Will have to return

We turned back and returned to the 5th station. Not sure where we made the wrong turn. May try to figure that out after a snack. One positive - we will make the last express bus back to Shinjuku and will be back at our hotel by 6 PM.

Sam was a real trooper. Once we realized that we had made a mistake that would cost us our chance to approach the summit, there were some tears of disappointment. But, then she said "we'll have to come back again so we can climb to the top." That's my girl!

We did find the correct trailhead at the other end of the parking lot. In hindsight, it's obvious. But, at the time, our nicely groomed and marked trail seemed like the main one. We did see about 7 people who made the same mistake as us.

I spoke to some guys who did climb today. They said that the trail was very rough after the 7th station. They stopped after 8. Sam admitted that she'd have to do some training in order to make it as she was pretty tired after only an hour.


In the end, we had a very nice mountain hike, with a picnic all by ourselves. The weather was much warmer and nicer than I expected. And, it looked like rain was coming soon by the time we left. If we had gone the right way as far as the 8th station, we would have probably got stuck in a downpour. So, we ended our day with a mixture of disappointment and happiness.

Mt. Fuji or (is a) BUST!

A beautiful mountain lies in the distance. Snow capped and immersed in clouds, Mt. Fuji lies innocently, creating a picturesque scene to any and all onlookers. Yet this mountain, belonging in a piece of art, shall prove to be evil. Making our start (the beginning of our mistakes) up the side, we thought we were on the right track. But we were conpletely on the wrong one. It's too painful to talk about, so I'll just let Dad fill you in. But I can say this: YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF ME FUJI!!! I'LL BE BACK, AND WHEN I DO, I'LL GET YOU MT. FUJI!!!!!!

Wrong turn - probably giving up

About 90 minutes into our hike, we started to think that we had gone the wrong way. The path, which had been well groomed and dotted with benches and signs (in Japanese) got very rough. And, we haven't seen any other hikers. We went down the rough path for a while, but have now turned back. We're going to explore one more route, but we may just turn and go all the way back as we have now wasted 2 hours on what looks like the wrong trail. With that much time gone, we don't have a chance to restart.

Almost at 5th station

We're almost at the 5th station bus stop. The skies have cleared and the sun is poking through! And, the light rain has stopped, at least for now.

On the way to Fuji

I'll do some mobile microblogging today while we climb Fuji-san.

We're on the express bus from Shinjuku to the Fuji 5th station where the climb will start. We probably won't make it to the top as the trail to the summit is closed due to excessive snow.

Today is the first day of the official climbing season. The bus is only about 20% full, and all but 2 are Westerners. It's ironic in this land of so many trains that the fastest way to the climbing station is by bus. But, this bus is direct - no transfers.

We'll have to return by a less direct route as we will finish after the last direct bus. Most people stay overnight to watch the sunrise, so there are few returners at the end of the day.

Next stop - Fuji!

Edo-Tokyo Museum and Tokyo Tower

Today was our last day in Tokyo for sightseeing. Tomorrow, we climb Mount Fuji (or at least as far as we can -- the summit is currently closed as there is an inordinate amount of snow!).

We visited the Edo-Tokyo Museum first. What an incredible place to learn about Japanese history. It has artifacts that are almost 20,000 years old, but most of the exhibits cover the 1600-1800s, the Edo period.

The most striking part of the museum are the large and very detailed models of the Edo castle and what typical towns were like. The pictures don't do them justice, but here is a small sample.



The museum is a must-see for anyone who visits Tokyo.

In addition to the Edo period, it also covers, in more brief form, the history of Japan through modern times. This includes the 1900s and the firebombing of Tokyo during World War II. Although there is virtually no discussion of the causes of the war, the effects of the civilians of Tokyo were devastating. I actually met a man at the exhibit who lived through the Tokyo bombing when he was four. He said it was terrifying.

It was interesting to see how the early history of Japan has still had an impact on how Japanese society is organized today. I could have spent many more hours there (but Sam had her fill after about 2 1/2 hours).

We then went to Tokyo Tower, which has great views of the city and includes a bunch of hokey tourist stops. The views from the tower were great, but, unfortunately for us, were obscured by clouds today.


We're going to bed early since we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We have an early start for a bus to the climbing station for Mount Fuji. Not sure when we'll post that update, but we'll write it up eventually, even if it is after we get home. We don't have a lot of time free between our return from Fuji and our return flight to the US.

Shinagawa Aquarium, Tokyo Dome City, and Kushiage

I can't top Sam's description of the rides at Tokyo Dome City, so I'll write mostly about the rest of the day yesterday. We started off by traveling to the Shinagawa Aquarium. This attraction is certainly not aimed at Western tourists, mostly because of location. It's off the main train lines, and it required a few train transfers to get to the station. Then, there are vitually no signs from the station to the aquarium. We were able to ask for directions from a police officer who communicated well enough where it was. Luckily, we found it, as it was very nice.

It's a small aquarium by US standards, but had some nice exhibits and was on very nice grounds.

There were two highlights from the visit -- the dolphin show and the underwater tunnel. The dolphin show as packed with school kids on a summer field trip. The dolphins did some tricks, and the kids loved it.



The tunnel under the water was also really nice. There were turtles, rays, and all sorts of fish swimming around you. You could walk through and see the sea life from many different angles.

The aquarium also featured penguins, sea lions, sharks, octopus, and many types of fish. It tooks us about 90 minutes to see it all, which isn't bad since we couldn't understand most of the text on the exhibits.

On the way back to the train station from the aquarium, we stopped for lunch at Yoshinoya. This is a Japanese fast food place that everyone visiting has to try once. It has a very limited menu, good, basic food, and lightning fast service.

We went from there to Tokyo Dome City to ride the rides, as Sam described. As a roller coaster lover, I have to say that Thunder Dolphin was a good ride. Kudos to Sam for overcoming her fear and going for the ride. I think she opened her eyes at least once or twice.

We then met some friends for a wonderful kushiage dinner near Shinjuku station. We had all sorts of fried delights: chicken, shrimp, beef, quail eggs, fish, fish eggs, asparagus, and more. Although all of the dishes are fried, there were very light. Sam tried them all, although she shared later that she hated some of them.

We also stopped by at an amazing store -- Takano Fruit Parlour. The web site doesn't get the message across -- this place sells $50 bunches of grapes and $100 melons. They grow each melon on its own tree (you can also buy one still on the tree). Not sure who buys such things, but there were people there buying things -- not us!