Rainy season hiking trails

Hi!
Usually I'm doing 14+km, one day trails with quite some elevation.
Now in rainy season as the weather might change every second I'm of course not doing that.
Still I'd like to get out now and then, cause of being locked in at home.
I tried to find some in yamap but the search is too bad really.
So I wonder if anyone has recommendations on either trails or resources for trails, that are rather easy, flat but long. So they are safe even if it was raining.
I'm thinking something like Oze National Park, Oirase stream.
Problem: should be about max. ~2.5hrs from central Tokyo by car.

Thank you!

You could think about doing Pilgrimage trails. Sometimes, the trails will travel along fields and forest paths, but many will be along streets. The 34 temple Chichibu is close to Tokyo, and is just about 100 kilometers long, and you could do a 14 kilometer or so portion of it each day you want to hike.

There is also the seven lucky gods route, that can start at the Benton Shrine in Ueno Park in Tokyo. I think that is less than 14 kilometers.

I�fm just not sure I would personally enjoy hiking in the rain. I especially would not want to hike up and down hills or along a muddy trail. Maybe along a shoreline, or around a lake?

My other suggestion might be visiting gardens, and walking along the paths there. Maybe Shinjuku Gyoen National Park, or Hitachi Seaside Park? Since you are going during the rainy season, look for parks which will have Hydrangeas and Irises. These are in bloom during the rainy season.

Good luck in planning your trip.

Hi!

I think Oirase is going to take you a lot more than 2.5 hours via car from central Tokyo. Even on the fastest shinkansen which goes faster than you can go via car on the expressway, it's more than 2 hours just to Morioka. I drove from one of the Hanamaki onsen group up to Kazuno in 2019 partially via expressway with a TEP pass and I want to say it took around 2 hours and while you are not starting several kilometers from the expressway at a ryokan, Towada and Oirase are another 30-40 minutes beyond Kazuno, so I'm getting that 2.5-3 hour drive if you start in Hanamaki let alone Tokyo. I do think Oirase would be beautiful in the rain and with a good raincoat the trail might still be pleasant, you're just looking at much longer trip to get there.

I would maybe look at Bandai Kogen and the Bandai region outside Koriyama?

Good luck!

I second Bandai. Lovely mountain, lovely lakes, many good walks to be found around there. Aizu is a nice town with an interesting castle and decent food if you need somewhere to stay.

Much much closer to home, the area around Mount Mitake has plenty of good hikes. Some trails actually feel very wild for their close proximity to the city.

I don't really hike, but is walking along rivers an option for you?

Walking all the way along big rivers is quite fun. Rivers like Tamagawa or Arakawa can entertain you for hours and hours. Flat and long, just like you want it to.

The best thing, pandemic-wise, is that you don't have to travel far from your city. And as long as you stick to a major river, you can't get lost. There would be unpaved paths, but there would also be paved paths, so the rain wouldn't affect you as much. You can enjoy not only nature but also culture and even history or architecture.

We often see on the news that hikers head for places like Takao, thinking that there would be less people, but hey, everybody has the same thing in mind. Meanwhile, I've been passing by various rivers and have not been seeing any crowd.

Hope it helps.