Fuji- I did that.

Fuji Fuji Foo-ji. San.

I did climb Fuji-san a few weeks ago. It was sort of a "last friend adventure" type thing. We started climbing at 9:30. Spirits were high. People were happy. The stars were beautiful, and so clear. We could see the lights of Tokyo from far away.

It got colder and colder as we ascended, though. The oxygen, too, was thinning out. Even after a couple of steps, we were breathing heavy. The higher up we got, the more the girls were having trouble. Tina was getting dizzy easily, Natalie wasn't doing too well either. Luckily we brought some oxygen, which was very helpful.

I was about 50 meters from the top when the sun started rising. Seth and Tina were about a ridge-back down, and Natalie and I were so close to the top. Natalie, who had been struggling beforehand, and always complains about how bad a hiker she is, was actually in the front! At about 50 meters away, I couldn't keep up the pace, and I sat down. Natalie joined me for about 1 minute, then "I have to pee."

"Ok, I'll meet you at the toilet."

I saw the sun rise from near the top of Fuji. It was beautiful. I've never seen it rise so clearly. The red tip of the sun peaked over the horizon, and it climbed at a very steady rate. "Bonsai, bonsai, bonsai!" I heard.

At the top, there were a few "restaurants" (a nice term I use for the refugee food tents that they actually are). I'll never forget Natalie and Tina sitting next to the toilets, me going up to them and saying, let's go somewhere warm and get food. Natalie looked up at me, wide-eyed and with blue lips, and she stammered questioningly "warm?" I held her hands and walked her and the group to the food area. In actuality, it wasn't warm, it just wasn't as cold as outside.

We all struggled (except the chipper Seth), to get some food down.

On the way down, it was much easier. People were getting more lucid, and more able to walk and talk. Natalie burst into tears at how beautiful the site was on the way down.

All in all, it took us about 7-8 hours up (mostly due to the huge lines of people, Fuji was crowded, man!), and about 4-5 down.

When we got down, we took the bus and then the train back into Tokyo. We really didn't have much time, so we stayed around Tokyo eki. Got some food, relaxed, then boarded our Shinkansen (bullet train) home.

We went to Disney Sea the day before, which was really awesome. I highly recommend it, it was like stepping into another world. I don't even like roller-coasters, and I highly suggest it.

I'm a bit tired and lazy, so all you get is this uninspired writing. Deal with it!

This weekend I'm headed to Tokyo. With all of the old people that just left, the new people coming in, and my recent break-up (yes, I hid it from you, I had a girlfriend for a little while), I need a break, gotta get out of this crazy city! So, I'm off to Tokyo tonight. I'll night bus down and shinkansen back. It'll be good to get out, forget for a bit, and come back refreshed and revitalized!

So, that's about it for now. Told you, smaller pieces more frequently. I'm trying to sate your hunger.

RaNdOm JaPaN:

Did you know they sell square watermelons? A friend alerted me to this fact. Yes, square watermelons. I really want to eat one now. I know they taste the same as regular watermelons, but there is something so satisfying about how they look, how we could probably maximize the amount of watermelon eaten, from each watermelon.