Walter Weston is known as the father of modern mountain-climbing in Japan. Because Japanese style mountain climbing was just for belief and discipline, or hunting at that time. He taught modern mountain climbing as a sport to Japanese people for the first time. Since then, many alpinists both within and outside Japan have started to visit here. When Higashi-Kunino-Miya, one of the princes of Japan, visited here in 1916, the mountain trails were largely repaired. Thanks to this environmental improvement program, Kamikochi has been widely known as a base of climbing as well as a scenic spot for common people. A flat highland expanding both sides of the Azusa 1,500 meters high above sea level, Kamikochi attracts more than 1.2 million visitors a year. There also stand many hotels, and the classic one in the second picture is the Kamikochi Imperial Hotel, the oldest high-end hotel here. The first picture shows the distant view of the peaks of the Hodaka over 3,000 meters high, Japan's third highest mountain range, seen from the central part of Kamikochi. Licensed tour guide, travel consultant, Masahisa Takaki.
