23rd July - Fuje is HUGE!

Well, I did it! I climbed Mount Fuji. All 3776 metres of it and boy was it tough! At the time it felt like the WORST thing ever, but now it's over I can honestly say it is the highlight of my year in Japan and the perfect way to say goodbye.

We started at the 5th station which is already a third of the way up at about 2300m. Getting off the bus you can feel the air is thinner and it's a bit chilly too! We piled on our layers and waterproofs and set off at 9pm on the dot.






Within about 10 minutes of walking downhill, we had to strip back down to t-shirts. Already we were feeling the strain! Still, we remained positive, overtook some OAPS (who, not suprisingly, then overtook us at a later stage), chatted about horror movies and even sang a few songs.

The first aim was to get to the 6th station which according to our map was about 2 hours away. The cloud was closing in on us but it was pitch black with nothing to see but the flickering headlamps of all the other climbers. Oh yeah, the other climbers - apparently around 300,000 people climb Mount Fuji every year (with the majority of them climbing during official climbing season July and August) and because of the typhoon last weekend many people, including us, had to cancel and re-schedule for the following weekend. So it turned out, Mount Fuji was rather busy and by the time we reached the 7th station we realised that we could be climbing nose-to-bumper with all the other climbers...





...and we were! I don't think there is any other mountain in the world where you have to queue to climb to the top. Although it may sound off-putting it actually added to the whole experience as most of these climbers were Japanese people and didn't make it feel like a tourist attraction.


Kat and a sleeping climber






7th station and ready for oxygen (and not skooshi cream as it may look like!)

So, on with the hike. We reached the 8th station about 1am... about 5 hours after our departure and a little behind schedule.


8th station - already up in the clouds

Most of the climbing thus far had involved scrambling over rocks and using hands and feet. We hadn't taken into account all the stopping and starting when climbing with hundreds of other people and by about 3am we realied we might not make it to the top by sunrise. Still, it had started to get lighter by that point and we thought we could see the top from where we were. The sky was clear though and the stars were beautiful. I even saw two shooting stars!





But after we climbed up an extra steep part, we saw rows upon rows of MORE zig-zag paths emerging. The top was still a few hours away yet.


This is the point where I told Kat that there was at least another 2 hours worth of climbing...

So, when we realised we wouldn't make it to the top for sunrise, we decided to get comfy on some rocks and just wait (and have our first official rest in the 7 hours we had been climbing).


Matt, charlie and me - all feeling a bit worse for wear


Me looking like the Ghost of Christmas Past - just before sunrise.






Goose bump stuff when the sun broke through


The crowds below


The crowds to the side

When the sun broke through, all my aches and pains temporarily disappeared and I joined in with hundreds of Japanese people shouting "BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!". It was really magical... until I remembered I had more climbing to do.

The last hour and a half was the worst. The end was in sight but every step was a sting. The crowds had all slowed down significantly but I found my 2nd (maybe actually my 3rd) wind and picked up the pace for the last stretch to the top. I think I may have even pushed some people out of the way... whoops! I just wanted to get there after 9 long hours of climbing.





At the top! Woooohoooo!








Proof that the Japanese can sleep anywhere... and maybe proof that you can still climb Fuji and be fashionable.




Cool wave cloud for my dad!


Matt, Charlie and me at the top!


Onwards and eh... downwards!



After some hot chocolate, cup noodles and a bit of a rest, we started the hike down. I can actually go as far as to say this was worse than the climb up because by this point our knees were about ready to give way. The path was gravel mixed with rocks and sand and with every step it was difficult to keep your balance. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get down and the last 2kms were the longest of my life! Towards the end, we stumbled across a very eerie scene of men and some horses - still not entirely convinced they were real...



So exactly 14 hours and 10 minutes after we left the 5th station on Saturday night - we arrived back again tired, uncomfortable, in pain and not feeling the love for Mount Fuji.


Kat - feeling the love for flat ground!

It has taken me a few days to be able to walk up and down stairs again but now I have fully recovered I'm ready to do it again!!! What was that famous saying again...

20th July - 1 more week to go!

