Encouragement of Climb - Vol. 4 Ch. 30 - It'll Be Alright

[MangaDex]

 

[nasunasunasu]

A video of climbing Mt. Tanigawa. This guy does a bunch of videos for Yama no Susume and Yuru Camp, although they're all in Japanese.
Wikipedia page on Mt. Tanigawa
A video of skiing on Mt. Tanigawa.

How's the new extra notes page? I copied the design off the official Twitter account's header. I also stitched 2 of the pages together for this one, and I think I'll do it for the following chapters too if they join up in the same way. This chapter was especially hard to translate for me because of a bunch of weird phrases and lots of unfamiliar kanji, so I apologise if some of the translations aren't very accurate.
PS: The author's comments are actually almost entirely machine translated, but rephrased to make a bit more sense.

 

[SuperOniichan]

So, can this manga be considered a guide to Japanese tourist routes?

 

[nasunasunasu]

@SuperOniichan Maybe not really a guide, but I suppose it does show what Japanese tourists might do. There's still a lot of other research you'll probably have to do when you actually plan on going there. Keep in mind that at this point a lot of what they're doing is on the less advanced level (not counting Kaede's casual trip to the Daikiretto). For example, while the Yoshida route is the go-to climbing trail for most tourists, I've heard that the more experienced locals prefer to go for the Gotemba route as it's less crowded. Some of the later chapters will have them do some more unique things that most people won't try (Spoilers just in case) like

Spoiler

climbing up a mountain in snowshoes, going to a mountain in Gunma that's only accessible by car, and walking up a mountain in the Kita Alps in the middle of winter

. I've only read up to Vol 10 myself, so there's probably some more that they do later on, but the point is that there's usually some alternative routes that may be more interesting to you (all the different routes you can take up Mt. Takao is a good example), and that all this manga can really do is point you towards interesting places and interesting ways to enjoy your time on the mountains (The coffee episode in S3 is a really good example of this).

Still, most of the plans that they put together have things like timings and routes down, so it can still be useful to refer to. However, a lot of the info here may be outdated, considering that volume 4 was published way back in 2013.

 

[SuperOniichan]

@nasunasunasu Thank you so much for such a detailed answer! As I look, you are pretty good at understanding the topic. Well, if I ever go to Japan, then not soon. But I like to collect works that can be a good motivation or a guide for this.

 

[WanderingWastrel]

@nasunasunasu The extra notes page is great. I love getting additional tidbits of information like that.

One question, which you probably won't know: in that picture of the long stairs, there's an area off to the right, between the rails and the wall, that makes a sort of smooth ramp. Is that area used for anything, like perhaps helping bring up wheeled bags or something? Or is it just decorative? I doubt that you really know; I just always wonder about silly little details like that.

 

[nasunasunasu]

@SuperOniichan Yeah, I love it when manga and anime use real life places too. I think the whole anime pilgrimage thing is really enjoyable with how it can bring you to unique and lesser-known places that have their own special significance from the experience of the anime. I also really like the feeling of going to these places that most people won't ever go to (especially since Japan's a really popular travel destination for people in my country), since it feels even more personal. And really, beyond all the tourist areas out there, there's a lot of really quaint places that only the locals know and write about, and works like these are the only real international window into those beyond tourism websites.

 

[SuperOniichan]

@nasunasunasu I agree. I also think that such works sometimes make a lot more patriotic contribution to the country than many politicians or successful people in other countries.

 

[nasunasunasu]

@WanderingWastrel I haven't been there before, but I think it's just for decoration. It doesn't seem like the railings would really allow for anything to be dragged up while walking the stairs. It's also a really old station, so I don't believe this was a ramp for wheelchairs or anything (not to mention that it's probably way too steep).