Japanese people take their hiking fashion quite seriously. I sometimes see people who are used to hiking overseas be quite surprised by this, but having mostly only ever hiked in Japan, I’m quite used to it! The following is some of my favourite and recommendations for hiking gear in Japan.
If you’re checking out hiking gear in Japan, the first place you should make a pilgrimage to is your nearest Mont Bell store. It’s the hiking brand in Japan: you could deck yourself out head-to-toe in Mont Bell and you’d fit right in on the trails.
It’s great quality but at a reasonable price point, and tends to be a bit cheaper than popular international brands like the North Face. I occasionally even see it mentioned on some overseas UL (ultralight) gear recommendation lists so it has some good stuff.
A particular favourite for me are its limited edition regional shirts. If I’m travelling somewhere new in Japan, sometimes I’ll stop by the Mont Bell store and see what they have.
However as they are a Japanese hiking brand they are made for Japanese bodies first and foremost. I’m 5’6” and around 60 - 65kg, and although their shirts and jackets fit me fine in a woman’s L, I only fit into their XL pants and they don’t tend to look too flattering on my body. If you happen to be slim but tall though, they also have extra-long versions of their pants which may work for you.
The store in Shinjuku is on the bigger side, and I’d recommend it over the Shibuya one. If you happened to be out near Minami-Osawa station, that also has a large one with an outlet section as well.
If you don’t mind shelling out some extra cash, the hiking/fashion brand And Wander is one of my favourites. One of their shirts runs for over 20,000 yen, so compared to a 3,000 yen t-shirt from Mont Bell it’s kind of a crazy price to pay, but personally I’ve found it to be worth it considering the amount of hiking I do (and hence the amount I wear it).
I own one of their black shirts and the collared shirt looks a lot nicer than a plain t-shirt in photos, if you care about that sort of thing.
They do have a store in Shibuya, but actually I’ve always bought my clothes online and hoped for the best, and it’s turned out pretty well. I wear a women’s medium (or WM).
Hiking is all about walking, so you’ll want to choose wisely when thinking about what goes on your feet. When buying hiking shoes, you’ll want to try them on to find the pair that is the best fit for you.
If you’re in Tokyo, I highly recommend the store L-Breath, which has a store at Shinjuku station. They have a wide variety of different hiking shoe brands to choose from, and the store employees are really knowledgeable (although they probably won’t speak English).
The other thing to keep in mind is that since you’re wearing thick socks and your feet will swell while hiking, you should be buying shoes that are bigger than your normal shoe size. I usually go 1cm bigger.
Women’s shoes cap out at 25cm in Japan, so if you’re any bigger than that, you’ll probably be looking in the men’s section. I always like the colour options for men better anyway so this works fine for me.
Right now I wear Salomon’s X ULTRA 4. I’ll admit this is partially because I think they look cool. I went through my first pair within 18 months and am currently on my second so I can’t speak to it’s durability, but I’m happy with it otherwise.
If I had to pick one backpack size, I would go for a 30L. I’ve done overnight hut stays with it, bringing my own sleeping bag. If you’re hiking with a tent, you will probably need to go larger, like a 48L.
15L are great in the summer, but I find in the winter that trying to fit all my layers into the backpack as I shed them doesn’t work out too well.
Again, L-Breath has a good variety in brands and sizes so that’s where I go to shop.
I currently use a 30L Mammut Ducan backpack. I particularly like it because it has a mesh gap between your back and the backpack. Better airflow for my sweaty back.
You could also go down the secondhand route. Since I don’t do so much tent hiking, I didn’t want to spend too much money on a 48L backpack so I got one second-hand off Mercari.
Leave a comment