It's official, I move out in one week! This week has whizzed by and I only have 5 more sleeps in my wee flat in Iiyama (originally six, but as I am climbing Fuji this weekend through the night, I technically miss out Saturday night's bed time!). My last day at work is next Wednesday and I have to give my speech in Japanese to the entire school. I wish I was so clever as to be able to write my Japanese speech completely on my own, but Makoto kindly reminded me that it is very important to speak "formally" in these situations and then swiftly went through my speech and made all my words longer... and more difficult to pronounce!

This week I had my farewell dinner with Maruyama-san and her daughter in a local Italian restaurant before making a visit to granny's house for some Japanese tea and snacks. Granny Maruyama was not quite so accustomed to the strange foreign girl who sat on her tatami mat and spent most of the evening just looking at me!


Me and Maruyama-san

On Thursday night, I took a break from cleaning and packing and went into Nagano to meet up with Bel and two of her friends visiting from Adelaide. We went for dinner in the new Hawaiian restaurant complete with spam memorabilia and pina coladas!


Me and Pina Colada


Kate and Bel

Tomorrow I will make the long journey down to Kawaguchiko with Kat, Matt and Charlie and then take a bus to the starting point to climb Mount Fuji. I have been warned that it is both the hardest and the best thing to do in Japan, and am constantly reminded by my work colleagues of the famous Japanese saying...

"To climb Mount Fuji once is wise, to climb it twice is foolish"

This being my first time to climb Mount Fuji, I don't see how it is relevant because once I've made the decent I certainly don't intend to turn round and do it again!

Anyway, we will start climbing around 9pm and aim to be at the top in time for the sunrise at 4.30am. Then, once we've taken a million pictures (hopefully) of the sunrise, we start the 4 hour ramble down and search for the nearest onsen.

This of course being the "plan" and next week's entry will probably be completely different. Either way, if I don't make it to the top then I have already found some excellent pictures on Google to post instead so nobody will be disappointed.

まった　ね!

Alex's deck and an earthquake!


(Dec, Tom, Rita, Audrey, Ben and me!)

Monday was yet another national holiday in Japan and so on Sunday night, I joined my fellow JETS in celebrating the completion of Alex's deck! He has been working on it for ages, spent a small fortune and almost lost his thumb in the process but it was the perfect venue for a BBQ (once the typhoon had passed!)


The deck!


Me and Abby

As I was waiting for my train on Monday morning, there was apparently a big earthquake. I was too far south to feel it but it hit Iiyama as a 6 on a scale of 7! Many trains were de-railed and then cancelled so the 50 minute journey took me 6 hours. It was very frustrating because I didn't know what was going on at first, and was trying to piece together conversations going on around me (without much luck). Bel then mailed me to check I was ok and told me what had happened. There was a fairly big aftershock when I was on the train back to Iiyama and when I finally got to my apartment, it had been turned upside down! Everything had fallen off the shelves, my wine glasses and plates had broken and my microwave was hanging on by a thread!

14th July - To climb or not to climb?



As Kat and I only have 3 weekends left in Japan, we decided to allocate this weekend to climb Mount Fuji. HOWEVER... after telling various teachers and students our plans, we were advised not to go this weekend because there was due to be a typhoon. At first, we thought a little bit of wind and rain might just make it a bit more interesting (especially as we were planning on climbing through the night to make it to the top for sunrise at 4.30am) but after a friend of a friend was refused access to the starting point on Friday night (being told it was too dangerous to climb) we had no choice but to postpone our trip.

So - Kat and I spent saturday night trying to break our personal best karaoke record (4 hours) and sang into the night for a good solid 6 hours. Yes, we sang karaoke for a whole 6 hours with the help of a couple of Brits Matt and Charlie. We were well and truly exhasuted afterwards but my croaky voice was well worth it!

Let's enjoy the school festival!



School festivals in Japan are a big deal. There is a great deal of competition between local schools over which festival is the best and the students work on performances for about 6 months beforehand. There were singing competitions, food stalls, games, class matches, awards, short films and my favourite, Taiko drumming! Here are the pictures...






















No event is complete in Japan without the 6 different rubbish categories.