Climbing Mt Fuji

I decided to spend a couple of days in Mt Fuji but hadn't really decided whether I was going to climb it or not. I took the bus to the 5th station (at 2300m) and then decided that I did want to try an climb Fuji (the summit is 3776m!) I bought myself a walking stick and off I went!

The first part was pretty easy going - there was even a group of school kids walking it (they were under 10 at least!) - and it wasn't long before I got to the 6th station (2390m). After this, the route became a little more tiring with the path zig-zagging up the hill and sometimes making the tired walker climb up over rocks which wasn't fun for the knees! I got to the 7th station (2700m) and still felt pretty good. At the various huts en route, they will brand your stick so that you can track your route so I indulged in this!

By the time that I got to the 8th station (3020m), the clouds had come in and you couldn't see below or above you - just the path that you were walking on! It was pretty surreal especially as there was snow on the ground in places!

I got to the 'real' 8th station (3250m) and it was starting to get pretty cold plus I was feeling the effects of the altitude a bit. I had a rest (and a hot chocolate!) and carried on. By the time that I got to the 8.5 station (3450m), I didn't feel good enough to carry on. I was given some 'air' in a can from some friendly Japanese people and began to make the journey down - taking 2 hours over scree which really wasn't fun.

I got back to the 5th station after walking for 6 hours - my muscles were aching but I was glad that I'd made the trip up there. I won't be doing it again!!!!

Obuse, Nagano & Nagoya

I took a day trip to the nearby town of Obuse - which is famous for the Ganshoin temple which has a massive painting of a phoenix on the ceiling. If you look at it (mainly by lying on the floor), the eyes are always looking at you! It was pretty cool.

I wandered around the town and saw their vineyards - some of the fancy grapes where being held in little bags! I ended up in a little chocolate shop and had a chocolate filled eclair (my idea of heaven!!)

The next day, I headed to Nagano and went to the Zennko-ji Temple. It was in a massive complex and I managed to watch a monk perform a ceremony that involved lots of drum banging. Then I went into the temple and walked along the underground passage - its completely in the dark and if you can find the 'key' you are guaranteed entry into paradise.

It was very bizarre as you could not see anything for about 10 minutes. I did find the key though - but everyone did!!!

That afternoon, I headed to Nagoya. I visited the castle (which has also been completely rebuilt) and it had an exhibition inside about the various Shoguns that lived there.

I wandered around the town and came across a a modern art sculpture - a giant swirl of metal. Not really sure what it was for though!

The Nippon Alps, Onsens & Monkeys

I was finally able to leave Niigata the day after the earthquake and made my way to Matsumoto in the Nippon Alps. On my first day there, I joined the hundreds of Japanese and rode a bike around town. I explored Matsumoto Castle - which is one of the best preserved castles in Japan . I went to the Museum that documented the history of the town and the development of the city around the castle but it was all in Japanese so I didn't understand much. They also had an exhibition of Vienna bu that too was in Japanese! I then rode down 'frog street' - it has lots of statues of frogs there (for some unknown reason!)

The next day I took a bus to Kamikochi, up in the alps (at an altitude of 1500m) to do some hiking. I first walked to the Kappabishi bridge and then carried on the hike to Myojinike Pond, crossing lots of small waterfalls with glorious views of the mountains. I made my way back past the bridge and went to see Tashiro-ike & Taosho-ike Ponds which were beautiful. By the end of this I was pretty tired and as I made my way back to the bus, a guy was sitting playing his violin - very strange!

The day after, I made my way to Yudanaka for a trip to an onsen. I met an American couple - Chris & Anne - at the train station and we made our way to the onsen together. For those who have never experienced an onsen, let me tell you, it really is an event that you will never forget! Firstly, you have to strip off and go to a shower area where you wash your body and hair and then you get into the bath which is filled with pretty hot water from an underground spring. These onsens are not private so you are butt naked in front of a crowd of people (usually same sex!) Here they had an outdoor onsen that the monkeys occasionally visit and this time, they were here too but this onsen was mixed sex!

We then made our way to the nearby Monkey Park where there are about 200 monkeys, some who like to go in the onsen! We spent ages there watching them - they are so human like it was amazing! The best part was watching the baby monkeys in the 'play area'.

Niigata - Typhoons and Eathquakes!

I rejoined my host family and we headed up to Niigata - they are going there for a family event and had invited me along. I spent a couple of days with them in their family home (there were about 25 of us in the end!) before having a tour of the area. We went to Aizu Tsuruga-jo castle and had a walk in the Bandai region past many lakes. It was a shame that it was raining! We also stopped off at a glass factory that made some pretty impressive glass figures.

