(吾妻山) Mt. Azuma Hike

I am ashamed to say that I took the ropeway roundtrip, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.
Otherwise, I recommend trying to start from the little Fuji, all the way to the main summit, which requites at least one overnight stay in the free mountain huts. 

Budget: JPY7,280 (~USD68)*

• JPY770. Train, Fukushima Station to Yonezawa Station.
• JPY970. Bus, Yonezawa Station (米沢駅) to Tengendaira (天元台).
• JPY3,800. Ropeway from Tengendaira (天元台).
• JPY970. Bus, Tengendaira (天元台) to Yonezawa Station (米沢駅)
• JPY770. Train, Yonezawa Station to Fukushima Station.
• +JPY4,050. Hotel, near Fukushima Station.

*As there is quite a number of options to do this hike, this budget is highly flexible and will depend on your plans. I try to include all the numbers in the special notes below though, hopefully to help in your planning.

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 2,035m / 6,677ft)

• July 24, 2020
• Difficulty: 1 out of 5.
• Route below is around 5.4kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲412m/ ▽412m
• PDF Map Link
• I did this with two more mountains a bit north: Mt. Adatara-Mt Azuma-Mt. Nasu Hikes log

When to Go
The trailhead, Shirabu Onsen is a ski place, which means this is likely doable for winter. Autumn - which is probably early October, is highly recommended too.

Special Notes

• Trailheads. There are quite a bit, but I'll cover the ones with public transportation access. Fukushima Station is the closest to Tokyo, and Yonezawa Station is about 50 minutes away via local train from Fukushima Station. Wasezawa Bus Stop, the third one, is in the middle of nowhere, and I've only included because I wanted to do Mt. Bandai from behind.
• Fukushima Station (福島駅). This is not a trailhead, obviously (or maybe not), but it was easier for me to remember. 
• Bus, Fukushima Station to Jododaira (浄土平). From here on it is about 15.2kms away from the summit, and therefore makes it non-dayhike friendly. 
• Their visitor center website should have the updated info. For 2020, I've confirmed personally and they said there's no bus for 2020 given the active status of the volcano.
• Yonezawa Station (米沢駅). The land of Yonezawa beef. But I digress. 
• Bus, Yonezawa Station (米沢駅) to Shirabu Onsen (白布温泉). Day hike friendly.
• Weekend bus schedule below, with the first table showing Yonezawa to Shirabu Onsen, and the bottom one the reverse. It runs throughout the year, except for January 1. 
• From Shirabu Onsen, Tengendai Ropeway is also an option, and will take you to an hour and a half away from the summit for JPY2,040, one way.
• If you are not going via ropeway, you have to stop at Shirabu Onsen Bus Stop, and walk to the trailhead. Google maps pin here. 

Yonezawa Station (米沢駅) < > Tengendai (天元台)

• Wasezawa (早稲沢) bus stop. This has direct access to Mt. Bandai's trailhead, so I am only adding this for those who want to do the combination of Mt. Bandai-Mt. Azuma. You have to get on/off at Urabandai-kogen (裏磐梯高原駅). Here's the bus schedule (PDF, website):

Wasezawa (早稲沢) to Urabandai-kogen (裏磐梯高原駅)
Urabandai-kogen (裏磐梯高原駅) to Wasezawa (早稲沢)

• Mountain huts. 
• Paid. Plenty at trailheads, none in the middle of the hike. For Jododaira, there's only one, but at Shirabu Onsen and Wasezawa, you are spoiled for choice as these are onsen towns. Technically, these are japanese inns and not mountain huts though, and thus the main difference is that they cost JPY10,000+ a night as opposed to, well, JPY10,000 haha. Oh, and they have hot springs.
• Free. They are all over, and they look swell. You just have to bring your own sleeping bag and you should be ok. 
• Camping. No marks for camping, but I saw a picture where they set up a camp inside a mountain hut. Maybe the mountain hut was leaking? Maybe they brought the tent and found it sad that they don't get to use it? Either way, in my experience, mountain huts are very well maintained in Japan, and given the option between camping and free mountain huts, I'll choose mountain huts.

Itinerary

• 08:04am. Train, Fukushima Station to Yonezawa Station, platform 6, which is at the same area as platform 5 just a hundred meters or so down the platform. There is a conductor on the train, and you'll have to tell him where you are getting off, and he'll collect payments - cash or IC cards. Keep the ticket he gives you, as it will be collected at the station.
• 08:51am. Arrival, Yonezawa Station. At exit, turn left for the bus stops. The one going to Shirabu Onsen is at stop 2.
• 10:45am. Bus, Yonezawa Station (米沢駅) to Tengendai (天元台)
• 11:40am. Arrival at Tengendai. The ropeway leaves thrice in an hour 00, 20 and 40. The lift closes at 3:40pm, so it's going to be a tight deadline.
• 12:00pm. Ropeway up. It took 5 minutes. Upon exit, turn right. The ski lift is a 5 minute walk from here on.
• 12:10pm. Boarded the first ski lift. There are three of them. I was on the second lift by 12:18pm, and on the third one by 12:29pm. By 12:46pm, I started my hike.
• 12:48pm. Within a minute or two of hiking, there was a fork on the trail. Go right. It was an easy hike up, with stairs-ish rocks. I soon came into a small clearing, and the path was clearly marked and I followed the marker on the right side. Soon I was walking on planks, descending a little bit. A fork shows up again, and I took a right, again slightly descending. It's pretty straightforward for the next 40mins ish, until I reach the shrine. The shrine was to my far right, about fifty meters of big rocks. I followed the marker at my left to the summit. The shrine is part of the triangle with the summit and the emergency hut, so you can actually loop around, and easy to see with PDF Map.
• 01:55pm. I reached the summit! And with 5 mins to spare! It was a bit disappointing, merely a marker nestled amongst the trees.
• 03:13pm. I arrived at the lift, and was soon seated.
• 04:10pm. Back at the bus stop.
• 04:40pm. Bus, Tengendai to Yonezawa Station
• 05:24pm. Back at Yonezawa Station.
• 05:44pm. Train from Yonezawa Station to Fukushima Station. They do not accept IC card, and since they check the ticket before I get in, I had to buy the ticket beforehand (JPY770, cash).
• 06:30pm. I finally got back to Fukushima Station. Done!

At Tengendai, I immediate bought my ticket for the ropeway/lift. Make sure you keep it as you'll have to show this a couple of times. 

At the end of the ropeway, there's one exit. Turn right. 

Immediately you see the lifts, so it's not hard to find. 

Obviously the lifts are out in the open, so good luck if it rains. 

This was where I got off at the third and final lift. Just go straight to your right.

Within a minute or two you have a fork. Take the right one.

While walking the gentle slopes of the planks, I am faced with another fork. Turn right.

The planks take a bulk of the trail

The summit! I tried to make it pretty, but really, it's just a marker in the middle of shrubs.

I took a detour on my way back to see the shrine. There were awesome pictures of it online, but it was too cloudy when I went. Heck, it soon started raining.

Plenty of rocks to skip on and roll your ankles at. But they have these markers painted on them to help.

These skipping on the rocks were fun. But in some sections I had to get my shoes muddy.

aaand this was a pic on the lift back!