Climbing Mt. Fuji

After our first full day of sightseeing in Tokyo we had a satisfying dinner at a Thai restaurant. Jeff is vegetarian, and unfortunately we had problems communicating this in Japanese restaurants so far on our trip, so we went to a Thai restaurant where I could order vegetarian food in Thai for him. With our bellies full, we went to the bus station next to Shinjuku Station and got onto a bus headed to Mt Fuji's fifth station.

There are a total of nine stations on the trails leading up to the summit of Mt Fuji. Most hikers take a bus to the fifth station and start their hikes there. Yes, it's technically cheating but our time was limited! We opted to climb Fuji overnight for the sunrise, and we also opted to not stop overnight at a resthouse.

The bus ride took approximately 2.5 hours and we arrived at the fifth station around 9.30pm. The bus was only about half full, with mostly foreigners on board, including a group of Australian college kids. Mt Fuji's trails are only open to climbers in July and August. As we were climbing at the beginning of the season, only one store was open at the fifth station. Fortunately, that store had lockers. We rented one, placed our dry clothes inside, and strolled around a bit to start getting used to the altitude.

Most of the photos in the entry are from the descent, as it was too dark to take pictures at night.

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