Iwaki – Susan Spann, Adventure, Mystery, and Mountains

Chapter 6: Hope for the Best, GORE-TEX for the Worst*

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog, CLIMB Photo Companion August 14, 2020August 16, 2020100 Summits, Aomori, hiking, hyakumeizan, Iwaki, Iwakisan, Japan, Mt Iwaki, Shinkansen

Japan has seven major shinkansen lines, all operated by Japan Railways (JR). From north to south, they are: the Hokkaido, Tōhōku, Joetsu, Horikuru, Tōkaidō, Sanyo, and Kyushu Shinkansen. I rode them all during my 100 Summits year.

Climbing Mt. Iwaki

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog June 1, 2018#100Summits, 100 Summits, adventure, Aomori, climbing, hiking, hyakumeizan, Iwaki, Japan, mountains, Tohoku

Today, I climbed Mt. Iwaki in Aomori Prefecture – my first Tohoku hyakumeizan. Tohoku is the northernmost part of Japan’s largest island, Honshu – the same island where Tokyo and Kyoto are located, but many hours’ travel to the north, via shinkansen (bullet train). It took me almost 7 hours to travel from Tokyo to Hirosaki, the closest town to Mt. Iwaki – four hours on a high-speed shinkansen, and another 2:45 on a local train. These mountains are spread all across Japan, which means I get to travel the entire length of the country while I’m climbing.