http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Japan , Shizuoka , Mt Fuji en-us Mon, 07 Dec 09 23:46:58 +0000 Mon, 07 Dec 09 23:46:58 +0000 I climbed Mt Fuji at night Saw a beautiful galaxy in the night sky and a sunrise over the clouds.httpyodas.ws2009Jul31httpyodas.ws2009Aug01 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-453098.html Fuji Hike by the Numbersa Elevation at summit is 3776 m12388 ft.b Yoshida Daguchi Trail vertical climb is 3000 m9800 ft. Oneway distance is 19 km12 mi. c 38 km24 mi over 1.5 days. 16 km10 mi day 1. 22 km14 mi day 2.d 8.75 hiking hours to summit excludes lunch and overnight at Station 7.e 7.75 hiking hours to descend includes 1 hr for exploring a side trail.f 16.5 total hik http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-435927.html We are leaving Kawaguchiko station with the first bus going to Mt. Fuji 5th Station at 940AM. It's already quite late since the regular season is just over ends on August 31st. For the same reason the last bus leaves rather early too so we cannot go up and return on the same day which means we have to stay on the mountain. Weather and mood are good so we start to climb up aby 11AM. The trai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-433614.html As the popular Japanese saying goes The man who climbs Mt Fuji once is wise. The man who climbs Mt Fuji twice is a fking psychopath.Ok that isn't quite how it goes. But sometimes such language is just plain necessary. Please understand me I love hiking. I love trekking. It's one of my favourite things to do. What I have discovered I do NOT like is walking 3000m up a volcano in the middle o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-432336.html Ah Mount Fuji the tallest mountain in Japan at 3776 m. One reason I decided to climb it is that one of my favourite restaurants back home is called Fujiyama. Also after a few days of only Tokyo I was itching to get moving. I planned it out perfectly. I would take a direct bus from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko fifth station the most common starting point for the climb. I would rent a locker and de http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-423356.html A wise man climbs Mt Fuji once a fool twiceMt Fuji is one of the few mountains to have a proverb about it and it is repeated in a selfdeprecating manner by those who have climbed it more than once. Selfdepracation is the humour of the humourless and generally comes across as an attempt at lame conversation. To each country its obsession and to Japan it is climbing Mt Fuji quite like avoiding a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-422203.html For two months during the year Mt. Fuji is open to climb. Last Friday was Opening Day. I say climb but really I anticipated more of a hike. And to be honest I don't know how to climb anyway so it was either going to be a steep hike or it wasn't going to happen. My training consisted of some treadmill work and lunges there were no ropes or crampons or caribiners. There's a saying in Ja http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-419062.html I stumbled back to the ship at about 525 on Friday morning long story we can talk about it later if you really want to know to get ready for my trip to Mount Fuji and Hakone that would depart at 7am. One good thing about being up that early or rather not going to sleep until then the sunrise pictures are pretty great. So anyway I got back to my room showered and ate breakfast before runn http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-389588.html Today i am off to Lake Saiko to do some exploring caving. Basically Mount Fuji is surrounded by 5 different Lakes. Lake Kawaguchiko being the largest. Lake Saiko is the second largest also the most beautiful. In order for me to get to Lake Sai i need to catch the retro bus. The retro bus only runs once every 30minutes until 12pm then once every 1 hour thereafter. I catch the bus at around 1 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-389247.html This blog is dedicated to my good friend Andy who basically told me that if i didn't go to FugiQ which i bloody would've anyway he'd disown me...Well that is my translation of it. It's 6am and i'm awake bright early and not even tired...I get up take a shower check the emails and head out for an early breakfast the cafe. No 2000yen breakfasts for me...hahaAfter my doubleegg saus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-388919.html After a long train journey involving 4 changes lots of stopping I arrive at Kawa' in the late afternoon. I get the free bus to the hostel check in take my things to my room make my bed the usual shit and head out to get some munchies. I'm freakin' starving marvinThere is a 24 hour mixed cafe at the end of the road and decide to eat there. I'm so hungry i end up ordering about 4 different th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-388916.html Today was clear cold and my food poisoning had all but gone away so took a day trip to go see Mt. Fuji up close. Have some great pics of the mountain from far away in Tokyo and had some semiclear views from Hakone but today was focused just on the mountain. In reality we were still about 30 mins to an hour away from the mountain when I took the up close pics but it's so big that distan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-374827.html So Tokyo...Japan's mecca of technology. The Party zone. The place where it all happens. Is what they say really true about this fabled city I couldn't tell you.You see I didn't actually get to see Tokyo.In hindsight I can laugh and appreciate the things I saw but at the time it was just one annoyance after another and sometimes it was hard to see the enjoyable bits. Forgive me if the recap http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-348622.html Before leaving we were determined to see Mt Fuji and ended up spending 4 days by Lake Kawaguchiko. In the end we were rewarded with a snow capped view and took the opportunity to walk as far as the 7th station only 3 stations from the top...but about another 4 hours climb. After that it was back to Tokyo where we stayed in the compact and cool Riverside Capsule Hotel Asakusa district. We visi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-348420.html Hey guysAm going to try and split up this week to keep our map uptodate.We arrived in Kawaguchiko Lake at the base of Mount Fuji on Monday using our Japan Rail Pass which is a god send We bought it before we left UK and it has saved us a huge amount of money and time. The transport system here is amazing incredibly efficient comfortable and full of great characters along the way. We love http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-343410.html Day 182 on the road I arrived at the base of Mt. Fuji in the town of Kawaguchiko with the obvious intention of climbing the mountain. Every year 600.000 people make the ascent and this year I was going to make it 600.001 climbers. Before battling with the mountain however I was fighting bad weather. I spent six full days in the hostel as it pretty much rained continuously. I didn't mind too http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-328440.html Tokyo and aroundOn the 1st September I left Vladivostok and caught the ferry to Japan. There were only 3 backpackers on board myself a Scot and yet another Aussie. All the rest were Russians who were going to Japan to buy cheap Japanese cars to bring home. One of them Oleg who was already quiet drunk insisted on sharing his home made Vodka with us and I finally took out the hipflask thank yo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-324755.html We mentioned Japan was cheap .... True unless you're a fan of fresh fruit and vegies. 1 x mango 24 1 x peach 12.99 1 x bunch of grapes 8.50 weekly food budget blown on half a fruit salad. More fruity facts .... each individual piece of fruit is customwrapped in a polystyrene lattice sock. Perhaps this explains the elevated cost Talk about polite .... Pull into a Japanese petr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-318558.html Although this was two weeks ago I still strongly recall the pain that was Mt. Fuji. At first it seemed like the hike wouldn't be too bad...long and not really what you would call true hiking. But then it got worse. Because we were hiking on a threeday weekend there were so many people there. Rather than enjoying the hike up the mountain and the beautiful view when you looked down it was like http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-308570.html Tuesday Haley Chelsea Amy C and I went to pepper lunch for dinner. YUMWednesday we went to Yokoska and met up with Navy men that Haley and Chelsea met. We were suppose to go to dinner on the beach but since we got lost and got there late we weren't able to since the beach was 12 hour away. Instead we went to a little bar and that owner was so cute checking up on us and making sure we were okay. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shizuoka/Mt-Fuji/blog-307825.html