Was out hiking on the weekend so it's little delayed, but happy August! Here's my monthly newsletter - www.emgoto.com/newsletter/j...
July 2026
Making new friends, drawing boxes and doing some knitting.
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Emma Goto
@emmago.to
Software engineer living in Tokyo 🗼 tinkering on my blog @ emgoto.com and hiking Japan's mountains one peak at a time ⛰️ Currently taking a break from full-time work, but on the side I'm also helping build @hardcover.app 📚
Was out hiking on the weekend so it's little delayed, but happy August! Here's my monthly newsletter - www.emgoto.com/newsletter/j...
July 2026
Making new friends, drawing boxes and doing some knitting.
emgoto.com
Thought my blog was suddenly getting more popular, but seems it's just a bot of some sort crawling 😭
Leaves had been on my list to visit for a while - definitely a unique coffee experience! www.emgoto.com/leaves-coffee/
Leaves Coffee Roasters
I recently ventured out to Asakusa to visit Leaves Coffee Roasters. Along with Glitch and Koffee Mameya, these three shops seem to be the trifecta of Tokyo pour over coffee shops commonly recommended on the internet.
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New feature on the blog - since I store position coordinates for a lot of my blog posts, I've extended the "read more" section at the bottom to include spots that are nearby ☕ ⛰️
www.emgoto.com/mt-houou/ New post on the blog, detailing my hike up Mt Houou. First time doing an overnight hike by myself with a tent so I had some pre-hike nerves 😮💨 but once I got going on the trail it was fun!
Mt Houou: an overnight hike in the Southern Alps
Mt Houou is one of the major peaks in the Southern Alps of Japan. I chose to take it via the Dondoko-sawa course as an overnight tent hike.
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A wrap-up on my recent road trip around Izu www.emgoto.com/izu-roadtrip/
Driving around the Izu Peninsula: a 3-day camping roadtrip
At the end of May, my husband and I took a 3-day road trip down to Izu. It's a peninsula directly south of Mt Fuji in Shizuoka prefecture, and the main road runs right alongside the coastline, so you can enjoy some great seaside views, not to mention all the little caves and beaches you can check ou…
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I integrated my blog with bubbles.town - now there's a little bubble emoji down in the comments section of my posts. ... the one downside is that you need a Mastodon account to do any sort of upvoting on it 😅
New hike up on the blog - Mt Omuro isn't much of a hike since you can take a chairlift right up, but it's a very scenic peak nonethless. www.emgoto.com/mt-omuro/
Mt Omuro: hiking Izu's extinct volcano
Hiking Mt Omuro on the Izu Peninsula, a grassy volcanic peak. Take a chairlift up to the peak and enjoy some great views of Mt Fuji and the sea.
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I've been a bit guilty of neglecting my /now page so I decided to convert into more of a feed-style with new posts, comments and other updates. www.emgoto.com/now/
Managed to get this @standard.site thing working 😎 (I'll admit as it stands I'm not convinced of its benefits. Do we need to wait until more aggregator-type sites like docs.surf pop up?) www.emgoto.com/cape-manazuru/
Cape Manazuru
Cape Manazuru in Kanagawa prefecture is a scenic spot that juts out from the coastline and is home to the Mitsuishi ("three rocks"). The two largest are joined together with Shinto ropes and there is a tiny little torii gate jutting out of the top of the rock as well.
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My first cherry tomatoes of the season! Didn’t think I could do this on an apartment balcony in Tokyo so this is pretty exciting
New on the blog - I've finally got around to introducing a light/dark mode toggle 🌝
Japan has sooo many coffee roasters - I'm having a lot of fun visiting them, but still feel like I have so much to learn too 😅 www.emgoto.com/japanese-cof...
A Guide to Japanese Coffee Roast Levels (浅煎り, 中煎り, 深煎り)
If you've ever visited a Japanese coffee shop and found yourself confused by their bean roast levels, me too! I'm still relatively new to th
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I'm slowly trying to walk my way around the Yamanote train line - previously I did Ueno to Nippori www.emgoto.com/ueno-to-nipp...
Walking between Ueno and Nippori
Towards the end of April, my husband and I went for a walk between Ueno and Nippori stations. After going on a walk between Shibuya and Hara
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New hike on the blog, featuring Mt Fuji views, some (unexpected) cherry blossoms at the peak, plus some cows for good measure www.emgoto.com/mt-ono/
Been nearly a month since my last hike, but I'm back at it! It was recently cherry blossom season in Tokyo so I wanted to get in at least one cherry blossom hike - Mt Iwadono in Yamanashi was a pretty good one. www.emgoto.com/mt-iwadono/
Mt Iwadono: Cherry blossom hike from Otsuki station
Hiking Mt Iwadono from Otsuki station, featuring cherry blossom and Mt Fuji views, a chain-climbing section, and a thrilling walk along a rounded cliff.
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Random thing that I vibe-coded recently - when I open a new tab in my browser, it opens an editable week note page for the current week. Behind-the-scenes it's just displaying a file from @obsidian.md - a bit handier than having to switch windows, and it automatically makes a new file each week.
A new post up on bear safety when hiking in Japan www.emgoto.com/hiking-bears...
Should you be scared of bears when hiking in Japan?
Bears are rare on Japan's hiking trails, so statistically speaking you will be fine. A first-hand guide to bear safety and my personal philosophy on hiking in Japan.
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Happy April! Got the latest edition of my monthly newsletter out on the blog www.emgoto.com/newsletter/m...
March 2026
As I mentioned in my last newsletter post, March was quite a busy month for me. I had a quick trip down to Sydney to help my mum move houses
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New hike up on the blog to Chiba's most popular mountain - Mt Nokogiri. It's fairly low elevation at 329m, so a great one to check off in the colder months! www.emgoto.com/mt-nokogiri/
Mt Nokogiri: a hike to Chiba's stone quarry
Mt Nokogiri is the most famous hike in Chiba prefecture - not that there's much competition as it's not really known as a hiking destination
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After 8 years at Atlassian, I was one of the 1600 people laid off today. Although there had been rumours brewing lately, it was still an absolutely surreal email to receive this morning. Going to enjoy a bit of a break, do some more hiking, and then figure out what's next!
Atlassian lays off 1,600 workers ahead of AI push
New hike up on the blog featuring some very pretty kawazu sakura. www.emgoto.com/mt-miura-fuji/
Mt Miurafuji and the Miura Kaigan Cherry Blossom Festival
Mt Miura-fuji is a low-elevation mountain located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa. If you time your hike for mid-to-late February, you can also swing
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