More of Tokyo

We got home from climbing Fuji at about lunchtime on Friday. We didn't do much on Friday except shower, sleep and eat. By Saturday, we were ready to explore Tokyo. After sleeping in a little bit, we got a great map of the trains and subways in Tokyo from our hotel lobby, ate a delicious breakfast at Starbucks, and we were ready to go. (We learned our lesson in Sapporo... NEVER pay the extra 1000 yen/person for a hotel breakfast in Japan... a Japanese breakfast buffet is fish, rice, miso soup, and a few other things I'm not yet able to identify. A western-style breakfast bar in Japan is runny scrambled eggs and french fries next to the fish, rice, and miso soup.)

It took an hour by train to get from where we were staying (on the outskirts of Tokyo) in to Tokyo station. Next time we'll probably stay somewhere more centrally located.

Not far from Tokyo station is the Imperial Palace grounds.

It's kind of neat to see such a beautiful and historic park right in the middle of the skyscrapers of Tokyo. We walked around for a little while admiring the moat, and the bridges, and gates, and old buildings.

We couldn't actually see the Imperial Palace. Apparently (or so I've heard) you have to have reservations in advance, and you have to be escorted by a Japanese national. So we left, via subway, for our next destination.

Tokyo Tower.

We were fascinated by the elevator's mirrored ceiling.

Tokyo is unbelievable huge. As far as we could see in every direction was nothing but city skyscrapers.

We had a pretty clear day, but it was just hazy enough to prevent us from seeing Mt. Fuji, 97 km away. The sign above Chris' head points to where we should have been able to see it, and we stared until our eyes went blurry and we started seeing imaginary bumps on the horizon.

Funny, I've never actually seen Mt. Fuji, unless you count the up close and personal climbing experience.

"Look down window." There was a sign inside that directed us to this window. The sign had a picture of a little stick figure looking down, although it kind of looked like he was getting sick. I should have taken a picture of it...

We spent quite a bit of time inside the tower. There was even a little restaurant at the top where you could get soft serve ice cream. They sell soft serve EVERYWHERE here in Japan.

A few subways later, we arrived at Meiji Shrine.

This torii gate is just about 1 minute from the subway station. Once you walk through the gate, it is about a ten minute walk through a huge forest to the second torri gate, and the actual Meiji Shrine. Once again I was impressed that such an expansive park could exist within Tokyo.

This sign describes how amazing the torii gates were... imported wood from Taiwan! 1,5oo years old! I was impressed.

Walking, walking, walking to the second torii gate and the entrance to Meiji Shrine.

When we got to the shrine, there was a traditional Japanese Shinto-style wedding procession going on... I felt like I had stepped back into time... or onto the set of a movie.

Her kimono was amazing...

...But apparently it was difficult to walk in. These ladies helped her down every step.

This is the actual shrine, where people have lined up to pray.

The architecture is fascinating. This whole shrine was destroyed in an air raid in 1945, but has been completely restored and is supposedly indistinguishable from the original version.

Our next stop was Ueno Park. We arrived a little too late though. It was about 5pm and most of the stuff there was closed. It was still neat to walk around, but there wasn't much to see or do. I would love to come back another time and visit the National Museum.

This was a five story pagoda that we had wanted to see, but it was inside the zoo, which was closed. This was as close as we could get. Bummer.

We left Ueno park and started walking around the back alleys near Ueno subway station.

It was starting to get dark and the city lights were enticing. Plus, we needed to find someplace to eat.

There were lots of places to see and we spent a little bit of time shopping around in a really neat outdoor gear shop that we found.

The restaurants looked amazing. They were all tiny, and most of them could probably only seat 10 people inside, but there were tables overflowing onto the street. It took us a long time to find a place with an open table.

We spent the rest of the evening eating dinner, and then hanging out at a small pub that we found.

The next day after lunch we boarded the Tohoku Shinkansen and came home.

Tokyo is a little overwhelming. Our obvious purpose for this trip, and the highlight of the trip, was to climb Fuji. Next time we go back we'll have to do a little more research on what we want to see and do within the city.

Mt Fuji!

Chris and I have wanted to climb Mt Fuji ever since we found out we were headed for Japan. We had heard that the best way to experience Mt Fuji is to climb through the night and reach the top in time to witness the sun rising over Tokyo. Chris had 4 days of leave so we planned our trip so that we could get to Tokyo and climb through the night on Thursday, then head back to our hotel and rest a little bit on Friday so we could have Saturday to explore Tokyo before heading home. Our friend Joe Bob, who arrived in Misawa on the same flight as us, came with us for the trip.

Our plan was to take the train from Misawa to Yokota Air Base (on the outskirts of Tokyo). We left early Thursday morning so we could get into the hotel early enough to grab a long nap before starting the hike. When we went to check in, Yokota had lost our hotel reservations and the base had just experienced a flooding disaster in one of the tower apartments so they were trying to accommodate all of the displaced residents. So we got booted out and had to look elsewhere for a room. Luckily, Joe Bob's reservation didn't get lost, so we had a place to go and at least get ready for the hike. Unfortunately though, we didn't get that nap we had wanted.

