Weather: Misty 20 degrees?
Author: Amy
THE JOURNEY
Thanks to Ryan, Chrissie and I finally visited Mt Fuji! We went with an English speaking tour group with maybe 20 other people. The tour bus route was basically Tokyo-Mt Fuji-Hakone-Tokyo. It was a good choice for a first trip as the tour guide entertained us with a lot of information on Japanese culture and customs, including the folklore behind Mt Fuji.
We left Tokyo around 9am (Chrissie and I made the bus with only minutes to spare thanks to train delays!) and reached Mt Fuji Station No.5 around 10.30am.
On the way there, we passed quite a lot of paddy fields but don't be fooled into thinking they are huge big paddy fields like those in Malaysia and Thailand. These paddy fields are small and family-owned. Japan is 100% self sufficient when it comes to rice although they do import rice.
I loved that when we were in this area, we were surrounded by green green mountains with low lying clouds everywhere. It made for a surreal and somehow refreshing feel.
As we approached Mt Fuji, we passed a roller coaster park called 'FujiQ'? Chrissie wants to ride the roller coaster when we go to Mt Fuji again with Danny.
I zoomed in on another picture I took of the roller coaster and it looked like the carriage was upside down at the top of the roller coaster!!! And it had a cage around it! I don't know if I was really looking at the carriage where you sit for the ride or something else. I don't think I want to find out...
VISITOR'S CENTRE, base of MT. FUJI
Mt. Fuji is known by many names according to folklore. Among them, "Goddess of Fire" because Mt Fuji is an active volcano. The last time it erupted was 300 years ago.
We arrived at the Visitor's Centre and had a short look around. There were many geographical, meteorological and other scientific displays.
"Is a tiger living in the circular crater at the summit of Mt Fuji?" is what the caption says on this display
The most interesting displays we found were 'The Best' records...
The oldest man to climb Mt Fuji was 103 years old! This was actually a love story, according to our tour guide. This man's wife had died in the previous years. During one of her death anniversaries, this devoted husband climbed Mt Fuji (accompanied by other family members) in order to be closer to heaven, and thus, speak to her.
The answer is a Japanese guy, Fusakichi Kaji, who climbed Mt Fuji 1,672 times... because he was a combined guide and baggage carrier for 50 years!
This honor belongs to Englishman Rutherford Alcock, the first British ambassador to Japan who climbed Mt Fuji in 1860.
In the olden times, women were banned from climbing Mt Fuji up until 1872. However, in 1832, a woman named Tatsu Takayama climbed to the summit of Mt Fuji dressed like a man, with her hair tied up in a topknot.
There were a few more but these were the most interesting ones.
5th STATION, MT FUJI
And we made it! Halfway, that is...
Official climbing season starts in July to August (summer). Danny wants to climb Mt Fuji so we might be giving it a shot but I think most likely, we will just hike up a bit (maybe 4th station?) and that's it.
About 5 minutes after this picture was taken, Mt Fuji was covered by fog again. So, lucky us!
There are a few touristy shops at the 5th station and we dropped in to have a look. Here's one of the interesting things we found...
My main aim was to get postcards or pictures of Mt Fuji to hang up at home. I ended up with 12 fantastic postcards which I have absolutely no intention of giving anyone! Chris and Ryan sent a postcard to their moms from the 5th station (cause you get a special chop only at the 5th station). Sorry, Mom... I don't remember our home address in Malaysia...
I will be showcasing the postcards later...
LUNCH
We packed our own lunch so we didn't join the rest of the tour group for lunch.
Ha ha! I just had to show it after all the effort I made into packing it!
HAKONE
From this point on, all the places were a blur to me cause I wasn't paying attention to the names, and also because it got really misty and we couldn't see a lot. We took a cable car to the top of some mountain so we could see some lake (I forget the names), but it was too misty to see anything.
While waiting for the boat to arrive for the boat cruise, we browsed a souvenir shop. I had a pleasant surprise!
Totoro Heaven!
All the little Totoro's!
These are actually musicboxes!
I want!!! Especially "Laputa". My favourite Ghibli music composition.
Then off we went on the river cruise...All the little Totoro's!
These are actually musicboxes!
I want!!! Especially "Laputa". My favourite Ghibli music composition.
Basically, we knew we weren't going to see anything on the river cruise. Heck! We couldn't even see the ferry until it moored!
We were supposed to see some temples and I remember there was supposed to be a red gate in the waters. But it was so foggy we only saw water... until we reached the next docking station...
Although I must say the misty bits added to the ethereal feel... Just not that great for picture taking...
Then it was time to go home...
All in all, I'm glad we went on this trip. It was short and sweet. Not too tiring and I got a lot of mementos I'm happy with...
THE MEMENTOS
I didn't have time to get more of the big pictures as I only had seconds to select the ones I wanted. So I took the one that stood out the most.
And here are my beloved postcards...
I love all the postcards and plan on framing them up and displaying them.
When Danny comes, I think we will be going again and this time, with luck, we'll take more fantastic pictures!
Until next time, take care everyone!