Mt. Fuji

We were fortunate to have two experience Japanese guides take us up Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan (and a volcano to boot). The way to climb Fuji is at night, making it pretty brutal. Instead of sleeping for 8 hours, you hike for 9. The key is to start the 5-6 hour ascent at 10 pm so you can make it to the top before sunrise. Then you make the 3 hour decent. 

Our remarkable guides

I was continually impressed with our guides' climbing ability. Taka would smoke a cigarette every time we took a rest break, and was still forging ahead of us. Getting to the top about 2000 people were suddenly trapped in a queue to make it to the caldera summit. About 50 meters from the absolute summit we stepped off the trail to view the sunrise. 

hinode

The clouds were fortunate enough to break for us just in time to view hinode (sunrise). Viewing sunrise from atop a mountain (or anywhere) is a big deal for the Japanese. Japan is of course the 'land of the rising sun', and Nippon or Nihon (how japan refers to Japan) literally means 'the sun's origin'. This most likely comes from correspondance with early chinese dynasties in reference to Japan's eastern position relative to China. 

The decent reinforced my belief that Japan is one big video game. Our japanese guides named the sections of the decent train 'Run Course' and 'Jungle Course'.

Jungle Course

Run Course

Run course was basically a straight path through thick black ash sand. Like the rest of the terrain of the volcano, it seemed alien, to say the least.