Fuji-san
On Monday Jen and I went on a bus tour to Mount Fuji.
The weather in Tokyo has been very cloudy/muggy of late, so we were doubtful whether we would even see anything.
The bus ride takes about two hours. Fortunately, the tour guide was a very entertaining Japanese fellow named Harry. He regaled us with lifestyle anecdotes and an ongoing history of Japanese realpolitik. For example, he described in very pragmatic terms the transition from Imperial rule to the Shogunate and back again. RE: the Boshun War during the Meiji Restoration: "Pro-Shogun forces use sword. Pro-Emperor side use gun. Outcome predictable." He also had a very Western view of Japanese military expansionism in the early 20th century.
You could see all the farmland (rice paddies, mostly) surrounding the small towns along our route. As we approached the national park, everything turned green. The area is heavily forested.
The bus went up to Mt. Fuji's 5th stage, the highest that you can drive. It's also the tree line, nothing much grows above that level up to the summit of the volcano.
The weather being what it is, we were told beforehand that if it was cloudy there would be no refunds. Fortunately, the weather broke and we had a great view up the side of the mountain, and a cool look downwards at the clouds below. The conical shape of the mountain was very evident.
We took some pictures and wandered around some stores and a temple. Just before the bus left, the clouds rolled back in and our view was obscured.
Talk about timing!
Lunch was a nice Japanese meal (miso soup, rice, vegetables, sausage-y things, etc.) at a hotel. Right next door is an amusement park with multiple large roller coasters. The line-ups for those, we were told, are an hour long even on weekdays.
As part of the tour package, we went down to a nearby lake for a boat ride and took a gondola car ride suspended ~150 metres in the air. However, the weather remained the same and the visibility was very poor. On the boat (a small catamaran ship, really) the fog rolled in so it seemed like we were inside a cloud.
The cable car was made in Switzerland - dual arms and a very smooth ride. I'm not good with heights. Jen asked if I would be okay. I gave my usual answer in such situations - I'd suck it up and take it like a man. In the event, the fog rolled in even worse. It was like being inside a big marshmallow. We didn't have any sense of how high we really were.
On the way down to the train station at Hakone, Harry talked about Japanese social mores and concerns. He works three days a week making around 4,000,000 yen annually. That's not enough for his family of four, so he also works as a teacher. (You could tell; he discussed things in a very engaging way.) He talked about how life-long employment for a company was a thing of the past, and how the retirement age had been raised to 65 so the government wouldn't have to pay out as much benefits. He talked about how though many Japanese wives are homemakers, a larger percentage of them are working part time to add to the family finances. He also talked about the low divorce rate, but also how many people live in loveless marriages.
I'd like to do some more research into these areas to verify his assertions.
At Hakone Station we got on board a Shinkansen - a bullet train. The ride back to Tokyo was fast. Really, really fast. The acceleration and deceleration was so smooth that there was absolutely no sense of movement.
We arrived at Tokyo Station and hopped a Maronouchi Line train back to Akasaka-Mitsuke. We had supper at a Western-style place Jen went to last year, the West Park Cafe. Nice roast chicken, kinda like Swiss Chalet.
The weather in Tokyo has been very cloudy/muggy of late, so we were doubtful whether we would even see anything.
The bus ride takes about two hours. Fortunately, the tour guide was a very entertaining Japanese fellow named Harry. He regaled us with lifestyle anecdotes and an ongoing history of Japanese realpolitik. For example, he described in very pragmatic terms the transition from Imperial rule to the Shogunate and back again. RE: the Boshun War during the Meiji Restoration: "Pro-Shogun forces use sword. Pro-Emperor side use gun. Outcome predictable." He also had a very Western view of Japanese military expansionism in the early 20th century.
You could see all the farmland (rice paddies, mostly) surrounding the small towns along our route. As we approached the national park, everything turned green. The area is heavily forested.
The bus went up to Mt. Fuji's 5th stage, the highest that you can drive. It's also the tree line, nothing much grows above that level up to the summit of the volcano.
The weather being what it is, we were told beforehand that if it was cloudy there would be no refunds. Fortunately, the weather broke and we had a great view up the side of the mountain, and a cool look downwards at the clouds below. The conical shape of the mountain was very evident.
We took some pictures and wandered around some stores and a temple. Just before the bus left, the clouds rolled back in and our view was obscured.
Talk about timing!
Lunch was a nice Japanese meal (miso soup, rice, vegetables, sausage-y things, etc.) at a hotel. Right next door is an amusement park with multiple large roller coasters. The line-ups for those, we were told, are an hour long even on weekdays.
As part of the tour package, we went down to a nearby lake for a boat ride and took a gondola car ride suspended ~150 metres in the air. However, the weather remained the same and the visibility was very poor. On the boat (a small catamaran ship, really) the fog rolled in so it seemed like we were inside a cloud.
The cable car was made in Switzerland - dual arms and a very smooth ride. I'm not good with heights. Jen asked if I would be okay. I gave my usual answer in such situations - I'd suck it up and take it like a man. In the event, the fog rolled in even worse. It was like being inside a big marshmallow. We didn't have any sense of how high we really were.
On the way down to the train station at Hakone, Harry talked about Japanese social mores and concerns. He works three days a week making around 4,000,000 yen annually. That's not enough for his family of four, so he also works as a teacher. (You could tell; he discussed things in a very engaging way.) He talked about how life-long employment for a company was a thing of the past, and how the retirement age had been raised to 65 so the government wouldn't have to pay out as much benefits. He talked about how though many Japanese wives are homemakers, a larger percentage of them are working part time to add to the family finances. He also talked about the low divorce rate, but also how many people live in loveless marriages.
I'd like to do some more research into these areas to verify his assertions.
At Hakone Station we got on board a Shinkansen - a bullet train. The ride back to Tokyo was fast. Really, really fast. The acceleration and deceleration was so smooth that there was absolutely no sense of movement.
We arrived at Tokyo Station and hopped a Maronouchi Line train back to Akasaka-Mitsuke. We had supper at a Western-style place Jen went to last year, the West Park Cafe. Nice roast chicken, kinda like Swiss Chalet.