富士山 (mt. fuji)

a week or two ago my host parents were kind enough to take the whole family on a road trip to see mt. fuji. on the 3 hour drive there we stopped at the 'fuji safari park'. man, it was evil. one of those drive-through safari experiences. there were all kinds of animals, from giraffes to lions, etc., and they were all so dejected and skinny looking. let's just say that every car that drives through there is guaranteed a look at every animal. i felt like a complete sellout rolling through there and taking pictures.

the hotel we reserved was an experience: it was all traditional tatami and kneeling table style, and the beds were futons we pulled out of the closet. in order to set them up we had to clear table/chairs out of the room.
when we arrived there on saturday night it was rainy and incredibly foggy. we had no idea where fuji would be, and could hardly find the hotel entrance.


the next morning we awoke to perfectly clear skies and fuji sitting in all his/her majesty directly across from our hotel window (see photo). we leisurely spent the morning going for a walk, playing ping pong, etc. I had my first experience of a japanese traditional public (naked) bath, so it was weird seeing my host father (henceforth 'otosan' - 'father' in japanese), and other guests we had seen at breakfast, in a whole new light. i talked with otosan about how it's simply all in how people view the subject (be it nudity or fashion, etc.) - if everyone is used to it, then noone's going to gawk or anything. so, for this reason, i didn't feel shy at all about being naked around all these people; i did feel a little self-conscious, however, that i knew next to nothing of bathhouse etiquette. it was great just sitting in the skin-pinking hot water, letting the cold towel soak on my forehead, and gazing out the steamy window at snow-capped mt. fuji. it was while soaking in the bath i fully understood the alleged grace and serenity of this place.
after this we took a quick walk along the lakeshore at the base of the mountain (to the right is my favourite photo so far), but it was rather chilly so the kids wanted to stay inside and shop, which they did. so otosan and i took off and found some other cool stuff (namely the "forest park of literature"). the koyo (autumn colours) were absolutely fantastic (see below for evidence of much frolicking in the leaves) - really made me feel like i was back home at the cottage; then i looked in the distance and saw fuji, noticed all the signs were japanese, and thus woke from my brief reverie. when we got back to the car we were chastised for taking too long.
onward, up the mountain we went. you can only drive halfway up, and after that you have
to hike. the general norm seems to be that going to the gift shop equates to having climbed the mountain. you hear about how peaceful and enriching fujisan is, but this venture was unfortunately made anything but peaceful: again, the kids were cold, so my host mum (henceforth 'okasan' - 'mother' in japanese) got stuck with watching them while otosan and i ran as far up the snowy, icy mountain trail as we could in the half hour we were allowed (thus the rushed, somewhat anticlimax of the weekend). it was a little cold, but nothing like a good old fashioned lake vernon winter. to maximize our time we took a sketchy 'shortcut' to bypass the trail's switchbacks. i managed to scramble up to the point where the trees stop growing, and from there i marvelled briefly at where i was: the snow was being swept off the mountaintop by the strong wind; the sun was baking down, causing the blanketed ground to glisten, and making my left cheek tingle with warmth while my right tingled with chill; my camera cried out to me, "finish the whole roll!". it was glorious. despite all the snow, however, not a snowball was thrown. after returning back down an unintentionally modified version of our 'shortcut' we were again lightly berated for taking too long, and then promptly headed back toward home (watching charlie and the chocolate factory on the car's dvd player. in japanese. hilarious to see the mouthed words match the subtitles, but hearing something completely different). i learned later that okasan was quite angry at the kids for being cold, as she bought them warm jackets especially for this trip, and they forgot to bring them. it did seem a little out of character for my host mum to want to shop so badly.

i was rather surprised how impressed i was with fujisan (as they call it here). i can fully understand why the japanese have so much reverence, and find a great deal of inspiration in this mountain. its simple shape makes it seem so peaceful (which served to highlight the fact that i wasn't at the time - both because of the lack of time and because of my recent slip into a very scattered, breakneck-speed mindstate. so many things happening in so short a time are great fun, and work wonders for self development, but unfortunately this is at the sacrifice of practicing a still mind), as you drive away, fuji can be seen for hours. such a prominent feature, i imagine, to be like witnessing uluru (ayer's rock) in australia - a giant monolithic landform
amidst relatively flat terrain (well, in japan it's great big hills surrounding fuji, but they seem like bumps in comparison. fuji was the only feature with snow on top).
a memorable experience, to be sure. kat, hopefully i can drag you up there in the february cold for a second round.