I had already done many hikes in that area, but then Yamanashi has many mountains. Gunma (8) ranked high up because half the hikes bordered on other prefectures. I was also surprised that Kanagawa (5) did well. I really thought I had exhausted that area in previous years. I was glad I was able to do several hikes in Ibaraki (4), an area I started to explore only last year. I also managed more hikes in Shizuoka (4) that weren’t on, or close to, Mt Fuji, and I hope to explore that prefecture more in 2020.

One of my goals for 2019 was to do more hikes in Tokyo (3), and although the result isn’t great, it’s honorable. I had really wanted to go to Tochigi (3) more often, but I often found myself canceling my plans there because of the weather. My biggest regret is not hiking more in Chiba (2). Many trails were severely damaged due to last year’s powerful typhoons, and it’s unlikely I will be able to go there this year. I was kind of shocked to see how little I had hiked in Saitama (2). However, this is one area I had extensively explored in previous years.

Hikes by Means of Transport

I wasn’t surprised that so hikes many hikes required access by bus (23). However, I still managed to find many station to station hikes (11), although road walking was required for a few of them. Occasionally, I opted to go by rental car (7) or by taxi (3), since there was either no bus or the times weren’t convenient.