Intercultural Communication Center (ICC)Waseda University

Harumi C. Sh.
GSAPS 

The ICC organized a hiking event and I was lucky that someone cancelled last minute so I could join. The reason I signed up for this was because I wanted to do some sightseeing while hiking, plus I could get to meet new people!  Also, it was a perfect place to take my camera. The whole journey started great and ended up being a fulfilling experience. I took a direct train to the Mt. Takao station. The digital signs were pretty cute and the express ticket (worth 700yen) was interesting.  

Once I got there, I got to meet some people that arrived early like me. They were pretty nice and some of them were from the Waseda campus in Saitama. Then we were separated by groups of 4 to 5 people and they gave us nametags. My groups were group #1 and #2, so we were 9 people in total. We had to decide as a team to walk all the way up or use the cable car. And yes, we went for the “feel like dying” option. We walked and stopped to rest, to look around (the temples, the nature), and to try the miso dango that was being sold along the way.  My group and I took many pictures together and also exchanged Line and Instagram accounts to keep in touch when we can.

photo by author

After a long hike, we reached the top and our pictures were taken by the ICC staff.  After this we were free to do as we liked and decided to go to the place where we could see the view. I saw a faraway Fuji. The funny part was that some of our members didn’t know Fuji can be seen from where we were until one friend and I pointed it out. Then, they went to see

it again. 

photo by author

As it was full of people, we found a stair and decided to eat our lunch there. Once finished, we went back through another route which was a good decision as we got to see a Totoro decoration and a tanuki (racoon dog). However I th

ink that it was actually an anaguma (badger) as later I saw a sign and the shape was more like an anaguma. I guess I’ll never know. We also crossed a bridge. It was like a jungle movie. Going down, we decided to take a cable car as we were so tired. In the train back home, most of us were so tired that we were sleeping. Then we had to change trains and everyone went their own way.  

Finally, I can say that I’m grateful for the opportunity and though it was tiring going up, it was worth it and I recommend you to join ICC events or to go on your own! I think I will be going again so I can check other routes.