There are several different events and aspects about Weston's book and his journeys that I think are worth mentioning and I will be building this chapter progressively as I add a new page dealing with each of the interesting topics in the book.
Walter Weston really like Japan and loved rambling in the mountains. His 330 page book (Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps) reads reasonably well and is filled with opinions about Japan that have remained so true today. And others that did not play out as he probably expected. I will touch on these interesting cultural insights along the way. If you have lived in Japan you will understand why they stand out. For example regarding a Daibutso (a big Buddha statue)
…on the forehead, in place of the little boss of metal that stands for the sacred “jewel of the law”, the artist has fixed an electric light! In some respects it is certainly a speaking likeness, a parable in bronze, of the Japan of today, with all the novelties of modern civilisation engrafted on the old world ways and thoughts that have for so many centuries characterised this most remarkable race.
Little did he know, but that electric light on Buddha’s forehead was just the beginning.
Back to the topic of the Japanese Alps. The book comes with two maps; one shows the position of the range within Japan and the other is a detailed sketch of the Kita Alps along with his routes marked in red. You can download them here.
I will cover Weston's book chapter by chapter, probably grouping a number of chapters together at a time.