Mt. Fuji

The fact that I am typing this write now, at 8:45pm on Saturday the 14th is no small miracle. Today I went to Mt. Fuji, Lake Ashi (Ashi=Reed), and Hakone National Park, concluding with a ride back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen, or Bullet Train.



Just to offer a context, I have not slept more than 4 hours per night since I have been here for several reasons: there is so much to do/see, my circadian rhythms are way off due to time change, and my attempts to contact Gayle, Reed and Lucy tend to be around 1:00 am Tokyo time. At any rate, today I spent a lot of time on a bus and was rather sleepy. So, by the end of the day when we boarded the Shinkansen, I fell asleep. Luckily, all of the commotion of people disembarking woke me up with a start, and I quickly jumped up and exited the train so that I wouldn’t end up in some distant city (the Shinkansen I took went around 180 mph). Now, the way it works in Japan is that you buy a ticket at the train station, stick it through a machine, which functions as a kind of electric turnstile to put it in New York terms, and then you enter the area where your train/subway is. You must then keep said ticket in order to exit at your final destination, where you must put the ticket into the machine again in order to unlock the doors to offer you your freedom.

Did I say I was tired? Did I mention that I jumped up, startled and exited the train? Yes, you guessed it, without my ticket. So, when I tried to get out of the secured area, subway police rushed me and declared that I must pay 4,000 Yen, or around $40 USD, which after a spending frenzy at souvenir shops I did not have. So, our tour director, Amy-san, seeing my plight, came to my rescue and talked the officials out of the situation, securing my freedom, which of course both you and I are grateful for, because I wouldn’t currently be writing this, as I would be somewhere else. I love Japan and its meticulous efforts to ensure complete and total compliance.
Back to how the day began, which is to say when I went to bed. Around 1:30 am Saturday morning, after an interesting trip to the Shibuya area, where we overstayed our welcome, missed the last subway and had to cab it home, I was able to finally contact Gayle via Skype (God bless that company and however they make money) and the webcam. Although at first I could see and hear Gayle, Reed and Lucy though they could only see me, I managed to reconfigure my webcam to enable the microphone, which for some reason had been turned off. It was so nice to see them, and give each other hugs and kisses while 10000 miles apart. When we finished, I did some laundry in the sink (I was still awake, imagine that?) and then finally fell asleep around 3:00 am. 7:00 am came quickly, and I was on the tour bus by 8:00 am.
On a side night, as you read about my opportunity to train at the Kodokan Judo Institute, you can imagine that I had a nasty, stinky judogi in my room. Well, housekeeping took it, and for around 2000 yen, they washed and dried it, for which I will be quite grateful for the rest of the trip. The thing absolutely smelled revolting, had blood stains on it (not mine), and needed a serious bleach treatment. But when I arrived home, I found it on my bed, clean and packaged nicely. Thank you Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka.

To Mt. Fuji: Due to traffic, instead of 1 hour 40 minutes, it took closer to 3 hours to get there. So, when we arrived we had our traditional Japanese lunch first, consisting of a coconut encrusted prawn, sashimi (raw tuna, prawn, mackerel), tofu, Japanese omelet, rice, wheat gluten (sorry Doug, I hope your not allergic to the words as well), and bayberries. After that, we were driven up to the 5th station (there are 10 if you count the summit) and where after all of that driving we were only allowed 15 minutes to shop for souvenirs and take photos of both the cloud covered summit and the Shinto shrine close by. The mountain itself, with its pure conical shape and ever present snow, reminds me very much of Mt. Hood in Oregon. In fact, the mountain as viewed from the 5th station is very reminiscent of Mt. Hood’s summit as viewed from Timberline Lodge. Sadly, Buddha did not grant us our wish at first, and the mountain summit was buried in a thick cloud formation.

However, Fuji-san knew that the JFMF crew meant business and that we would not leave without witnessing her peak. Although dismayed at having to leave the 5th station so soon, we witnessed the quick change in weather while driving down the winding, switch-backing road and Amy-san had the bus pulled over so we could photograph the summit. Bam. Cloud cover again. We all stood there for several minutes waiting. Talking, laughing. Waiting. And so this was the moment when I offered my years of training in Judo and mystical mountain psychology: with an incredibly powerful movement wherein I harnessed both my chi, and the chi of the universe, I threw such a resounding shock wave at the elements, that for a subtle moment the clouds were forced into submission and Mt. Fuji’s summit was revealed. This truly happened. (Look at the before and after pictures). I take complete and utter responsibility for this occurrence and want all to know that I am fine despite the incredible loss of energy I experienced almost immediately after this photograph was taken, and which I still feel drained from. However, I believe that the weariness I suffered was worth it, as the picture came out nicely.
Next, more driving on a bus, though the scenery was beautiful, and actually very reminiscent of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) in Germany.
Next, a 15 minute boat ride across Lake Ashi, aka Lake Hakone (aka Lake Reed), whereon many different types of boats cruised around, including this cool pirate-looking ship, and these cool swan paddle boats.
Next, a 7 minute cable car ride up to the 2nd highest peak in the Hakone National Park. The view from up here was absolutely breath-taking.
Next, a photo at the Shinto shrine atop said peak. (Can you tell we were pressed for time?)
Nest, a bus ride to the train station, and the Shinkansen on which I fell asleep, which brings us full circle. Good night.