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I made it! And the weather was even nice enough not to precipitate, hail or lightning strike us (there were storms in Tokyo) - enough so that we were lucky enough to see the sunrise.

I am quite happy to have climbed Mt. Fuji, or Fuji-san as the Japanese call it. I actually had doubts about it before I went since I had never climbed anything to that altitude. Although not a serious mountain, standing at 3776m, it’s not to be taken for granted.

My friend Hanako arranged the trip for some friends (12 of us in total) and I took along a couple of my co-workers. We left Shunjuku around 7:30pm before arriving at Kawaguchiko 5th station around 10pm.

This is us at the start:

And me, being the most equipped I’ve ever been, with my hydration pack, gortex jacket and thermal undies (not shown), for a hike:

I had actually over-estimated the coldness, partly because everyone I spoke to before the trip said it was really cold there, but I was quickly stripping off as soon as we got moving. I much prefer the cooler temperatures than the humid heat that I’ve lived in for the past two months. In fact, when we were waiting for the bus at the end, I had some memories of my childhood because of the cool breeze blowing across my skin whilst the sun was warming me at the same time, similar to the UK’s summer a decade ago or spring time.

Anyway, the way up was not too difficult. There were plenty of overpriced goodies to buy along the way. I saw that everyone else was taking oxygen, so I brought a can for 1,500 Yen, before find it 200 Yen cheaper at the next stop! And it felt like I bought a can of air - in fact, I did! Whether it worked or not, I don’t know, but I only used it a couple of times. I did lose my breath really quickly and had to take short stops regularly. It was only right at the top, I started to feel a slight headache, but I’m not sure if that was due to the lack of sleep or lack of oxygen. I skipped the beer though, so it wasn’t that!

We had several short stops on the way, some probably longer than necessary as it did get cold very quickly above the 8th station. I’ve still got my zips undone in this picture above, so that means I’m still hot and sweaty. There are actually two 8th stations. The first one we reached by 1:30am at 3020m, then the original 8th station (which I guess is now the 9th), we reached at 3am at 3360m. Most of our pack decided to get some rest at one of these 8th stations and to see the sunrise from there but Hanako, James, Miah and myself continued onwards.

It got really really crowded close to the summit, the four of us who continued from the 8th station were all separated by now. Everyone kept stopping to take photos or to rest. At times it was moving at less than 1 metre per minute! I almost got annoyed but there was no benefit from that, so I just went with the flow. Eventually, when the sunrise came at 5am, everyone was sitting where ever they were to take the photos of it. It was simply quite beautiful. Just like the views you get from a plane but no dirty windows in the way. Just me, Mt Fuji and the sunrise (oh yeah, and the other thousand or so hikers.)

Once the crowds cleared, it took less than 10 minutes to get to the summit. I quickly found James who had found himself a warm can of cocoa and kindly lent it to me to warm up my hands. Miah turned up a little later followed by Hanako! We all made it. Despite the lack of sleep and food, it was quite satisfying to have climbed Mt. Fuji, saw the sunrise and to rest with friends in a warm hut. We managed to catch some shut-eye for a bit, as there was no rush to get back down since the bus was at 2pm!

I’ve probably climbed more mountains than I can remember now but Fuji san was certainly ranked as one of the toughest in my books. If I were to climb Fuji san again, I’d probably do it during the day to avoid the crowds. That was one of the negative sides of it (or Japan in general if you think about it). As for physical injuries, 36 hours on, I have zero blisters, thanks to my well worn hiking boots I had since my good old days in Switzerland, zero bruises and well, lots of aching muscles!! But it’s not too bad, I would say Fuji san is an easy to moderate mountain to climb. It took me less than 7 hours including stops/traffic to get up from the 5th station.

On the way down is always the easiest for me. Especially if the ground is like it was on Fuji-san. Soft volcanic ash which I practically skated down. I thought I would get blisters anyway, because I was putting a lot of pressure on the toes and heels of my feet, so I just ran down to get it over quickly. My feet did hurt a little afterwards but there seems to be no lasting damage. I was quite impressed with myself to have descended in one quarter of the time it took me to get up and I did not fall on my ass once!

We slowly re-grouped near Kawaguchiko (the start/end). We still had at least 4 hours until our bus so most of us just found a nice piece of floor to rest on.

The trip ended with a visit to an onsen. Of course, I am a consistent person (usually) so I skipped it as I’m not a huge fan of being cooked in hot water - but I have tried it at Niijima before you say anything.

Mt Fuji on Flickr

Getting ready to climb Mt.Fuji now. Let’s hope I can make it to the top and back!

I joined my co-workers for a Sunday barbie down by a park in Odaiba. The weather was great - cloudy!!! Never thought I’d say that but it made it sooo much cooler and survivable - a very welcome change from that skin tanning sunshine that’s been around since July.

I made some tiny burgers because I ran out of meat but I think everyone enjoyed it. There was plenty of food though so I probably brought the right amount.

I’m not sure why, but I’m still amazed by how orderly the Japanese are. Here’s a picture of the barbecue sets all laid out at 3pm, the time when we were scheduled to finish.

There were also endless queues that I dislike very much - fortunately we just had a BBQ so no need to queue for more food!

