Okutama-ko Travel Guide

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Lake Okutama, formed by Ogochi Dam, lies at the far western edge of Tokyo in the town of Okutama, Nishitama District. The large lake was constructed from 1938 to 1957, and it is the largest source of water for the city of Tokyo. At the time of its completion the Ogochi Dam was the world's largest, with a dam height of 149 meters and a length of 353 meters. The construction of the dam displaced 6,000 people and submerged nine shrines, which were replaced by Ogouchi-jinja Shrine, located on a peninsula jutting into the lake.

The north shore of the lake is famous for its Some 10,000 cherry trees which bloom during mid-April each year.

The lake is accessible by car from Tokyo with a two hour drive. You can also take the Chuo Line JR train to Tachikawa, then switch to the Ome Line to Okutama or a number of other stations near the lake.

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Just to the east of Ome Station, down what is clearly a side street, is Japanese/Chinese noodle restaurant. Based on the Google translations, the name is something like "Enjoying Oneself with Others" (偕楽).

We had dinner here on Sunday night, primarily because it was one of only two or three restaurants open near the Ome Station. We were a bit cold and hungry after a short trip around Lake Okutama, and ramen sounded perfect. We scanned the plastic food models in the glass case, then we entered and took a table by the window. The friendly waitress greeted us in surprisingly good English, then apologized for not having menus in English. We had already decided what we wanted to eat, so no problem. We ordered a beer and two bowls of ramen. My ramen was covered in delicious vegetables like onions, carrots and bean spouts, with a few small pieces of meat for flavoring.

As we waited for the food, the waitress came back out and told us about their nice little restaurant that makes its noodles fresh on premises each day. She also mentioned that her daughter was going to school in New York City.

Very friendly place and very affordable at about 500-800 Yen for ramen or soba.

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From Tokyo or Shinjuku station to Okutama, use JR. Chuo line, about 2 hours, 1,210YEN. You can begin one of many hiking courses from a few stops before the terminal stop Okutama, for example, get off at Hatonosu station, hike a nice trail which follows to Shiromaru station, thenceforth to Okutama terminal station. If you are interested, try it! I hope you enjoy this course, called "Ohtama Walking Trail".

At the terminal Okutama Station, there are some weekend express direct return trains for Shinjuku Station, which are the afternoon trains marked with purple font in the URL below which links to the official JR timetable. Other black font times go as far as Ohme (unmarked) or further onward to Tachikawa (marked with a simple Chinese character). From either of the latter two stations, you may transfer to more frequent inbound trains.

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Fortunately it's just a literal translation of "tourist toilets", as in public toilets for use by tourists, though the word choice in the original Japanese is rather dodgy too.

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The usual summer mountain activities such as hiking, camping, fishing, rock climbing, kayaking, rafting, river swimming may all be done here.

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Favorite thing: Just spectacular scenery with reasonably good transport access to Tokyo.

In one of the minor photos, yes there is a rock climber, and yes it's scary for me to lean off the bridge like that to get a good angle shot.