Climbing Mt. FUJIIIIII

July 26th and 27th, 2014. What a fantastic two days. And oh my, the pain. It was wonderful!

Mitch, Marlene, and I formed Fuji-san Dantai (Mt. Fuji Club, sorta), and climbed the damned mountain in 23 hours. It took so so long! I’m so grateful I got to do it, and with two perfect humans, too.

There are plenty of ways to climb Fuji. Stay on the mountain in a cabin with other travelers, climb in the day, sleep at the top and wake for sunrise, or do what we did, like the nutters we are, and climb through the night so you get to the top for the sunrise. Or at least, that’s the goal!

First things first; a bus to the fifth station. About half way up. You get some extra things from the shop that you might need on the journey, like oxygen for the other two, and souvenirs.

First glimpse of Fuji on the bus!

That’s where we are going… doesn’t look too far…

Sunset… ready to start climbing overnight

Gorgeous sunset

We are so ready!

And so; the climb begins! It starts as a big long walk on relatively flat ground from the 5th station to the 6th. I think by the time we got there we had an inkling of what was to come, but we still had plenty of energy. You get to all these little waystations along the route, and by the second I decided I wanted a souvenir. Marlene had bought this big walking stick on which you get all the stamps of the waystations burned… So I got a mini version. The route had three main sections that I remember; zigzag uphill pumice pebble paths which for some reason were super hard for me. Rock climbing, which was hard for Marlene, and the top with the altitude, which was hard for Mitch. But the enveloping dark was just amazing; I knew we were in for a beautiful sunrise but I never even thought that we’d be able to see the freakin’ Milky Way. Obviously no photos of that, but one hell of a memory.

This is how our path started! Pitch black.

6th station!

Can you see all the humans?

7th station

I decided to get a little souvenir stick. The sign in the background shows all the waystations

Still climbing

8th!

It was cold. But amazing

Because we were so slow at climbing (even a guy in shorts and flip flops passed us… what?!?!), we didn’t quite make the top for the sunset. But in a way, it was great, because we were on this little shelf with only 4 other humans around. We essentially had a private sunset experience. I hear they play funny music and stuff at the top, and if it’s all crowded then I think I prefer what we had 🙂

Just starting to rise

Look at that scenery. Isn’t it incredible?

Just to prove we were there!

One of my favourite pictures ever.

The other 4 humans we shared our shelf of the mountain with

Making the Mt. Fuji club symbol in the sunrise light.

Naptime.

Once we’d rested and taken in the full glory of the sunrise, we started towards the top again. We were pretty darn tired by this point. We’d left in the afternoon the day before and had been climbing since about 7pm, so by the 4am sunrise we had been going for 8 hours of climbing and the travelling few hours before that too. But the summit awaited and we were excited!

Once the sun had risen

Pretty dead by this point!

We had about an hour’s nap here.

The pressure was fun!

A sight to remember.

Once we had had our nap, we finally made it to the top! Mitch and Marlene didn’t get on with the altitude so much so they had a bit of a rest in one of the open buildings full of benches. I really wanted to see the crater though so I went for a bit of an adventure. The loos were fun; you shoot a water gun at your pee to make it go away! The vending machines were wonderfully hilarious. The crater itself was beautiful and boy did I want to climb down into it but I didn’t quite have the energy.

Once I got back to the others, someone told me it was worse for altitude sickness to sleep and I had better wake Mitch up. He was NOT a happy bunny. He made it up, but he needed to go back down pretty darn fast once we woke him up. Marlene and I bought some souvenirs and then took a photo or two and we all started back down.

Not exactly pathed.

Sticking coins in the wood. For whatever reason!

We made it!!!!

Fuji-san Dantai!

Top of the mountain snap

The rest building

Ready to go for the crater!

Dying a bit…

Crater map

Vending machines at the top of the 3776 metre mountain.

Don’t worry, there’s not pee.

The crater!

Such an amazing view.