As in the subject of this post, I bought a new camera from Amazon.co.jp. I sold my old one to Katja so I needed a new (well, actually it’s an old model now) Canon IXY 910IS. It’s pretty much the same as my old camera, but with just a couple more megapixels, slightly wider angle lens, and DIGIC III processor. What better way to test it than to watch the summer fireworks over Tokyo Bay. I took over 300 photos last night but only about 30 of them were half decent. One day I’ll treat myself to a kickass dSLR but for now, here’s a selection of the best I could manage with my new camera:

See Flickr set BBQ and Fireworks for more photos

The time eventually came for me to attend the baseball game I won tickets for in a work raffle. It was the first baseball match I’ve ever watched. After being clue-less for the first 5 minutes, I quickly googled “How to play baseball” on my phone and the game started making a whole lot more sense.

It was quite enjoyable (for me anyway) and I ended up cheering with the majority, since the Giants thrashed the visiting Swallows. It was 7-0 victory in the end. There was only 1 homerun - I can beat that on the Nintendo Wii…well, if I’m lucky.

A 3 day weekend just passed and we (Katja and I) went to Kyoto. But since we decided last minute, we couldn’t find any place to stay on Saturday night, so instead used that night to travel from Tokyo to Kyoto by night bus (just ¥5000 each). We saved a whole Shinkansen ticket but I suffered almost 8 hours on a bus unable to sleep. Here’s a photo of me and a not yet opened temple at 5:41AM:

We walked around a bit before heading back to Kyoto station. With my limited Japanese/Chinese skills, I managed to decipher the ticket machine to buy a 2 day pass around Kyoto. I original thought I’d walk everywhere but considering my foot had just recovered from various insect bites the travel pass turned out to be ¥2000 well spent. It was still too early to check-in to our ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), so we hopped on a bus to Southern Higashiyama district and followed one of the walks in our Lonely Planet guide.

The best bit came when we could check-in to our ryokan and take a shower! It turned out that both the Sunday and Monday we were in Kyoto, the daily temperatures reached 37ºC! I’ve now got square tan patches on both feet because of the sandals I wore

We stayed at Ryokan Yachiyo because it was pretty much the only place we could find. It did cost a fair amount but I was really impressed with the place and it was probably one of my most enjoyable stays at any hotel/hostel. It was 100% Japanese apart from the western style toilet and TV set. It gave me loads of ideas for my future house that I plan to have one day.

This is us chilling in our Yukatas:

I guess I could upload a zillion photos of temples, however in some ways I’ve kind of seen enough of shrines and temples in Japan. But don’t get me wrong, it was very beautiful in Kyoto and it was also a more relaxed city compared to Tokyo. Katja seemed to enjoy the beauty even more, which was great.

Here’s a couple of pictures of me looking dorky.

Of course, a stay in Japan is not complete without a ride on the bullet train. It cost ¥13,720 but at least it got me back to Tokyo in a quarter of the time it took by bus!

Due to popular request - a shot of my swollen left foot:

I forgot to mention in my last post. I managed to get a mosquito bite in Seoul on Sunday. On Monday my ankle was swollen. On Tuesday my whole left foot was swelling up. On Wednesday, I went to see a doctor and now I’m on a load of antibiotics as apparently I’ve got some skin infection. Anyway, I can’t walk normally and my leg hurts. And I can barely fit my foot in my shoe!!

Played tennis today with some work mates. It was very hot but we had fun. Apparantly the place we played at is owned by the company, which includes 12 tennis courts and several fields. Anyway, it’s good I’m getting active again as I need to get fit for Mt Fuji!! Still being planned but it should be next month!

The forecasted rain didn’t show up today but instead it was a sunny 31ºC Saturday in Tokyo. So, for the first time I was able to wheel my bike outside of my room and onto the road!

The first thing I did was find a cycle shop and register it. I read on the internet that it is the law that all bikes must be registered in Japan but there are no penalties if you don’t. So I thought I’d save the hassle and not bother. However, when I was walking home the other night, there were policemen checking people’s bikes for the registration. Since I couldn’t find much information about how to register on the internet, I thought I’d write a bit for fellow cyclists.

If you buy a bike from a shop, they’ll normally handle it all for you. However, since I bought it on the internet, it wasn’t registered. All you have to do is find a cycle shop (almost all will do it) and ask for “bohan toroku” which means something like bicycle theft prevention registration. I was asked if I had an inkan (name stamp) but I didn’t so instead he asked me for a photocopy of both sides of my alien registration card and to fill in a short form (name, address, phone number). I gave it back and he started filling in forms for about 5 minutes before coming out to check my bike, asked if it was new and I showed him my receipt (printed email) as proof I purchased it. Then, he give me a piece of paper, the registration document and then stuck the yellow registration sticker onto my bike. Cost is just ¥500 Easy.

The purpose of this process is so that in case your bike gets lost or stolen you have a slight chance of getting it back. In reality, I doubt that.

Anyway, I think my Japanese has improved as I could understand the store attendant and he could understand me! Hopefully in a few months time I can start having conversations! I enjoyed cycling for about 3 hours today, though it was pretty hot.