I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of hiking in the mountains. If my wife hadn’t taken me to Oze, I would never have imagined going there by myself.
This time, we went there by bus, and actually, I enjoyed it more than I thought. I’m going to share my experience. Let’s get started!
The Bus Trip
If you are in Tokyo, there are many bus tours you can choose from. Most of them have multi-language sites, so it will make your life easier to book one of them. Since our departure time was 7:00AM in Shinjuku, we had to get up at the crack of dawn. That’s our only downside, but otherwise, the bus takes you to your destination without any hassle.
What is Oze (尾瀬)?
For most Japanese people, whenever they hear the song, 夏の思い出 (natsu no omoide), which means “Memories in the summer,” they recall the name of 尾瀬 (Oze). Even though I have personally never visited there, I can also clearly come up with the image of that there are white skunk cabbages swinging in the grassland in the blue sky.
It’s safe to say that it is a typical image of a kind of nostalgic scenery for Japanese people. Oze National Park is one of the biggest wetlands in the mountains, almost 2,000m high, located between Gunma, Fukushima, Niigata, and Tochigi prefectures. As snowfall is heavy, the park can only open from mid of May. There is a variety of plants and nature. It’s known as a rare place where you can see beautiful flowers called 水芭蕉 (mizubasho), which are white skunk cabbages.
Arrive at 11:00 AM at Hatomachi Toge (鳩待峠)
We escaped from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo after 4 hours of driving.
Before going to the mountain, you should remember the simple rules—
1. Don’t pick up any plants and animals from the national park, even a piece of a dead leaf.
2. Don’t step off the wooden path to protect the environment.
3. Make sure to bring back your trash. That’s it.
We started at Hatomachi Toge. As I said, I’m not good at hiking. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by climbing, actually, it wasn’t climbing, hiking. My wife made a plan for beginners like me this time. It’s around a 3-hour round-trip hiking.
The weather was nice as of 29th May. The watching 水芭蕉(mizubasho) tour is in season from the end of May to the middle of June. The bus tour fee is getting higher, especially around mid-June. We decided to go as early as possible. Looking at Google Maps, it seems like kind of easy on the surface, but it’s exhausting enough for beginners in a good way.
Almost a hundred years ago, they acquired the land to build a hydroelectric power plant. However, the plan didn’t work for some reason. Since then, they have been bending backward to preserve nature in Oze.
What is 水芭蕉 (mizubasho)?
Time for a Break
That being said, ice cream is definitely a must-try. The iced coffee was also excellent.
My Turning Point
At around 2:45PM, going back to the Hatomachi Toge.
I’m not going to lie, the return trip was insanely hard. Since I was a beginner hiker, I was almost about to give up. Most of the part was up, my legs were heavy like a hammer. I finally nailed it. We arrived there at a quarter to four. It was chilly, so don’t underestimate the weather and bring your jacket just in case.
To Conclude
The bus trip to Oze was a nice change from the daily environment of the hassle and bustle of the big city. On top of that, a one-day bus trip is really convenient. We arrived at Shinjuku around 9:30PM. Speaking of hiking, this time, we just went to the route for entry level. I think I did only 10% of the whole route. If you are at an intermediate or advanced level, you will definitely enjoy going to Oze. For beginners like me, I’m still not a big fan of hiking, but I’d like to come back here again sometime. Thanks for taking the time to read my article to the end. See you next in my article!
I worked at a trading company for many years. I live in Tokyo with my wife. Love skiing, traveling, IPAs, wine , X-treme sports, fashion, and learning English and Chinese.
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