It took us quite a while to get to Fuji.

First there was the 20 minute walk from Yokota to the train station...

Then there were two different trains we had to catch and finally there was an hour-long bus ride from the Kawaguchiko train station to the Kawaguchiko 5th station (the trailhead).

At about 9pm we made it to the trailhead. After making sure we had everything we needed and rearranging our packs, we set off on the trail at about 9:30pm.

Chris, myself, and Joe Bob right before beginning the hike.

This is the 7th station. There are several stations on the way up and even more small huts where you can sit and rest on benches outside, or pay to go inside in the warmth and rest, or even spend the night. All of the stations have drinks and snacks for sale.

We didn't take many pictures on the way up, but it was an incredible hike. As we climbed higher and higher we could see more and more of the city lights below. We were supposed to have thunderstorms all night but instead we had clear skies and only a few clouds in the very far distance that would occasionally flash with lightning. Another thing I loved about climbing in the dark is that I couldn't see very far ahead on the trail. All I could really see was the next switchback, or the next hut, or the next station. I didn't realize how intimidating the climb could have been until I was coming down the next morning and looked behind me at the sheer magnitude of the mountain.

We reached the last station before the top just before 1am. By now, it was freezing outside so we went in for a warm bowl of ramen. We only had about an hour left to go to get to the top, but none of the stations up there opened until 3:30am.

We took this picture three times before I managed to keep my eyes all the way open. I was so, so, so exhausted. We decided it was well worth the 1000yen ($10) per person per hour to be able to take a tiny nap before leaving to catch the sunrise.

I slept about 20 minutes, and when I woke up, this little station was packed and you could feel everyone getting anxious to hit the trail to the top before the larger tour groups started up.

We left the last station at 2:30am. We got out before most of the people there but still there was pretty much a single file line heading all the way up to the top. It frustrated Chris, but I enjoyed the slow, deliberate pace that the hikers in front of us had set.

We made it through the torii gate at the top at 3:30am; one hour before sunrise.

I apologize for the blur... this is about a 25 second exposure and we didn't use a tripod. I know, rookie mistake. You can see the headlamps of the hikers behind us streaking through the gate. I love this picture, in spite of the blur.

Waiting on the sunrise. We had been able to enjoy the view of these city lights all the way up the mountain, thanks to clear skies.

There were benches set up to view the sunrise, and it started getting crowded as more and more hikers streamed up the mountain. The wind was pretty brutal, and the dust was flying everywhere.

Our favorite view was through the torii gate, so we went back there to take our pictures.

We were able to watch as everybody's hard work paid off and they made it through the gate. It was an amazing experience. This group of girls lined up across the gate and all stepped over together. You could see it in their faces that this hike had been so hard for the three of them and they were thrilled to be making it to the top just as the sun was rising. I could see tears on a couple of their faces as they were hugging each other.

Breathtaking.

(Don't forget that if you click on a picture, you can view it larger.)

We went back around the corner from the torii gate to see if the station was open yet, but apparently this was the day that all of the owners decided to sleep in. Oh well. I had already had one hot bowl of ramen, I didn't need two.

We went up a little farther past the station to check out the crater and the actual summit, but it really wasn't much to see. It's a little hard to tell in this picture but I'm the bundled up hiker and behind me is the top station. They even have a post office there, I'm told. But nothing was open yet.

Fuji's snow filled crater.

One of my favorite pictures from that morning.

Me and my essential Fuji gear: down jacket, rain coat, day pack (and camel back of course), extra water bottle and gloves. Not pictured were the hiking shoes, hiking pants, rain pants and hat. I looked like a blue marshmallow, but I was warm.

Making our way back down the mountain. As you can see, there was a solid line of hikers. This was the narrowest and steepest part of the trail and there were a few stragglers trying to come up still so there was a little bit of a bottleneck. Later on, the trail split and there was a separate trail just for descending the mountain.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't realize the magnitude of the hike until I saw it all in the daylight.

I think the view was equally amazing on the way down.

If you look closely, you may be able to make out all the switchbacks coming up.

They don't accept credit cards at the grocery stores in Misawa, but you can use your Visa on Fuji. Amazing.

We were almost all the way down the mountain before we hit the trees. Most all of the hike is completely exposed.

We got a souvenir wooden stick to get branded at all of the stations on the way up. It had a bell attached to the top and we were told by a Japanese man in very broken English that we would take it off later. We finally realized what he meant when we saw the pile of bells. I'm not sure what the significance is, but we had been trying to silence that bell for the whole hike and we were happy to get rid of it;).

We made it down in about 2 and a half hours.

I've heard so many people repeat the Japanese saying that "A wise man climbs Fuji once. A fool climbs Fuji twice." I must be a fool, because I would love to go back.