Crater selfie!

Poor Mitch was not doing so good on the way down. I took his rucksack and we went as fast as we could, but darn it was hard going. The pumice pebbles mean you’re always sliding, the downhill means your feet slide forward in your boots and your toes hurt, and I remembered to put suncream on the others but didn’t do my own face…. a mistake I will never forget! Tomato anyone? But it was still beautiful going down. The view was amazing obviously, and the sense of accomplishment was pretty awesome.

The zigzag pebble path that goes aaaaaalllllllll the way down.

Snow!

We took a good long rest here.

Weird creepy tunnel thing.

So nearly home!

What a brilliant way to spend two days. We managed to figure out the bus home, and the trains… and the walk. I think this is going to be one of those very few experiences where I can say I was utterly, utterly, exhausted. And sunburnt to a crisp! I once heard that there’s a saying about climbing Mt. Fuji: you’re a fool if you never climb it, but you’re an even bigger fool if you do it twice! I think I’m that bigger fool, because I definitely want to do it again.

Already showing the burn. Please try and imagine how tired we were after 23 hours of climbing!

Mitch was much ahppier on the ground!

My fun fuji shirt

“Summit Human” or “Superhuman” depending on if you read this using the sound or the characters.

Once I’d gotten all my badges burnt in!

Blisters on my chin and nose….

My bucket list has a new tick!

 

Rainy Season Outings

Having spent a lot of my life in England, where every season is rainy season somehow, I didn’t really expect rainy season in Japan to be so fun! The storms are incredible. Mitch and I went and played in the warm rain for a while (literally inches just gushing across the ground), which in the beautiful TUFS grounds was an experience I doubt I’ll ever forget! Then we went to the roof to watch the PURPLE lightning. It was amazing!

Look at all that water!

Mitch was dry at this point; had to convince him to come play

Look at that insane electric purple death ray.

So that wasn’t an outing, despite the title… but how’s an arcade designed on the walled city of Kowloon in China for an outing? Here’s the wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City

But basically, many people in a tiny space and it’s almost post-apocolyptic. Everything looks very unsafe and much like a movie set. The arcade was weird as hell, I felt like I’d gone through a Stargate, but it was pretty awesome. A big group of us went, and I really want to go back one day. They really went all out on the theming; including a doll girl in a room for the prostitution side; a butchers, and rusted everything. (This is where you tell me they just couldn’t be bothered with upkeep, I’m sure…) Check it out! We played lots of games and even sang in a teeny tiny karaoke booth.

The arcade from the outside

See? Stargate.

Where does it gooooo

In we go!

This was particularly cool

Bekah loving it

Get your cooked birds here

Get your uncooked birds here.

Despite looking gross, the loos weren’t too bad.

The inside was really cool; old and dark.

The game atmosphere.

Novelty Tetris

Playing Bishibashi with Mitch. Sounds pretty much like what it is; bash the buttons faster than your opponent

Our singing booth!

Working out the system

Purikura time

Bekah and Marlene are the only ones who fit the theme here XD

The last three outings of this post are all cafes; because you know me by now, and I love cafes. First up; the Kichijouji cat cafe! One of my favourites for sure.

Photogenic as anything.

And now with a hat.

Cat Jenga.

This little kit is so derpy. Catception.

And some more shoulder riding!

And on the same day in a fun two-for-one deal, a Rilakkuma cafe in Shibuya. The themed food was awesome, and they had cuddly toys everywhere. We went with Yzzy, who really loves Rilakkuma so it was smiles all round. And the rain on the way there was phenomenal!

Giant Rilakkuma

Mitch the cutie.

The gals enjoying themselves

We made the bear a weird grave of his own coffee…

Drinking oneself….

Food!

