Climb every mountain

Mount Fuji is Japan's largest mountain. The country's national symbol stands at 12,338 feet and proudly dwarfs its neighbors, the so called 'Japanese Alps'. On a clear day, if there ever is a clear day in the smoggy capital, it can be seen from Tokyo, Yokohama and even, claims Wikipedia, from Chiba. On top of that Fuji is also an active volcano and if it went off would blast the surrounding tourist resorts for massive damage. All things considered, Fuji is one impressive mound of rock. Today I was treated to a bus tour around it.

The day started, horrifically enough, at 5:55 am. I crawled out of bed and sat in a daze for ten minutes before remembering I had to be at the train station by 6:22 and had to meet my Japanese teacher, the fantastic Noriko-san, in Ikebukuro 23 minutes later. The early rising inhabitants of Shakuji Koen were subsequently treated to the spectacle of a wild eyed and tousled gaijin running at full pelt down the high street, a leaking can of coffee in one hand and large quantities of gift wrapped English tea in the other. Next, the inhabitants of Ikebukuro were treated to the spectacle of a coffee covered, wild eyed, tousled and really quite lost gaijin searching frantically for his Japanese teacher among the crowds. Finally, the inhabitants of the Tokyo Maranouchi Line platform (where we'd agreed to meet if we missed each other at Ikebukuro) were treated to the spectacle of a coffee stained wild eyed, tousled gaijin and a wild eyed, far less tousled Noriko-san finally finding each other and, amid cries of 'thank goodness' & 'Yokkatta', shakily heading to the bus depot.

The day was so full it felt like two and as usual there's far too much to fit into a blog entry. Therefore, also as usual, I'm going to split the Fuji tour into headings. This time one heading for each stop the bus made.

Stop One: A Japanese service station

As the bus headed out of Tokyo everything started to get greener and more leafy. Mountains popped up on the horizon and soon enough we could see the white peak of Fuji-san* himself. After a few minutes of gazing in awe I suddenly realized how tired I was and closed my eyes. While I didn't actually manage to sleep the next thing I can remember with any clarity is the bus arriving at a Japanese motorway service station.

Imagine a cross between 'Welcome break' and an oriental farmers market and you're not too far off. A gaggle of store owners stood in a big, well lit hall touting weird and occasionally wonderful foodstuffs. There were, of course, hundreds of vending machines including one which dispensed chart topping J-Pop albums.

As I'd wasted most of the time we'd been alloted waiting for a 'Western Style Toilet' to free up (Duncan doesn't do squatting) I didn't have much time to chose breakfast so grabbed the first packet of rice balls that came to hand. Back on the bus I discovered that these were Ume Boshi rice balls- The sourest Ume Boshi I've yet tasted. I winced all the way to our next stop.

Stop Two: The Fuji Centre

In all honesty I'm not quite sure why we stopped here. The Fuji centre was a very large building containing a couple of cafes, a gift shop, a few peculiar models of mount Fuji and 'bug' all else. The best thing about it was the outside veranda. Fuji towered impressively above us. Fuji is good at towering impressively above things, it's what it does best!

Stop Three: Mt Fuji fifth station

We left the Fuji center and headed towards Fuji himself. The journey was quite long, but much improved by awe inspiring views of the Japanese alps and the gradual appearance of high altitude snow. After a good few ear-pops we jumped out at 'station five' which was as far as road vehicles are allowed to climb.

Station five was a peculiar mix of olde worlde** Japan and mock alps. After a brief snowball fight with Noriko (the snow had basically frozen) a member of the tour bus staff presented each of us with a mystery ticket. In a nearby gift shop the mystery ticket was exchanged for a mystery bell, which will apparently grant me the gift of longevity. Exiting the gift shop, we headed towards an old mountain side temple, taking a shortcut through a new replica Austrian ski lodge. I've babbled about Japan's crazy juxtaposition before and this was another prime example.

At the shrine we each threw in the traditional five yen, clapped and prayed to whatever full-hardy Shinto deity lives on the bleak snowy slopes. Noriko prayed for safety in her new car and I asked the shrine spirit to make my mystery bell work! For ten yen I'll be surprised the god will go too far out of his way to help us but maybe it's the thought that counts?

