Mount Haruna

Haruna is a cluster of peaks rather than one summit; the highest, Kamon-ga-take, reaches 1,449 meters. The volcano has erupted on and off for around 500,000 years, and a blast about 220,000 years ago left the caldera that now holds Lake Haruna. Beside the lake rises the neat cone of Haruna Fuji, 1,391 meters, and you do not have to hike it. The Harunasan Ropeway goes up in 2 minutes 50 seconds, with cars every 15 minutes, for 1,200 yen return. At the top is a small shrine to Konohanasakuya-hime, rebuilt in 1964 on the site of an older one, and on clear days the view reaches the Tanigawa range, Mount Asama and the Kanto Plain, sometimes Mount Fuji too. Manga readers know the mountain as the model for Mount Akina, home turf of the tofu-delivery hero of Initial D, and plenty of people come for the driving roads alone. Haruna Shrine, on the far side of the massif, is worth a second stop. The catch is public transport: the bus from Takasaki Station takes about 1 hour 25 minutes to the lake, then there is a 20-minute walk to the ropeway. With a car it is about 21 km from Shibukawa-Ikaho IC, and the ropeway car park is free.