Mount Kumotori

Tokyo's highest point is not a day trip for most people. The Okutama tourism association puts the standard route from Kamosawa at 10.7 km and about 6 hours 20 minutes one way, and Tokyo's park rangers advise planning a night in a mountain hut rather than racing the daylight. The reward is a summit with an almost 360-degree view: Mount Fuji, the Southern Alps and, on a clear day, the city toward central Tokyo. Beds and tent pitches are at Kumotori Sanso, Nanatsuishi hut, Sanjo-no-yu and the Gojunindaira campsite. Above 2,000 m it is about 12°C colder than the city, and even in May the nights fall below freezing, so pack for cold whatever the forecast in Shinjuku says. The summit area is a special protection zone of Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park: no picking plants and no tents outside the designated sites. Toilets are at Kosode-norikoshi, Nanatsuishi hut, Gojunindaira and near the summit, and nowhere else. Start early. The tourism association asks hikers to reach the trailhead by 9:00 and to file a climbing plan before setting off; the boxes are at JR Ome Line stations, not at the trailhead, so post it on the way through.