Stop Four: Hotel Lunch

Fuji-san sadly behind us, the next stop was at a very swanky looking hotel for lunch. Except for some exquisite Sashimi, the taste was pretty standard Japanese fair (i.e. good, but if you got a blog entry every time I had a good Japanese meal I paradoxically wouldn't have time to eat). The presentation, though, was through the roof. Everything came in it's own little tray, each piece delicately arranged and sprinkled with decorative powders. I felt more like i was tucking into a Van Gough than a bento set.

Stuffed to bursting with fine art, we waddled around the hotel for a little while, finding another massive gift shop, a truly ghastly rainbow wedding dress rental place and, surprisingly enough, a giant theme park in the Hotel's back garden.

Stop Five: The Ice Caves

Next we were dropped in Aokigahara Jukai, a giant forest growing on a lava flow. The forest is infamous for being a popular Japanese suicide destination and when the pressures of life get too much for some, they wander deep into the wood and end it all. The forest is so large that if you wander in far enough you'll very probably become lost and starve to death. It saves people the trouble of actually having to actively kill themselves and there's a Russian roulette element in that it is sometimes possible to escape. 'Recently', I was told, there have been over 300 reported disappearances in the forest with perhaps many more unreported or incorrectly filed. Chilling stuff.

Our purpose in the deep dark woods was a less morbid one. We arrived to see the Aokigahara ice caves- large holes under the ice formed by air bubbles in an ancient Lava flow. The caves were deep and filled with stalagmites, tites, icicles, a lichen that glows in the dark and, for reasons unknown, big bottles of silk worms. It was pretty exciting stuff but I emerged a mite disappointed. Having seen signs for the 'Yougan' (Lit: Lava) caves, I was expecting a glimpse into the bowls of the earth with magma, fire and brimstone. When we got to the end of the tunnel without so much as a molten pebble my heart sank.

Our guide, a very passionate [-about-his-job kinda] man with a practiced, interesting and almost completely incomprehensible narration style cheered me up by complimenting my Japanese and explaining that the caves were formed of lava and not full of it. To celebrate this revelation Noriko and I grabbed ourselves a couple of 'corn' ice creams (a local specialty), which really tasted of corn and were even more delicious than they were interesting.

Stop Six: The Shiraito Waterfall

The last real stop was at Shiraito, recently voted as 'One of Japan's top 100 waterfalls'. Somehow, despite the masses of kitch tourist shacks that lined the banks, this waterfall valley still maintained to maintain an air of sacred and tranquil charm. Not just one waterfall but hundreds of tiny jets fell from a 500 meter wide right angled cliff at the base of a deep gully. Lush overhanging trees grew precariously from the rocks, leaning out as far as was possible to slurp up sunlight without falling into the pool below. There wasn't really much need for words and we sat in silence for some time listening to the water... fall.

Stop Seven and Eight: Home again home again

Worn out we headed back to the bus for the return journey to Tokyo. It made a stop at another Japanese service station and finally arrived in central Tokes for the passengers to take the train home. There ended another brilliant day in Japan. Cambodia beckons but I'm truly gutted to be leaving in under two weeks. Say what you like about it, one thing's for certain: Japan is a country without equal.

I'll end this entry by giving a huge thankyou to Noriko-san who's humor, generosity, general tolerance of my antics and frank, well worded, technical explanations of the Japanese language not only meant for a wonderful day out but have made 'Nihongo' a pleasure to learn. You asked me for an honest blog entry and there it is!

I may not dream of eggplants or hawks but tonight I'll dream of Fuji-san






Monster Trivia: *As well as being an honorific, -san is also the suffix for 'mountain'. The direct English equivalent is 'Mt'. Don't ask me why I always digress into Pokemon trivia but this is the reason that the original Pokemon games had a character called 'Mr Fuji'. The Japanese for 'Mr Fuji' is also 'Fuji-san', the same as 'Mt Fuji'! Geddit? Geddit?!

Olde Trivia: ** Interestingly enough, while it's true that many English words used to be spelled with an extra 'e', in many and most cases the e was silent, hence its eventual emission. Disappointingly enough, Olde Worlde was pronounced old world. Ask a linguist for more.