Mount Fuji
Since I arrived in Japan, one of my goals has been to climb Mount Fuji. I did a lot of research on it, and picked the weekend of June 23-4 as when I would ascend the beast. The official climbing season starts on July 1, and given the Japanese way of doing things, I wanted to avoid the massive crowds which would gather at Fuji once the season officially opened.
Early in the week prior to my climb, I received an email from a friend of mine who was also - coincidentally - climbing Fuji the same weekend. He said that he'd heard that Fuji was under snow and the authorities were not letting anyone climb the mountain past the half-way point. Worried, but not convinced, I had my Japanese friends call the local authorities to get the real deal. They get back to me that the local authorities know nothing of this, and so I continue to plan the details of my trip. During such detail planning, the day before I was to go, I called (rather, I had a Japanese friend call) a hut on the mountain to get some more details about staying there for a few hours to get some food during our ascent. That's when the original news was verified - climbing Fuji was impossible due to a meter of snow on the mountain. No one is allowed to climb until July 10th. Real bummer, as I fly back on the 3rd.
Well, instead I plan to go to an area near Fuji so I can enjoy its visual splendor and sit in some onsen during my final weekend in Japan. Make reservations, and go.
I go with two people - one who is a sunny person and one who is most certainly not. To the uninitiated, that would come across as describing their demeanor. But that's not how the Japanese view it. A sunny person is someone who "creates" sunny weather when they go on vacation. Similarly, a rainy person brings down any good time. When I was first asked - back in October - if I was a sunny person, I said, "Sure I'm a happy guy, generally in a good mood." That comment was met with very confused looks. I have since learned that yes, I am a sunny person in the eyes of the Japanese.
So anyway, I went to Fuji with one sunny and one rainy person. Having finished work the night before, and having received a job offer in the States two nights before, I was very relaxed, and my sunny nature shined through. Even though this is officially the rainy season in Japan, we had some gorgeous sunny weather for the 4-hour drive northward to Fuji.
Yet this is when the rainy person took charge. The closer we got to Fuji, the cloudier it became. It was so bad that when we actually arrived at some of the classic spots for viewing the iconic mountain, all we saw were clouds. Not even a shadow of a mountain. Just fog and clouds.
And so it stayed for the entire weekend. Save a few hours when it actually did rain, it was foggy and cloudy the entire time, rendering the mountain completely unviewable. My friend Yumiko emailed me that "Fuji-san is a very handsome man, so he doesn't like to show his face...." She also pointed out it's incentive for me to return. She's right.
So while I had hoped to shower you all with gorgeous images of this outstanding geological splendor, all I have is a disappointing, and ultimately unsatisfying, story. So here it is, the magnificence of Mount Fuji.
Early in the week prior to my climb, I received an email from a friend of mine who was also - coincidentally - climbing Fuji the same weekend. He said that he'd heard that Fuji was under snow and the authorities were not letting anyone climb the mountain past the half-way point. Worried, but not convinced, I had my Japanese friends call the local authorities to get the real deal. They get back to me that the local authorities know nothing of this, and so I continue to plan the details of my trip. During such detail planning, the day before I was to go, I called (rather, I had a Japanese friend call) a hut on the mountain to get some more details about staying there for a few hours to get some food during our ascent. That's when the original news was verified - climbing Fuji was impossible due to a meter of snow on the mountain. No one is allowed to climb until July 10th. Real bummer, as I fly back on the 3rd.
Well, instead I plan to go to an area near Fuji so I can enjoy its visual splendor and sit in some onsen during my final weekend in Japan. Make reservations, and go.
I go with two people - one who is a sunny person and one who is most certainly not. To the uninitiated, that would come across as describing their demeanor. But that's not how the Japanese view it. A sunny person is someone who "creates" sunny weather when they go on vacation. Similarly, a rainy person brings down any good time. When I was first asked - back in October - if I was a sunny person, I said, "Sure I'm a happy guy, generally in a good mood." That comment was met with very confused looks. I have since learned that yes, I am a sunny person in the eyes of the Japanese.
So anyway, I went to Fuji with one sunny and one rainy person. Having finished work the night before, and having received a job offer in the States two nights before, I was very relaxed, and my sunny nature shined through. Even though this is officially the rainy season in Japan, we had some gorgeous sunny weather for the 4-hour drive northward to Fuji.
Yet this is when the rainy person took charge. The closer we got to Fuji, the cloudier it became. It was so bad that when we actually arrived at some of the classic spots for viewing the iconic mountain, all we saw were clouds. Not even a shadow of a mountain. Just fog and clouds.
And so it stayed for the entire weekend. Save a few hours when it actually did rain, it was foggy and cloudy the entire time, rendering the mountain completely unviewable. My friend Yumiko emailed me that "Fuji-san is a very handsome man, so he doesn't like to show his face...." She also pointed out it's incentive for me to return. She's right.
So while I had hoped to shower you all with gorgeous images of this outstanding geological splendor, all I have is a disappointing, and ultimately unsatisfying, story. So here it is, the magnificence of Mount Fuji.
posted by David at 7:18 AM
3 Comments:
hahaha! fog, water, and greenery; that's like a quintessential san francisco day, minus the bridges and people.
oh yeah, and if it's any consolation, my friend Sarah climbed all the way to the top of Fuji, with Kerry, Boyd, etc., through slippery, grainy, booty-cold weather.......only to discover it was foggy and unpicturesque at the top. now that's anticlimactic.
...happy 4th!!!!! i hope it's as sunny for you as it is for me!
Oooooooooh, aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.
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