fuji-san.

the last ten days have been a holiday week in japan, called obon. most people leave tokyo. for the most part i couldn't plan a big trip (super duper broke, yo), but maya and i decided a while ago to be adventerous and climb to the top of mt. fuji!

tuesday morning, our bus took off from shinjuku around 7am and we drove for the next 3.5 hours to mt. fuji. the mountain is devised into stations...from the 5th station is where many people begin to climb (all the buses drop people off there, and if you don't venture off to the top you can climb to various other stations for the day). our tour group was some 42 people. we began to climb around 11:30am until maybe 4pm that day.

because fuji is so elevated, the air gets really really thin. we brought oxygen and painkillers (although i used them, i was never is severe pain or too weak. unbelievable since i am in no shape whatsoever to go mountain climbing!) an essential item to bring, however, was a walking-stick. its probably going to be the best souvenir from japan that i get...its rad because at every station (there are 9 altogether) you get a stamp. using a metal rod, the characters of the name of the house at that particular station.

after 4 or so hours of climbing, our group arrived at the 8th station to take a rest before embarking on the second climb to the top. the station house had a gigantic bunk bed...42 people fit literally like sardines on this thing! i slept for maybe 2 hours and couldn't fall back asleep...we stayed in the house for 4 hours altogether.

again at 11pm our group reassembled to climb for the next 5 hours to the top. it was getting increasingly more difficult because it was pitch black (everyone wore their own headlamp), freezing cold, the altitude made breathing more difficult, and the mountain became more steep.

BUT WE MADE IT!!!!!!

it was an amazing experience, one of the most amazing experiences i would say of my life. it felt like a pilgrimage. you could see millions of stars from the mountain, the milky way galaxy and shooting stars. and then at the top, at around 4:30am the sun rose. brilliant.

its difficult to put into words my experience. it was amazing.