You get to eat the bear as it lounges

Bear puddin’

Love this one of us all 🙂

The last stop on this cafe tour is one I had been wanting to go to for ages… Maid cafe! We went with two Japanese guys we met and had a great time. It was weird and silly and pink all at the same time. It wasn’t weirdly sexual or anything; I know a lot of people have that impression. They definitely call the women “princess” and the guys “master”, but it’s the same word people use for “husband” in Japan, so I guess it’s less weird in Japanese than in English. They write your name on your little member’s card though, and seeing “Mitch Master” still makes me giggle a bit!

They give you ears!

“Mitch Master”

Because why not

Dinner!

And dessert

Bear with a bear.

My pudding! They tried to draw me on the pancakes…..

And for my last trick, a picture of the last Japanese class on my year abroad! I know… here already?! Worry not; we made good use of the rest of summer and all the free time. Sayounara!

Mishmash July

We managed to do an awful lot in July 2014. So I am going to write you a big mishmash post! Hopefully lots of random pictures and not too many words 😛

On the 5th we went for a Gotcharocka concert – round two! We took a few more humans with us, and tall Mikey (who hadn’t even heard of the band) got the singer’s attention half way through the concert…. So envious! Mitch got hauled out for taking photos because he didn’t know it wasn’t allowed. A bit weird, coming from the UK where you can take whatever photos you like. But I managed to sneak a few on my phone 😛

The three girlies on our way!

Mikey!

Dinner was tasty; who doesn’t love meat on rice

Sneaky pic

and another

I got a shirt!

Selfie!

On the 8th Mitch and I went to a new bunny cafe in Harajuku to stroke the fluffies =] Bonus ice cream and dinner with Michael and Nadja afterwards ^^

For some reason a claw machine had Annoying Oranges….

At the cafe! Silly logo XD

Softest, chocolatey-est bunny ever.

Love Baskin and Robins

Nothing better than a meal out with friends ❤

Talking of bunnies… ever been given a bunny by a man who had one under his arm while cycling around a park? No? I have. Yokohama is a brilliant place.

I know it’s upside down, but this was a cool drain cover.

I convinced Mitch to come on the giant Ferris wheel!

The bunny looks kind of put out, but damn was it cool to suddenly have a bunny.

The view from Osanbashi

Magical rainbow Ferris wheel that we rode earlier.

Yokohama’s China town

Mitch loves his hoisin panccakes

I tried what was supposedly shark fin soup…. tasted pretty run of the mill broth.

Next in the mishmash; a bit of Tokyo Dome and its random attractions. We went with Michael and Eriko, for the Moomin Cafe, and the pretty park out the back. It’s a pretty good place to hang out if you’re not sure what to do for the day.

Moomin shaped food!

Moomin shaped food!

Bubba gump cafe and shop for the shrimp inclined

Looks awesome, if I like shrimp. Genius idea for the Japanese diet though; they lurve shrimp

Silly little picture station 😛

Great scenery

and pretty fountains!

Michael took us to a ridiculously tasty Indian restaurant.

Look at that. Just look. Can you taste it through the screen?!

 

Nadja, Marlene, and I have been on plenty of all-night karaoke sessions… But the first and only time we went all night clubbing was wicked. It wasn’t even that crowded and we only stayed a while, but we sat on some stairs in the street after and just chatted for ages. Made for one of those memories that sticks as a poignant moment in your mind.

Game face = On

Drinks at a bar in Shinjuku first

Tired…

I’ll end this one with a chilled day in Kichijouji; Owls, purikura and all-you-can eat fry-it-yourself dinner!

Fancy a new pet?

They’re very soft

And some have eyes like SPACE

Dinner! Pick your fave food on sticks…

….collect them on a plate…

…Cover them in batter and breadcrumbs and fry…

…drain….

…Enjoy!

And have a chocolate fountain for pudding 😀

Because we love purikura.

We are the Mt. Fuji club…. Guess what’s coming up in the future blogs?!

