Lake Tama
Lake Tama is an artificial lake in Higashiyamato City, in western Tokyo, right at the border with Saitama Prefecture. It was formed by damming up a river running through the Sayama valley, a project started in 1916 and completed in 1927. The lake now serves as a water reservoir for the residents of Tokyo.
The lake is surrounded by parks and forests and there is a popular cycling course extending from Nishitokyo City to Lake Tama. North of the lake towards Lake Sayama lies the Seibu Dome, home of the Saitama Seibu Lions baseball team. Also worthy of a visit are the buddhist Yamaguchi Kannon Konjoin (山口観音 金乗院) and Sayama Fudoson (狭山不動尊) temples.
Hike to Mount Iwatakeishi & Mount Bounoore
A few weeks ago, I went back to Mitake to continue the trail to Mount Bounoore (aka Mount Bounomine) I had planned to do then but abandoned due to the fog.
Autumn at the Rikugien Garden
Rikugien Garden (六義園) is a park in Bunkyo City, Tokyo. The garden consists of a pond, trees, and a hill. It was completed in 1702 and is a typical example of gardens from the Edo period. In November and early December, it becomes a popular spot for enjoying the autumn foliage (koyo). After dark, the garden stays open late and the trees are lit with special nighttime illuminations.
Hike to Mount To, Mount Tanzawa & Mount Sannoto
Last week, I went back to the Tanzawa mountains in Kanagawa Prefecture. This time, I hiked up Mount To (塔ノ岳; 1491m ; aka Tonodake), Mount Tanzawa (丹沢山; 1567m) and Mount Sannoto (三ノ塔; 1205m). Those mountains are quite popular: They are easily accessible with public transportation and the trail is very well-developed (stairs and huts at every summit). When the weather is good, it can offer great views on Mount Fuji. I was unlucky though: The forecast was “Sunny” but there was a lot of fog instead.
Hike to Mount Kumotori
At 2,017m, Mount Kumotori (雲取山) is the highest mountain in Tokyo. The peak actually stands at the boundaries of Tokyo, Yamanashi Prefecture and Saitama Prefecture. I went there on a day-hike a few weeks ago. I basically followed the plan outlined here (with map).
iBeacon on Nexus 10 with Android 4.4
Android has added support for Bluetooth Low Energy (aka Bluetooth Smart) and thus iBeacon (a profile of BLE) in version 4.3. However, on my Google Nexus 10 (2012 edition, now running Android 4.4 aka KitKat), support is disabled in the official version provided by Google, even though the hardware supports it. Since I want to try out (and maybe develop) apps that use iBeacons, that makes me very sad… Thankfully, there is a way to enable it, by replacing the original Bluetooth-related libraries on the device with patched libraries that add support for Bluetooth Low Energy.