Show Yourself Fuji!

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Monday morning I woke early and said goodbye to my awesome host Minna and made my way to the nearby subway station. This week is known as Golden Week in Japan and everyone has Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off as holidays. This makes for a lot of people out at night, but luckily it meant that Monday morning was not a workday and the subway was significantly less busy than normal. I managed to figure out where I was going, change stations and lines and arrive at the station where the bus terminal was located. I bought a ticket and was on my way to Kawaguchiko, which is a resort type town near Mt.Fuji.

As I arrived I got a pretty good view of most of Mt.Fuji, except for the top which was lost in clouds. I decided that I would wait until the clouds left to get a better picture of the mountain. It is now 2 days later and I haven't seen the mountain since. The rain clouds rolled in shortly after I arrived and have not left since. Two straight days of heavy rain and cloud cover have kept me from even getting a small glimpse of Fuji and thus thinking I should have taken a picture when I had the chance.

Due to the weather being outside is a bit of a downer. There is not a lot to do in the pouring rain, and thus this stop of my travels has been rather unremarkable. I have walked the town and seen some nice sights, but the most note worthy things that I have accomplished while here are meeting many new people in the hostel I am at. So far I have met a couple from Britain on day 4 of their one year around the world trip, a couple from Romania who live and work in Tokyo, a family of 7 visiting Japan from Malaysia, a bar owner from Guadelajara, Mexico, a couple from France who are both engineers that design helicopters for Airbus and a University student from Finland who is studying in Japan for the year. For my part, I find the people I meet to be much more interesting than me, but it is usually them who want to hear my stories as soon as they find out that I have worked in the Canadian Arctic. From disspelling myths about igloos and polar bears to answering questions about whether or not I think Al Gore's documentary was correct, there has been no lack of conversation.

Although I usually prefer to couchsurf in most places, to get a better feel for the location and insider knowledge, I have been lucky to be at a hostel when the weather has gone to poop due to the amount of conversation that has been available.

I have just booked a hostel for 3 nights near Nagano, Japan which was the site of the 1998 winter Olympics, so I will do my best to make it there tomorrow. It looks like I need a bus ride, followed by trains with 3 stops and changes. I will do my best to not get confused and lost...

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Photos

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Main Street in Kawaguchiko

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A helpful reminder

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Japan loves them gardens...