On the day of their family ceremony, I went into Niigata alone and got a little wet in the post-typhoon rains! I did manage to explore the Hakusan Shrine and gardens where they had a little market on as well as cross the Bandaibashi Bridge. That night was my last night with my host family and we got a little silly as we all tried to squeeze into the lounge to sleep!

The next day I was due to leave Niigata to go to the Nippon Alps but managed to get caught up in the earthquake that hit in the sea 30km west of Niigata. I was on the train when it began to rock but it wasn't until later that I realised that it was an earthquake! The end result was that I had to sit in the train station for 8 hours as all the trains had been stopped and felt the after shock waves rock the train station. I stayed the night in Niigata and managed to leave the next day! Its not something that I want to go through again!

The A Bomb Cities - Hiroshima & Nagasaki

My next destination was Hiroshima and my first stop was to go to the Peace Memorial Museum in the Peace Park. The place was a pretty heart-wrenching experience and had lots of testimonies about people searching for loved ones and exhibits of clothing and personal effects. Its really hard to describe the feelings that I experienced while I was in there - I was certainly lost for words.

The next day I went around the Peace Park and the various memorials that they have there - including the Cenotaph where they hold the annual remembrance and the A Bomb Dome - one of the few buildings that remained standing after the bomb exploded.

I went and visited Hiroshima-jo - the castle which was destroyed by the bomb and has been completely re-built and now included an exhibition inside about city. I then went to the art museum - there was only one piece there that I really wanted to see and it was Dali's Dreams of Venus - the melting clocks. There was also a Japanese garden next to it (Shukkei-en) which I wandered around. It was very peaceful there despite being in a major city!

Back at the hostel, a group of us (Robbie, Amy, Craig, Evelyn and Andrew) were interviewed for a Japanese news channel about what we thought of the Peace Museum and how the message could be put across about the effects of atomic bombs. It was for a series of reports leading up to the anniversary next month. It was a pretty difficult topic to talk about but we all managed to say a few words. It was only going to be shown in the Hiroshima area so none of us would get to see it! We decided to go out after that and ended up in Bob's nightclub!

The next day, Andrew, Neil and I went over to Miyajima - one of the islands in the Inland Sea. As we arrived, we saw the O-Torii gate (the floating shrine) - as the tide was in the shrine looked like it floated on water. We also went around the Itsukushima Shrine that is built out onto the water. They also have the largest wooden rice spoon there - some guy decided that he was going to carve it (its about 5m long!)

I then headed to Fukuoka and spent the day with the sister of my host 'mum' from Nara - Shizuko. She and her daughter Riisa and I went to the main park - Ohori-Koen before going to the Fukuoka Tower and getting a birds-eye view of the city. In the afternoon, we headed over to see the shrine of Dazai Fu.

The next day I went down to Nagasaki. Their A Bomb Museum was a lot smaller than the one in Hiroshima but it had a lot more information on the development of atomic weapons, the Cold War and about modern terrorism. I went into their Memorial Hall which is a large room, with 12 pillars of light and a tall pillar with the names of everyone that has died either from the bomb or from the effects of the radiation that it caused. I then walked through the Hypocentre Park and the Peace Park and came to their Statue of Peace.

The next day, I explored the rest of Nagasaki and went to the Memorial of the 26 Martyrs - a memorial to the 26 Christians that were executed when the Emperor decided to banish foreigners and Christianity from Japan. I then made my way to the Spectacle Bridge - a perfect reflection is supposed to look like glasses but the weather wasn't playing ball! I also went through Chinatown, to Oura Catholic Church (the oldest Church in Japan) and to Glover Gardens.

My time in the A Bomb Cities has taught me that I really didn't know much about the history involving Japan in the Second World War and it was a pretty emotional experience being here. I'm glad that I came though and saw the effects that the bombs had.

The Ancient Capitals - Nara & Kyoto (Part 2)

Hatsuko, Momo and I took a day trip to the nearby town of Uji. Our first stop was to the Mimuroto Temple - the garden is full of hyacinths (thousands of them!) They also had lots of Lotus Flowers there (all the Buddha statues are sitting on the leaves of Lotus Flower).

We then headed over to the Byodoin Temple (its the one featured on the 10 Yen coin). It was originally used as a 'country' retreat and had two giant Phoenix on the ends of each roof. We left there and headed across the road to the ice cream shop to have a green tea ice cream! We drove home via the mountains and came across several stores selling 'raccoon dogs' - it was very bizarre!