Todoroki Valley and Cirque du Soleil

On a hot July day, we went on an adventure to a place we had read about as being one of those ‘refuges’ from the city bustle. It was exactly that. You come from a small station and go down a cute staircase and suddenly you’re in a little river path with no city in sight. It’s great. About a 15 minute walk if you just go straight through, but we had some fun exploring the little shrines hidden here and there too so we spent a good 2 hours just enjoying the novel scenery.

Down we go!

First impressions

Looking uo you could almost believe you’re not in the city

Snake!

Water running down the wall; pretty darn cool

Post excursion refuel

A couple of days later we were back to the concrete jungle, but still surrounded by water; on Odaiba again 🙂 It was time for Ovo, the Cirque du Soleil show we’d been to buy tickets for a little while before. The show was just incredible. I have dabbled in circus a lot and watched an awful lot of stuff, so I went in thinking I’d love it but I wasn’t expecting to be surprised, let alone have my mind blown. But there really is nothing like a live Cirque show. It was truly incredible. And I got to go with Mitch, which made it even better. I remember every now and again that I am really glad we got to spend the summer together.

Really atmospheric Ferris wheel.

Odaiba has some very cool scenery

Outside ready for the show

We found a very retro arcade!

Giant pop up pirate

We had Mexican food in the rain 🙂

I’ll leave this one with a bonus picture of a Michael party we had to start off July; three of them in one room was pretty fun!

Takao-san Climbing, and Cat Cafe Frequenting

June 22nd was a half-planned, half “ooh that looks fun!” kind of day 😀 We planned to go to Mt. Takao, which is on the end of the Chuo line that takes me in an out of Tokyo from Tama. The mountain looked like it had a good day’s hike and then the rest we left up to chance. When we got there, we saw a Trick Museum from the train and immediately thought it looked like a right laugh! Turns out it was hilarious. Also it was peeing it down with rain so we managed to avoid climbing in the wet by doing the museum first. It was kind of pricey, but for the fun we had it was well worth it!

The view was already awesome

First trick (that I utterly fell for!) was a 10,000 yen note on the floor (£60 or so)

Cool huh?

Love this one

The tiles kind of ruin this one, but it was still fun

Posing for a photo; you can really get into the illusions here!

This one was fab

Vampire Maisy.

MJ trickery

This one utterly astounded me. I literally bonked my nose on it before I realised it was poking out oof the wall!

Like this!

I really love being smaller.

The ticket includes a free vendy drink

We got hot Calpis!

The mountain itself was really cool too! The funniest part was that on the way down we thought the river path would be lovely. What we didn’t realise is that they meant the river IS the path! Hahah XD You literally walk in the river to get down the mountain. It was a really nice walk and is easy to do in a day; bonus!

Mountain map!

Gosh it’s green

THIS IS COOL LIKE LAVA BUT IT’S TREE

From the top!

Looks cloudy, but it was in the 30s

cable car fun!

Love me some dango cooked over charcoal

Melon slushie

Cool Japanese things

Hidden deities

Such pretty architecture

Literally in the river

The river path. Yup.

Love this guy.

On the 24th we got a bunch of friends together and went to a cat cafe in Kichijouji. I love cat cafes, and this one was pretty excellent! One cat loved to be on people’s shoulders, and they had adorable munchkin cats. It was massive as a place and you could borrow manga and chill.

It’s massive!

Circle cat

This big bully….

Was trapping this poor kitty!

Not sure how this kitty didn’t find this uncomfy….

Bwahahahahaha

Manga and Bekah!

The gang 🙂

Cute drinks

Couldn’t work out if this was mean or fun 😛

LOOK AT ITS EYES O.O

Happy Bear

Loved this kitty

Tricky transfer

Kitty transfer 2

Ice cream is essential after some hard core cat cafeing

I’ll leave this one with a cruddy-but-best-I-could-do firefly photo. First time I have ever seen them! We saw a random huge line and a tent, and it turns out they just had a few cages of fireflies 🙂 It was cool, but I definitely want to see them in the wild now too 🙂