I am so sorry I have taken so long to update. I was super tired after climbing Mt. Fuji, and then got busy helping the English debate team, working on my TEFL course, and volunteering for a children’s English class at a community center in Higashi-Omiya.
Anyway, excuses aside, I climbed Mt. Fuji on the weekend of July 20-21st. I went with my friends David, Michelle, and Elly and her husband. We went with a group called Tokyo Snow club, which organizes events for gaijin to do together around the Tokyo area.
Before we caught the bus in Shinjuku, we all went to this restaurant in Shinjuku station called Slappy Cakes. We had the option to order pre-made pancakes or make our own combo and make the pancakes ourselves. Michelle was the only one who made her own pancakes. She used a peanut-flavored batter, which made her pancakes taste like peanut butter cookies.
Michelle’s pancake jack o’lantern.
She also got really creative with cooking her pancakes, and even got so ambitious as to try to build an pancake Eiffel Tower.
Attempting to build the Eiffel Tower
After brunch at Slappy Cakes, we went and headed over to meet the rest of the Tokyo Snow Club group, and catch our bus to the 5th station , on the Yamanishi-prefecture side of Mt. Fuji. We reached the 5th station at around 5 in the afternoon, so we had some time to kill. We bought our Fuji sticks, and went and paid our respects at the Shinto Shrine at the 5th station. I got a Fuji stick with the Japanese Navy flag on it, since I’m a Navy brat. Elly bought one with the regular Japanese flag, and David bought one that had a map of Mt. Fuji with the stations listed on it.
Shrine at the 5th station
While at the shrine, I noticed there was a machine to get an English omikuji or fortune, for only 100 yen. The slip of paper basically gave advice for different areas in life. Mine said “Travel: You should not go anywhere right now” and “Childbirth: If you have faith, you will get over it.”
Also, before climbing Mt. Fuji, I made mini-stick figure of Mom to go climbing up the mountain, since she was unable to go all those years ago when she used to live in Japan.
Me and “mom” at the 5th station before the climb.
Tokyo Snow club started the climb together from the 5th station to the 6th station at around 7 o’clock, and once we reached the 6th station, everyone split off into their own groups of friends so that we could all go at our own pace. The walk from the 5th to the 6th station took only about 20 minutes, and was the least arduous part of our journey.
David, dressed as pikachu, ready to embark from the 6th station.
We kept at a pretty good pace for most of the night. The thing about climbing Mt. Fuji, is that we were told there were nine major stations, however, there are many stops, and huts along the way to the top. It can take anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour to get the next hut, and it might be part of another station as a whole, so sometimes it would get really confusing to figure out which station we actually reached. There’s technically 3 different 8th stations. There’s the 8th station, the 8.5th station, and the original 8th station, which has the Mt. Fuji hotel.
It was cold, but as long as we kept moving, it wasn’t too bad. I actually had my jacket hanging open until we reached the 7th station. I also packed a pair of long johns, but I didn’t need to put those on until just before we reached the 8th station.
We would rest at every hut we got to. We tried to make sure we rested only for 15 minutes, or for 30 minutes, so that our bodies wouldn’t get too comfortable before we decided to hike into the night again. At every stop, we’d make sure to either go to the bathroom, take a breath from our oxygen canisters, drink water, and eat a snack.I would have to take hits from my oxygen canister every once in awhile, but I never went through the whole can, and managed not to get a full on case of altitude sickness. I ate so many clif bars, soy joys, and these protein and energy jelly packs that are sold only here in Japan.
When I was packing for my Fuji climb, I was worried that I was packing more weight than I could carry, but in the end, it turned out okay, because as I ate my snacks and drank my water, my back pack got progressively lighter.
Even though it was only the second weekend that the Mount Fuji paths were open, we were surprised that there weren’t more people on the mountain. We honestly expected the trails to be more crowded, especially since we were climbing the weekend right before they started implementing the 1,000 yen climbing fee.
For those of you who don’t know, Mt. Fuji became a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site recently, so many more climbers are expected this year because of that. Some of the local governments (depending on which side of the mountain you start your climb from) have started implementing a 1,000 yen fee to climb Mt. Fuji as a way to stem the flow of the crowds. Although I’ve read an update saying that the fee is now encouraged instead of mandatory, and that those who pay the fee get a commemorative pin.
They are also trying to discourage bullet climbing, which is basically what we did. Bullet climbing is when people begin their climb at sunset, and continue all through the night, without stopping, until you reach the top. Of course most people want to see the sunrise from the summit, but some people start their climb earlier in the day, rest in one of the huts for most of the night, and then wake up early and finish the climb just in time to see the dawn.
The line of hikers ahead of us.
Now, our goal was to keep at a steady pace so that we could reach the summit to watch the sunrise at 4:30 AM, but right before we reached the 8th station, Elly started to feel sick. We decided to take about an hour break, but Elly wasn’t starting to feel any better. Sitting and waiting to see if Elly would be ready to climb had me feeling anxious. It didn’t help that the wind was getting really bad, and there wasn’t a wall to keep out the cold. While we were waiting, I went to the bathroom and added more layers, and broke down and paid 300 yen for a cup of hot chocolate.
Eventually Elly and her husband decided to spend the rest of the night at the hut, and see us back at the 5th station the next day. After bidding Elly good bye, Michelle, David and I began our climb once again.
This was the part of the climb where not knowing which station we were actually at was getting really discouraging. We kept thinking we finally reached the 8th or 9th station, only to find out we hadn’t. Yet, we trudged on, because as long as we kept climbing, the sooner we would make it to the summit.
