Mount Fuji

Mt Fuji Tour

On the bus, ready for Mt. Fuji!

I met my tour group in my hotel lobby at 8 am, another early morning. I boarded a bus that took me to a bus terminal, 10 minutes away. At the bus terminal, I signed in, received a receipt and a sticker to wear with my tour company name. When in line, I met a couple from Ireland. They were very nice and funny. I found out they were on my tour but were assigned to a different bus. We chatted a bit before boarding our buses. I told them I am teaching in Okianwa and that it's not a busy city, so sometimes it can be boring, they then asked "do they have a bar?" HAHA, typical Irish response =)

Needless to say, they made me laugh a lot.

I boarded my new bus, mostly American's, a group of 10 from the Philippines and a family from Malaysia. My tour guide was a local woman from the Tokyo area. She informed us that sometimes, it is too foggy to see Mt. Fuji and that the entire mountain can close down, depending on the weather.

Our first stop was the Mt. Fuji visitors center, we only stopped here for a few minutes to use the restroom and to attempt to see Mt. Fuji...there were lots of clouds covering the mountain, we could barley see a thing.

After 15 minutes, we left the visitors center and began the hour drive up to Mt. Fuji, along windy mountain roads. The weather became cooler, as clouds covered our bus. I was becoming more and more doubtful about our chances of getting a clear view of Mt. Fuji. Our tour guide kept us entertained by giving us statistics and data about Japanese people. I learned some very interesting facts.

We finally reached our destination, Mt. Fuji's 5th station. There are 8 stations on Mt. Fuji. From the 5th station and above, there are huts for climbers to sleep in. Stations 6-8 are closed this time of year because of snow. The 5th station is the highest level reachable by regular vehicle. As we got closer to Mt. Fuji, the clouds began to disperse and for a few minutes, we got a clear view of the mountain!

First view of Mt. Fuji from the bus.

It was beautiful! Our guide informed us that Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 12,365 feet. In Japanese Kanji, Mt. Fuji means "wealth or abundant." The mountain is only officially open to hikers in July and August =(

We arrived to the 5th station where there were shops and a post office! We were informed before getting off the bus that it was -2 degrees (celsius), VERY cold!

View of the 5th station

I explored inside the shops a bit and wrote a postcard to myself. They had wooden plaques you could mail, after marking the time and date you reached the 5th station while hiking. That made me want to come back and climb the mountain even more.

Sign for the 5th station...not sure what it says but everyone was taking pictures, so I thought I should take one too.

Trail that leads hikers to the 5th station.

5th station gates.

Part of the mountain in the background.

We stayed at the 5th station for about 30 minutes before boarding the bus again. It was very cold but so exciting to see! The workers at the 5th station informed us that a snowstorm was coming and they would be closing down the entire mountain starting the next day! I made it just in time!

After leaving the 5th station, our bus stopped on the side of the road to take a few more pictures. Our guide kept telling us how lucky we were that it was such a beautiful, clear day.

We stopped for lunch at a traditional Japanese style restaurant, with a great view!

Here is my tour group walking into the restaurant. We ate on the top floor, overlooking the lake.

Here is my lunch for one, sashimi, fried fish, rice, soba noodles and a few other unknown things. I tried everything....but only fully ate the sashimi, rice and soba noodles.

I was the only person alone but everyone was very friendly and welcoming. I put my sashimi (which was tuna), in my soba noodles to cook it a bit. It was very fresh!

View from inside the restaurant.

Our tour guide, showing us typical foods that Japanese people eat daily

-Fish, rice, noodles (not sure what else is on there).

After lunch, we drove by this field which is used for Japanese military training and practice.

Beautiful sky...almost as pretty as Okinawa but not quite!

After lunch, we took a cruise around Lake Ashi.

Lake Ashi is a crater lake, located in the Hakone area. It's known for it's views of Mt. Fuji and it's numerous hot springs.

This boat is a full scale replica of a man-of-war pirate ship! We didn't ride on this boat but it was neat to see.

Worker taking the flags down on the boat down.

Since I was alone, I had to take a lot of "do it myself" pictures.

This group of men asked me to take a picture for them, then when I gave the camera back they asked if they could take pictures with me, haha. They were nice.

After our 20 minute boat cruise, we rode to another area where we took a gondola ride. By this time, the sun was very close to setting and it was continually getting colder.

We rode the gondola up Mt. Komagatake.

We got out of the gondola and were able to walk around for a bit. It was way colder than Mt. Fuji! There was an amazing view of the pacific ocean partially covered in fog.

After the gondola ride, our bus dropped us off at the Shinkansen tracks.

We took the bullet train back to our hotel, about a 20 minute ride. The bullet train travels at 186 mph. One interesting fact about the bullet train; it's been running 40 years, carried over 6 billion passengers and has never had a major accident! It was definitely a smooth ride. The smoothness felt similar to the Eurostar.

This video does not do justice...the train looks way faster in person!

Some interesting facts the tour guide shared with us:

• Japanese people DO NOT eat sushi everyday (as most westerners assume). They eat sushi about once a month, on special occasions. When they do eat sushi, they usually go out to a restaurant to eat it.
  
• In traditional, Japanese homes, one family member at time rinses off in a shower, then soaks in a bath tub full of water. The first person to do this is usually the father. Each family member soaks in the same tub of water, the last person lets the water out. This is done to conserve water.
• The number four:
  The number four is considered inauspicious because it is pronounced the same as the word for death (shi). Therefore, one should not make presents that consist of four pieces. In most hotels and hospitals, the room number four is skipped.
  
• When giving a wedding gift, it's customary to give money of an ODD amount to the newly married couple. Giving money of an EVEN amount means that they can divide it evenly, which shouldn't happen when your married. Giving an even amount of money can also mean you want the couple to divorce.
• It is also customary to give "fresh" money as gifts. Fresh, meaning that you should take money out of the bank so it is crisp and new. It is an insult to give money that is wrinkled and old. If one does not have time to go to the bank, they can iron their money (my tour guide said she has done this before).
• Most Japanese business men are schedule to work 8 hour days (9am-5pm) but typically, they work overtime until 9, 10 or even 12 midnight.

This tour definitely met my expectations. The only thing I would change would be to actually climb Mt. Fuji. I would have to wait until the summer to do that. I will put that on my to do list =)

Today is Friday and I am now down to one week of school, before heading home for Christmas break! Tomorrow is my work Christmas party, a buffet lunch at a local hotel. I also might go to a haunted hotel on the island tomorrow night...should be fun.

With only a week left until going home Christmas, I was getting kinda worried that I will feel weird driving on the "other" (right) side of the road when I get home. This morning when I walked out to go to work, it was pouring rain. I quickly ran to get in my car and when I got inside, I realized I was in the passengers seat! I laughed, then climbed over to the drivers seat. I guess subconsciously, left hand drive is still ingrained in me =)

I'm off to go meet Rocky for dinner, at a place he said "has American people, serving American food, so you should like it." haha. I love trying new restaurants on Friday nights! Last Friday, I watched Top Gun and ate mochi ice cream, yum!

XOXO

Kristen