Japan is Awesome!!
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2008
1
16
116
Trip End
Aug 01, 2009
Mt. Fuji,
Japan
Friday, September 26, 2008
We didn't think we'd be able to afford to go to a sumo match. We managed to get nose bleed seats and sucked up the price of $36.00 per person in order to experience the Japanese national sport. The matches go on most of the day with the lower ranking wrestlers earlier on, and the professionals between 4 and 6pm daily, for 14 days of competition. We just happened to be in Tokyo during a tournament. We were surprised to be walking with some of the wrestlers as soon as we got off of the train next to the stadium. They were dressed in robes (possibly called a Yukata-have to check), and wore sandles. It is easy to tell a sumo wrestler. In a society that is quite small, these guys stand out vertically and horizantally. Their hair is also indicitave of their fighting status. A fighting sumo wrestler always has long hair.The judges are also large, being former wrestlers, but they have cut their hair
Bento box at Sumo match
.We have had a look around some of the places in Tokyo, some of the 'must go' places. Simon and Jim went to Harijuku station yesterday to see all the young Japanese people dressed up in Goth and Emo style. They stand for minutes at at time in a pose, while spectators circulate to see their dressup clothes. Some of them were cutesy barbie types.
Our big accomplishment was to climb Mt. Fuji. We decided to get a taxi to the 5th station so that we'd have enough time to make the climb, arriving prior to 8am. The 40 minute ride part way up the volcano cost a whopping 130,000yen ($130.00). We noticed the wind when we got out of the taxi, and mused how it wasn't like this 18 years ago when Jim and I climbed and were engaged at the summit. After a quick bathroom break at the still closed souvenir shop, we were hiking downhill wondering when the climb would begin. Begin it did and in earnest. The footing was composed of small and medium rocks over a solid base which meant we slipped backward with each step. Our heart rates rose immediately as we fought to keep the ground that we had covered. This went on until the sixth station where there was a change in footing to large misshapen lava flows. There were chains drilled into the lava here to help us find the route and aid in climbing. We had to carefully pick our foot hold among the worn lava. During the climbing season in July and August 2,500 people climb the volcano daily. This was difficult but exciting to realize that this was lava that once flowed. The last time Mt.Fuji erupted was 1707, and it is considered active.
As we climbed and took regular breaks, we began to notice that we were able to travel shorter and shorter distances before we became fatigued
bento meal
. Both kids began to complain of headaches, and I wondered if the altitude was beginning to affect them. As other climbers came down we'd ask them how long it would take us to get to the top. Each person would reply according to their own fitness and experience, so we got a wide variety of answers from "3 hours" to "You won't be able to make it to the top and back in one day". We weren't deterred and kept plugging along. We had many more stops than planned due to taking off and putting on clothes, having drinks, bathroom breaks, and emptying shoes of pebbles. We did progress even though our muscles were screaming. We had reached the 8.5 station and we had noticed a marked drop in temperature, probably because we had stopped for a snack, and stopped generating heat. We had all of our extra clothes on, and with a temperature of 12 degrees C, and the same strong wind that had bothered us down at the 5th station, we got cold quickly. After having rested for a few minutes, we set out with new energy, feeling like we'd just started the climb. It only took 10 strides to feel the fatigue again and for our muscles to resume their scream. The thin air was definately playing with our ability to get enough oxygen to our muscles. Becca had started to lag, and we were climbing arm in arm for awhile, but she began to have difficulty breathing. We sat her down, reassured her, annd knew that our climb was over. We could see the Torii gate which was just below the summit, and knew that we were close. Jim and Simon wanted to continue, and so we divided up the supplies and went our seperate ways, me and Becca heading down, and Jim with Simon going up.Becca and I found the descending route easily. I say easily because I don't even remember making the choice between going down the way we came up and going down the descending route. Again because of the volume of people that climb during the summer, the official climbing season, a descending route would be necessary to avoid crowds. We reached a point where the descending route to the Fuji-yoshida 5th station was closed for the season. NOW WHAT?? We had a choice of going uphill, or going down a slightly different path. We consulted a Japanese fellow who could read the signs, and followed him. We happily went downhill for quite awile when we noticed the japanese fellow waving to us and yelling, "GO BACK, GO BACK