We didn’t reach the summit by the time sunrise started, but we were near the 9th station, which was close enough. There were a few clouds in front of the sunrise, but some red light still shone through, and the view was still very beautiful.
Dawn breaking on Mt. Fuji
The red sun breaking through the clouds. This was our sunrise.
Also, having seen all of the other stations and huts along the way to the top of Mt. Fuji, we expected the 9th station to be decent sized, with hot drinks, and plenty of accommodation for those of us who desperately needed a bathroom break. As it turned out, the hut was closed up, and looked like it was just filled up with rocks, and then covered with more dirt and rocks. It was the area and the roof of the 9th station that David, Michelle and I, and many other climbers decided to sit and watch the sunrise.
The roof of the 9th station.
Me, mom, and David in the background, watching the sunrise.
Now, the climb to the summit from the 9th station is not supposed to take a long time. It shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes, but this was the part of the climb that was very crowded. It was like waiting in line, while balancing on rocks, and steep slopes at the same time. There were also people who were trying to go down on the up path. Let me just say, I was secretly hoping there was a special circle of hell reserved just for those who decided to try to climb down the up path on Mt. Fuji. It’s seriously not cool, and beyond frustrating for all of those who spent 10 plus hours climbing up the mountain, and are still waiting to reach the top.
Anyway, we ended up reaching the actual summit of Mt. Fuji at around 6:10 AM. We all splurged on a hot bowl of ramen at the top.
Mom enjoyed the ramen too.
Before we had climbed to the top, David and I each bought cans of beer at a conbini, because we knew it would be better to pay 270 yen for beer in Shinjuku, instead of splurging on the same-sized can for 600 yen at the summit. We posed with our cans for a photo, but didn’t actually drink them at the top because we were too tired, and didn’t want to climb down the mountain tired and buzzed at the same time.
Celebratory beer, for decorative purposes only.
After eating our ramen Michelle and I bought special Mt. Fuji postcards to mail home, and then made the 20 minute walk around the crater to the Mt. Fuji post office!
Post Office at the summit of Mt. Fuji. It’s halfway between two different summit stations along the crater.
By the time we mailed our post cards, it was getting close to 8 AM, so we decided to take some last minute photos of the crater, and of the view from the summit.
Crater of Mt. Fuji
Just a friendly reminder that Mt. Fuji is actually a volcano.
Walking along the edge of Mt. Fuji
Before making our way down, David and I really had to use the bathroom. Now most of the the toilets along the top to Mt. Fuji have a “suggested donation” of 200 yen. Yet if you don’t actually have the change, they don’t actually stop you from using the bathrooms if you actually need to go. Except for the one at the top of Mt. Fuji. We had to pay 300 yen to use it, and it was one of the most disgusting bathrooms the whole trip. The water in my toilet was brown, and the whole building just reeked. Michelle was smart, and waited until we returned to the 8th station and used the much cleaner bathroom down there.
Beginning to descend down.
Even though we were very high up, it started getting hot very fast on our way down Mt. Fuji. I had to break out my sunglasses, and take off my jacket and long johns before we left the 8th station. We took time to make sure we covered all of our exposed skin with sun screen, since the air is much thinner and sunburns can get much worse at higher altitudes. I was thinking of taking off my long-sleeved shirt, and just wear my t-shirt the rest of the way down, but then I realized that if I did that, I would just be exposing more skin to the sun, so I kept it on, even though my sweating arms were starting to get unbearable.
After the 8th station, there were no real stops on the down path, so I could not stop and buy more water or use the toilet before we reached the 6th station. David also ran out of food about an hour before we reached the bottom, which was pretty bad, because he’s diabetic and needed to get his blood sugar back up. Luckily, both Michelle and I had extra food. I gave David an extra clif bar I had, and Michelle let me take a few swigs from her water bottle.
We also took some time to enjoy some hand made sweets that one of Michelle’s student had made for her, before continuing our descent.
Michelle and I enjoying her student’s handmade omiyage.
Michelle, David and I made it back to the 5th station at around 11:15, 45 minutes before our group’s bus was supposed to depart the 5th station back to Shinjuku. We didn’t leave anyone behind though. We met Elly and her husband back on the bus, and everyone was passed out before the bus even departed the parking lot.
The bus was supposed to reach Shinjuku around 3pm, but we somehow made it there by 2:20. The whole time, we’ve had late starts, and yet we’d manage to reach our destination earlier than expected.
My feet were so sore for two days afterward, and my calves hurt even longer. I had a difficult time going down the stairs at work and at my apartment building for the rest of the week.
I had to report for health checks at work the very next day after I got home from climbing Mt. Fuji, and then later that afternoon, the Inagakuen foreign language department had a farewell pizza party lunch for Olga and Michelle. Besides doing those two things, I pretty much just slept at my desk at work, or at least tried to read. Honestly, if I didn’t have health checks, or feel the need to come and say good bye to Olga and Michelle, I would’ve just taken the day off of work.
I definitely feel accomplished having climbed Mt. Fuji. I was on the top of Japan! The view was beautiful, and I can cross off one of the biggest things of my “Japan Bucket list.” Although, I can safely say that climbing Mt. Fuji was the most fun I never want to have again. 😉 Overall, it was a great start to my summer break.
First, Mt. Fuji, and soon, I go to Australia! I can’t wait for my next adventure!
Jet Set Victoria 