The next day I headed over to Kyoto and had a tour of the Imperial Palace. Much of it is being renovated and you weren't allowed in anywhere - you could just look at the outside (but it was pretty impressive). I then went to Ginkakuji - the Silver Place. Its design was a typical Zen design and used just rocks and white sand for the gardens.

I spent another day exploring Kyoto on my own - tyring to see everything that I'd planned as tomorrow is my last day here before I leave the area. I visited the Toji-ji temple, Nishi-Hongan-ji and Kodai-ji before arriving at Ryozen-kwan-on - a memorial to fallen soldiers of WW2. It was pretty impressive, with a massive Buddha sitting on top of a building. I then went to Ryonanji Temple - which is a massive Rock Garden. Some of the Zen designs were amazing that I just sat and looked at them for ages (in the rain!!!)

For my final day in Nara, Hatsuoko and Katsuhisa took me on a massive tour of the area. We went to the site of the Nara Imperial Palace (that is now an archaeological site) before going to Jikoin Temple for a tea ceremony (you get served green tea and a small cake). We then visited Horyuji & Chugu-ji temples before we headed north and came to the Ishibuyai Kofin Tumulus - one of the earliest grave sites in Japan (dating back to the late 600's).

We went to the Asuka Historial Museum to learn about the Asuka people who were one of the first peoples to live in the area before we went to the Asuka Temple where a monk told me the history of the Buddha there. Our final visit was to the Amagasti Hill Observatory which had great views of the whole area. We met an elderly Japanese man there who told me about the creation of this area after a volcano erupted.

That night, we went to a typical sushi restaurant with the moving conveyor belt of food. It was great fun! Many thanks to the Kitagawa family for their amazing hospitality and for showing me the area - I had a great time!

The Ancient Capitals - Nara & Kyoto (Part 1)

My next destination was Nara - one of the ancient capitals of Japan. I had been invited to stay with a family there - the Kitagawa family. I was met by Hatsuko (the mum) and Momo (the son). At lunch, I got to meet Katsuhisa (the dad) .

That afternoon, I was taken to the Todai-ji shrine, that houses the biggest Buddha in Japan which is 15 metres tall. There was a small hole in one of the pillars and if you can squeeze through it, you're guaranteed a place in paradise - there were so many school children queued up to do it! We wandered around the complex admiring the various shrines there (including the Kasuga-Taisha shrine that has over a 1000 hanging lanterns). We walked through Nara Park and got surrounded by the hundreds of deer there that expect visitors to feed them! Our final stop of the day was to Kofuku-ji as saw the tallest 5- storey pagoda in Japan - it's 50.1 metres tall.

The next day I met Tomomi (the daughter) and her boyfriend Hirohisa. The three of us headed off and went to explore two more shrines - Toshodai-ji and Shin-Yakushi-ji. That afternoon, we met up with Katsuhisa and went for a walk around Nara. Dinner that evening was sushi - my first time of trying it here (I had tried some in Vancouver and not liked it so I was a bit worried about eating it here!) I managed to eat some and its growing on me!!

The next day, we went to Kyoto. Tomomi and I went around the Fushimi Inari Shrine - which has hundreds of Torii gates (big orange gates). It was a massive complex and we only wandered around a fraction of it! We met up with Hirohisa and went to East Kyoto to the Kiyomizu Temple - which sits on the hillside and gives a great view of Kyoto. We then headed over to Nijo-jo - which was the home of the Tokugawa Shogun when he visited Kyoto. Before I left to go back to Nara, we went and had green tea ice cream! Very bizarre having green ice cream but it didn't taste too bad!

The next day I went into Kyoto on my own. My first stop was to the Daisen-in temple complex - which is full of Zen Buddhist temples, the biggest being Daisen-in. One of the main focuses of these temples are the Zen Rock gardens - which I found myself just sitting and looking at. They were very impressive! I visited a couple of the smaller temples there before heading over to Kinkakuji - the Golden Temple. This was amazing - a temple on a small lake that was completely gold! It was really beautiful.

The next day, Hatsuko, Katsuhisa and I went to the Toei Movie Land - the Japanese Universal Studios. They had some special effects set up and lots of Geishas and trainee Geishas walking around. I also got dressed up in a Kimono (the traditional dress). Katsuhisa and I went through the haunted house which really scared me as actors suddenly moved and tried to grab you! I was glad to get out of there! We also went to see the temple of Tenryu-ji and the saw the cloud dragon, Unryuzu, which was painted onto the ceiling. That night, we went and had the traditional Okonomiyaki - but this time I had to mix the ingredients and cook it on a hot plate in front of me - it was good fun!