Traditional meal
! THIS IS THE WRONG WAY" I couldn't believe we'd gone down all this way and now had to climb again. It didn't take us very long to get back to the closed path, but our troubles didn't stop there. We didn't know which way to go, as our preffered way was closed, and the other way was uphill. I really didn't want to go uphill. Along came two more Japanese fellows who had a discussion with the first guy. Between looking over the edge, reading signs, and discussion it was decided that we all needed to go uphill. I panicked! If three japanese people who could read the signs had difficulty with their route choice, how were Jim and Simon going to find their way. I began forming an arrow out of lava, which at first the guys laughed at. When I told them that my husband and son were still up on the mountain, one of them helped for a short while. I wasn't sure that they woulld see the arrow so began to make it bigger. Meanwhile, the three Japanese fellows left on the new uphill path. After the arrow was complete I still worried that they would miss it, so we made a 'J' also out of lava. After finding some white coloured lava to enhance the 'J' I was as satisfied as I could be, and a new worry of losing my Japanese guides took over. We had to catch up with them. We ran to catch up. The descending path was a switchback with a fairly steep grade and the wind was continuing to concern us. My concerns were many
Steep???!!!
. Getting ourselves down safely was the primary problem, and having already taken the wrong path made me wonder how many other times we may be faced with similar choices. We were keen to keep up to the two guys in case we had other difficulty. Luckily this was easy as they had a leisurely pace and stopped to look over the edge, wrestle or empty shoes. We actually went off ahead of them for a lot of the time. We'd have to slow up and let them pass when we needed to pee. As the wind whipped itself into a fury, I worried about Jim and Simon. We were in cloud, and so a lack of visibility played with my mind and imagination. Some slopes were so steep that there were warnings of the possibility of falling rock. With the strong wind the warnings were realised when small rocks came rolling down in front of us. I worried for our own safety getting down, but also for the boys who were higher and more prone to the developement of bad weather. I later realized that my anxiety was partially due to the fact that I was wearing my sunglasses. They made everything look darker, thus giving the illusion of dusk at 2pm in the afternoon. I kept them on to help keep the dust out of my eyes, for the wind was absolutely furious at times, whipping itself into such a frenzy that it actually blew me off of my feet. Becca and I walked hand in hand to help each other during such windy blasts, and the frequent slips on the steep ground. We saved each other from falls about 10 times each! I could not enjoy the fact that we were going down and soon would be back to the 5th station. Right up until the last 15 minutes I was unsure of the route, lending to my anxiety. I reasoned that if Jim and Simon came down the ascending route, a much shorter route, they may even have beaten us back, and looked forward to them meeting us as we headed back to the souvenir shops
Mt. Fuji
. I hid my disappointment as we looked around for their smiling faces and found none. We attended to the more immediate problem of thirst, and bathroom, and then we waited. After a range of emotions, trying to stay distracted, shopping (which I just wasn't interested in) and 1.25 hours we had a final bathroom break before I was going to go and ask for help. Our taxi was due in 15 minutes (5pm)and I wasn't sure what I would do but knew I would not leave Jim and Simon on the mountain. I went into the bathroom stall, and visualized them walking up the road to the souvenir shop over and over again. With a sigh, Becca and I went to the window for one last peek before talking to someone about Jim and Simon. I was relieved to see them walking up the road just as I had visualised!! We ran outside and hugged them with tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces. For the next two hours the stories flowed out of us like diarrhea, happy to be reunited and everyone safe and sound.
As it turns out Simon and Jim made the same mistake that we did, only they kept going all the way down to the wrong 5th station and had to go back up to the 8th station. They completely missed our lava arrow due to the wind and cloud. If they wouldn't have made that mistake, they would have reached the souvenir shop at the same time as us.
Sandy
Comments
Mt. Fuji
The Mt.Fuli summit sounds quite terrifying! I understand the old saying about climbing it twice now....;) Was it that scary last time you climbed it?