One sunny Saturday a couple of weeks ago, this writer joined five women and three men who met up at Ikusabata Station on the JR Ome Line in the mountains of western Tokyo.

Sporting colorful but functional outdoor clothes, the young trendily dressed female trekkers were prime examples of what's recently come to be called the yama garu (mountain girl) phenomenon.

Yuka Okamoto, one of the "girls," said she started trekking in April, together with some friends and colleagues from a Tokyo-based supermarket chain. The group now includes several women in their 30s and a couple of experienced male trekkers who play the role of guides.