One foot in front of the other. Deep breaths and deeper conversations. There's nothing like hiking to open the mind and loosen the tongue.

Whether it's the jungles of Sumatra, the forests of Spain's Basque Country or the high desert plains of central Mexico, our family truly connects when hiking together. The conversations we have on the trail just don't happen on sidewalks or train platforms. Our kids learned to hike outside of Tokyo, and hiking together among the autumn leaves in Japan will always be some of our fondest memories.

Believe it or not, Tokyo offers the hiking enthusiast a wealth of opportunities. It may be one of the most populous cities in the world, but it is also just a few hours by train from plenty of relaxing trails. Many Tokyo families already take advantage of the bucolic prefectures that surround the city, but I hope that even more will learn to escape the concrete jungle.