武甲山 Mt Buko, Tokyo's limestone source (repost)

 Repost from March 31, 2021.  Blogger seemed to lose this post.

Last year, when I was passing through Chichibu City on my scooter on my way to Mt Ryokami for the first time, I saw this massive Mesopotamian-ziggurat-looking mound of rocks.  I was looking at Mt Buko for the first time.  

Some research at home revealed to me that Mt Buko is one of the main sources of limestone used in the concrete in the buildings of downtown Tokyo.  There is tension in the local area about the mountain and its uses.  On the one hand, it is the economic engine the area depends upon and, indeed, all of Japan depends on I guess.  On the other, the scar on the environment is quite visible.

Of course, this had to go on my bucket list of mountains.

One of the neat things about Mt Buko is that the quarrying is only on the north side.  Climbing up the south side is like being on a completely different mountain and you would never know what the other side looked like if you didn't have prior knowledge.

I'll put this gif here near the beginning of the post just because I love it.

This shot as we started out was the best view of the mountain we had all day.

The mountain didn't reappear until we were on board our train home.

You come across various and sundry curios all over the place in Japan.

Spring is springing.

Days like these offer the chance for a different kind of beauty in the forest.

What the day lacked up in visibility was more than made up for in the company I was allowed to spend the day with.

Getting near the end we started to encounter more and more sakura.

This soba place, "Hanitsuen", is next to Jurinsgeo coffee shop and the Hashidatedo Limestone Cave.  Sorry.  Hanitsuen and Hashidate don't seem to have websites.

Yummy Coffee here

https://jurinsgeo.jimdofree.com/

From Urayamaguchi Station, our departure point for home.  This lines trains had only 3 cars.

I'll leave you with some more gifs.  I love these things.

More later.  Subscribe or whatever it is that you do to stay informed.  I have no idea how that works.  (Now I do!  Put your email in that little box on the top right.  Become a cool-kid cavedweller!)

Caveman out.