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| THAR SHE BLOWS |
Just some little info to start, Mt. Fuji (called also Fuji-san here) is the highest mountain, rising to 3776 metres, in Japan. The mountain has the shape of a symmetric cone. What makes Fuji-san even more amazing that it's actually an active volcano though last time it erupted was somewhere around 1707-1708. You can see air flicker a bit because of the hot air rising from the ground and all the stones at Fuji are cooled lava so the stones there are light and in different colours. Fuji-san is also considered one of the "Three Holy Mountains". A lot of Japanese mythical creatures are said to live at Mount Fuji, especially the tengu.
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| Togane before 6am... Riveting. |
The day started quite early. Like all days start when you have to be in Shinjuku Station at 8.00am in the morning. That means for me waking up at least 2 hours before… Or it should be 2 and half hours but I was lazy getting up. But I finally got to experience the horrible RUSH HOUR… Which was really nothing special unless you suffer from claustrophobia in which case I recommend you to stay clear from morning and evening trains.
But this wasn't what I wanted to talk about but YES. Going to Fuji-san. I met my teacher, Takakuwa-sensei, at Shinjuku West Exit. From there it was about two hour car ride to Yamanashi prefecture where Mount Fuji rises. It didn't take long when the scenery started to change from skyscrapers and highways to forests and mountains. It just couldn't take my eyes out from the sudden change of scenery, seeing how buildings just disappeared... Near the Pacific there really isn't that many high hills or mountains but these were just big.
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| The scenery starts to change... |
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| There were like a lot of bigger mountains but it was hard to take a picture from them |
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| TUNNELS!!! |
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| On our way up to Mount Fuji |
The autumn colours were almost out and all in their full glory. We made a stop on our way up to the fifth station (it's the highest you can get with a car, after that you have to hike) to watch the valley below with the lakes and forests and hills and everything nice.
And once we got up to the fifth summit, ohboy. First sensation was COLD. It was +/-0C up at the Fifth Station, 2300 metres when back at Shinjuku it had been around +20 C. Quite the change, I gotta say it felt really chilly for the first time I was in Japan. The air was also much more clear and... frisk than down near the ocean level. But alas, we were also lucky. Clouds had started to gather up but as we went higher, it was another story. |
| After a layer of fog, we saw the peak of Mount Fuji without its usual snowy peak |
I really liked this day even if it was still 10am. I liked everything we did up at the Fifth station. We looked at all the other tourists just came out from multiple buses and the number just got bigger as clock ticked onwards. Most of the tourists early in the morning were Asians; Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean... The only western-looking were me and a group of older Germans. Still, the whole fifth station was just purely for tourists. Expensive snacks and foods, souvenirs... Fuji being a volcano, there is no water in the mountains so all the water they need, they have to pump it up. Going (this was the worst public toilet I've ever been in Japan, damn those tourists...) to the toilet here was quite the luxury. Tourists spots make me sad but it's a way of living for people and for derpy humans like myself places like these are the only way to get close to nature's wonders without much effort.
But it was nice to notice behind the buildings, near the egde there was a small shrine, dedicated to the spirits and gods of Mount Fuji.
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| The small shrine |
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| I liked this tree |
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| A lot of gates |
Oh, the day wasn't over when we got down.
We went around the lakes and it really felt I was in Europe again. Most of the houses looked very modern European little village houses and the trees were big and magnificent with these beautiful and bright autumn colours and flowers were still blooming... It was like little break. I could see and understand why people made these little trips. Everythins looked and felt SO different to Shinjuku Station that morning. We also had late lunch/early dinner at a Japanese restaurant. For the love of me, I can't remember what the the style of dining was called but we grilled some vegetables and meat on a open flameand after that ate some very good noodles in a vegetable broth. It was another good example of screw-up-your-own-dinner style that they practice in Japan but luckily Takakuwa is a very good cook so I didn't have to depend on my mostly moderate grilling skills.
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| They even had this oldschool place for the cashier! |
There were a lot of small roads and very old looking buildings around this area. Is it just because to keep things looking romantic to the eye of the tourists or the nature repels people from changing their environment? Living next to a active yet quiet volcano, surrounded by lakes and mountains must have some effect to it... It really makes me wonder how people even moved there in the first place, there are lakes but if the weather turns bad or a catastrophe happens in the area, I wonder how easy it would be to escape/get help there...
Before we returned to Tokyo, we went to Aokigahara (Sea of Trees).
Aokigahara is a remotely small forest area next to Mount Fuji and it has a very dark and unnerving past. In the past (and now) the forest of Aokigahara is known for being one of the most... popular suicide places in the world. Japanese officials usually report about 100 deaths per year. In 2010, 247 people attempted suicide and 54 completed their horrible act. These official statistics make it the world's second popular suicide spot after The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Most of the bodies are never found inside the forest, people just seem to get lost. It seems that Japanese officials are very
There are signs (in various languages) that encourage you to turn back and reconsider your decision that you can never undo.
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| I would only go here during the night to film a remake of The Blair Witch Project |
We also witnessed with our phones, my normal one and a smartphone that Takakuwa had, that there's was no reception inside the forest. So if you wander off from the path and somehow get lost, you're gonna have to survive without your phone 90% of the time.
What makes the forest so eerie is to its wildlife.. Or really, the lack of it. I saw or heard no birds or animals and the trees just stood there. The wind didn't even blow inside the forest. The place made me feel really uncomfortable but don't get me wrong. I think the forest itself was really beautiful. All the small caverns and little and small rocks, deformed trees reaching out with their branches, roots running all over the place, accompanied with moss.
There was one observation that I made. You know how souvenirs always cause you trouble and headaches when you visit a place? I'm not going to talk about the Japanese "omiyage" culture as it's complicated and such but Japanese are generous with them and they buy them, especially when they visit places that have that special delicacy/thing that's typical for the area. So when we made quick stop at a gas station/market place, it was full of possible souvenirs from the area, especially the lakes and Fuji-san. For me it looked like a place where you buy things if you forget something but then again it makes things lot easier for yourself when you don't need to trouble yourself so much...
In the end: have some pics from during the day!
Until next time! C:
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| We named these "skeleton trees" |
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