富士山

Three weeks ago I climbed the tallest mountain in Japan (and active volcano), Mt. Fuji. Myself and several other JETs made the journey from Ishikawa to Tokyo on Friday night in order to spend our three day weekend conquering the mountain and enjoying the Big City. Since we rode an overnight bus we arrived in Tokyo bright and early on Saturday morning which gave us a couple hours to have fun before boarding another bus which would us right up to Fujisan.

"Good morning, Shinjuku!"

After stowing our bags in coin lockers at the station, we deliberated where we could go at 6:30 in the morning. We hoisted our hiking packs over our shoulders and headed to a nearby McDonalds. This was my first time to eat McDonald's in Japan and it was actually quite tasty. Not likely to become a frequent stop for me since the nearest one to my town is over an hour away, however at 6:00 am while waiting around its not a bad choice after all. After partaking in double decker breakfast sandwiches we helped ourselves to their bathroom space to change clothes and wash up like the homeless kids we were that day. Once fed and refreshed we set out for a few hours of Tokyo enjoyment.

First we went to Meiji Jingu, the grand shrine in Tokyo named after the Meiji Dynasty. We prayed, examined the lucky charms and amulets, and each of us bought omikuji to read our fortunes. We also walked through the garden and splashed ourselves in the natural spring well nestled at the bottom of a foresty slope.

The grand gate leading into the grounds of Meiji Jingu

Afterwards we walked out of the shrine and stepped across the street to Harajuku to do some shopping! After spending a couple hours going in and out of shops there we headed back to Shinjuku station to be on standby for our bus out to Fuji.

We ate lunch at a fast gyudon joint, then headed by a conbini to stock up on water and protein filled snacks for the trek. Then we excitedly rushed back to our pick up point to board the bus at three. Following an hour and a half long sleepy ride we were let off at the fifth station of Mt. Fuji, the starting point of our hike. We changed into our hiking gear, ate in the restaurant, soaked up warmth and took our last free bathroom trips. At 7:40 p.m. we turned on our headlamps and headed to the dark trail head to start.

We climbed the whole night. It took seven hours for me and the other fastest JETs to reach the peak of the mountain. After the first couple of hours of hiking I started to get tired, by the middle of the hike my little group would climb a switchback and then have to rest for a minute every time. As we climbed higher and the temperature dropped the chatting gradually subsided and we just forged on as a weary group of hikers. By the time we reached the peak the temperature dropped until it reached -2 degrees C with a windchill at -11. While we climbed our bodies stayed warm from the hard work but every time we stopped for a break after just a short minute the cold penetrated our layers and froze the sweat on our bodies so that even though we were tired we had to stand up and keep moving.

Throughout the climb I gradually added more layers to my hiking outfit to stay warm- my
Under Armour shirt and leggings, an extra warm heat tech shirt, Nike shorts, a t-shirt, sweatpants, and on top of all a rain breaking jacket and pair of tennis pants.

I and one other JET reached the summit the fastest, at 2:30 a.m. with the three others in our fast pack quickly coming up behind. Only problem then was that we were determined to watch the sunrise, along with hundreds of other hikers, so we had to wait at the top of the windy, cold, dark mountain. Crowds of people huddled together, scrounging for any material they could use to cover themselves. I even saw people with their hats pulled over their faces and feet sticking into their backpacks. But no matter what you attempted to cover yourself with we were all freezing. Everyone on top of the mountain curled up tightly and shut our eyes and shivered as we attempted to sleep. I think I actually did sleep for about an hour somehow.

Before I knew it I woke up at four and it was time for us to stir and find a spot at the ridge on the peak to watch the sun rise. At 4:45 a.m. the skyline began to turn red, and by 5:20 the sun was climbing into the sky. Even though it was cold and windy I was determined to sit on that ridge and watch the entire sunrise. I climbed that dang mountain and waited in the cold for three hours for that sunrise and I was not going to miss it- cause I am not doing it again!

It was beautiful. At an elevation of 3,776 meters (12,389 feet) we were so high above the clouds that the view was spectacular. Sitting on Fuji the panorama was nothing but clouds and the tops of the smaller mountain's dark peaks peeping through the cloud banks. Also, shout out to fellow JET, Sean Grannum, for generously providing some of the pictures for this post!

The sky beginning to turn colors, everyone started to stir and find places to view the famous sunrise from.

Perched way above the clouds

A Tori, (a special gate for sacred places)

Mt. Fuji's crater

Hundreds of hikers gathered on Fuji's peak, enjoying the incredible view

Having reached the top, battled with potential hypothermia, and seen the sunrise it was time for me to get back down that mountain! The descent took only 3 hours and my little group reached fifth station- our starting point from the previous night. We had a couple hours to wait for our bus back to Shinjuku so we shopped for omiage and sat in a circle in the stone courtyard waiting. On the bus back to Tokyo every passenger on the bus fell asleep within five minutes. Halfway through the ride I woke up to complete silence, looked around and saw that literally every passenger was out and quickly ducked back down in my seat to follow suit. Tired, sweaty and dirty we made it back into Tokyo around 2 p.m. My three travel mates and I headed to our ryokan at 3, where we determined our order for the shower by Rock, Paper, Scissors (the quintessential decision making method in Japan), then napped for a couple hours before heading out for a night in Tokyo.

The main gate leading to Fuji's sacred peak

Incredible sights even as we were descending the mountain!

Made some random friends while waiting for our buses.

Yeah, I climbed that one this morning