Fuji San has Won

My Decision to go to Mount Fuji is where my trip to japan changed from a sightseeing holiday to a adventure. I Left Kyoto and took the bullet train to Mishima as the direction told me. Once i was in Mishima i was to take a bus to Kawaguchiko. The problem arose when i got off the bullet train in Mishima which is apparently off the tourist track because unlike everywhere else i had been in japan the signposts were only in Japanese. To add to the problem there were very few people that spoke English. So here is me at this station walking around aimlessly for like 45mins. Then i found the bus i needed and got on it, but still no English signs anywhere and bus driver has no idea what i am talking about. I new the bus ride was suppose to be 2 hours so i had to wait until then and using a timetable i had found i read the Japanese symbols to figure out which station i was suppose to get off at. It was the among the most stress full two hours of my. Imagine being on a bus not sure if its going to the right place and not knowing when to get off (a little scary but exciting too). All that being said i made it to Kawaguchiko at like 8:00pm. However i did not realize in small towns that everything closes at like 8-9 so i had to get dinner from a 7-11 (No Ben - in japan they don't have big gulps and takidos). The hostel i am staying is authentic Japanese style with mats on the floor. I went to bed early cause i was stress and knew i had a big day ahead of me. I suppose i should preface this part by telling you that their are signs all over the hostel for people not to climb the mountain out of season. The season is July 1st to the end of august. I knew i was illprepared but i though how hard can it be. I woke up early and got a bus to the 5th station (end of the road) for Mt. Fuji. Then i started straight for the path up the mountain. The only other person heading that way was some dutch guy my age. I asked him where he was going, he said to the top. I smugly responded me too. So we decided to tackle it together because he looked as badly prepared as me.Please note we are the only two tourist that are heading up the mountain. We made it to the 6th station with out much problem a normally steep hike. Then we Started our assent to the 7th station a little more difficult and steep but still little snow on our path. I would like to add that at this point the only people we have seen if any at all are decked out in full alpine gear and snowshoes. The Dutchman and myself only have tennis shoes and sweaters. Once we got to the 7th station, visibility was much less and we only had a path of less that a foot wide that wasn't covered with snow. Then about half way to the 8th station we lost the path and only had faint snow prints and a chain that stuck out of the snow to follow. We made it to the 8th station took a rest and then started up for Number 9. By the way the top is the 10th station. We made it maybe two hundred meters from the 8th station to a roof of some building that was covered by snow and the roof was the only exposed thing. Once we made it to the roof visibility went to nothing so we waited for 30mins for it to break which it did not. At this point our tennis shoes are REALLY wet and starting to freaze and the visibility wasn't getting any better. So we finally decided that FUJI SAN had defeated us. We tucked out tails between our legs and had to pretty much slide down the to the 8th station. On the way down we past a group of Alpine climber who just started at us in amazement or a (What the hell are yo doing here look). That was the one redeeming feeling and i felt like i had at least tried, even if it was stupid. We came back down the mountain and i have spent the rest of the day warming up and relaxing. I leave japan tomorrow for Australia tomorrow. I talk to you then and hopeful post some pictures on me on Fuji.

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