Here is Dad and me, at the top of Fuji... A symbolic end of a great summer for me.
Wow, it only took me 5 months to get this blog capped off.
After my crazy summer, I was launched DIRECTLY into academic pandaemonium. No jet lag sympathy. Especially no sympathy for skipping the first week of class :)
I haven't had time to even edit my photos yet. Thought I would add this last post for some closure.
My dad came to visit me in Japan the last week I was there. He flew into Tokyo, I took the bullet train over from Kyushu and picked him up, and we didn't stop moving for a week. I gave my dad a two day exhaustive tour of Tokyo, we got our rail passes and went to climb Fuji, then went up to Hokkaido for some more mountain climbing. We stayed up in Sapporo and climbed the four mountain chain ending with Mount Asahi. We then headed back to Tokyo and took off. Crazy week.
Tokyo was a lot of fun. Insanely large city, but I know how to get around it fairly well from being there a couple summers ago. Took my dad to all the usual places.
Here is Steve Van Boxtel himself riding the Tokyo rails.
Our accommodations. Two adjacent rooms this size, around $35 US each. Crazy huh?
Yoyogi Park.
Eating lunch in the park. He's a real natural with Japanese food.
Spiritually cleansing myself ( you drink it too - natural well water and communal ladles) before entering a temple.
These girls were doing some sort of silly "I look like a cartoon character" photo shoot.
I made the cut for a shot.
We woke up, super super early, to go to the world's largest wholesale fish market: The Tsukiji Central Metropolitan Fish Market.
65,000 people move 2000 metric tons of 400 different kinds of seafood from 5am to 9am every morning.
Ever realize how large tunas are?
I love this picture.
Had to include this picture. My dad and I went to do laundry in some ghetto little alley (we didn't stay in the nicest area of Tokyo) that had a garage with a pay wash and dry machine in it. This guy walks i, takes all of his clothes off, and stood there for an hour while he laundered.
Mt. Fuji:
I climbed Fuji-san about 3 years ago and was really really excited to do it again. We made reservations to stay overnight at the eighth level so we could climb to the summit in the pitch dark at 3am to see the sunrise. It was incredible - even for the second time.
From a distance. 12,388 ft.
I think we climbed it in under five hours. Thanks to the musher, my 47 year old father whose in better shape than anyone on the mountain.
My buddy Corey came with us. And wore Chacos.
Rest stop.
A lot of people in JP thinks he looks like the guy who owns Virgin Mobile.
One of the five lakes in the background.
Looking back down at the torii.
I think this is the place we stayed at... can't remember. We decided to climb to the top since we made such good time. So, we summited, climbed back down to the 8th to sleep, then back up in the morning.
At the gate before the top.
Standing in front of the crater (Fuji was a volcano).
We did an additional 2 mile hike around the crater to the highest point (a radio tower) on the back side. Some nice dude with the same camera as us took this. Corey and I are sporting our Sohseikan High School uniform jackets we got for teaching at their school.
Back at the "hotel." Don't ever pass out in a stall on Mt. Fuji.
Look at the pillows. Those represent each person that will be sleeping there. Without exaggeration, each person, for the low price of 67 USD, gets a shoulder width of space in the attic of a musty shack. Sardines would have been more comfortable. If your shoulders are wider than the average Japanese man, you will find yourself forced to spoon with your neighbor. In my case, it was Mr. Suzuki, the cuddly Japanese senior whose body was snuggled up to mine for a delightful 5 hours. When I wanted to roll over, I had to ask the assistance of both Mr. Suzuki and my dad. Corey had a giant beam a foot above his face.. even better. So, if you ever scale Fuji, know what you are getting yourself into with the sleeping arrangements.
The trail of LED headlamps of people climbing up to see the sunrise.
Sun coming up.
Boom. Goraiko.
Dad and I at the summit. SO cold.
Shot of the lakes at sunrise.
Awesome guy with his dog... with cute little booties.
Here's how you come down a mountain in double time... Kind of dangerous, probably broke a few toes.
My dad and I wanted to do something super unique while in Japan. Several Japanese friends of mine told me that going to the northern island, Hokkaido, is not something they ever got to do. In fact, they said it was cheaper to go to Hawaii than the northern island. Well, we had our rail passes and a great deal of mountain climbing zeal, so we took the endless series of train rides up to Sapporo. Then we set out for a major physical feat. We went to the biggest national park in Japan, Daisetsuzan. We wanted to climb a few peaks... and ended up getting way ahead of ourselves. We ran out of money and couldn't afford to stay overnight in the park. The last bus for the train station left at 5 pm, and we started a 13 miles mountain climbing hike at eleven. Needless to say, we ended up jogging a lot of it. Hard to do at high altitudes with gear on. Anyway, anything is possible with a certified marathon coach and a son who would be too embarrassed to let his dad kick his ass.
About to embark.
At the top of the first of four.
Very strange climate in these mountains.
Such beautiful stuff up there.
Natural sulfur geysers. Can you call it a geyser if it's steam? I don't really know.
So we are in eyesight of the tram that goes down the last mountain to the bus stop. The last tram is at 4:45, bus leaves at 5:00. It was like 4:15 and we were a good mile away from the tram station. The terrain was awful, lava rocky, and very steep. Dad was wearing running shoes, I was wearing Teva sandals, which loved to trap little pebbles and make my feet bleed. We both rolled our ankles multiple times -- it was looking pretty bleak. But, considering the alternative (sleeping in the sulfur fields), we had to cruise as fast as we could.
After 6 hours of shear physical terrorism on our bodies, we made it to the tram station. We told the ranger there where we started and where we left from. He was convinced I misspoke. I showed him on a map what peak we started at and what time we left. He said we set a new record in the 20 some years he worked there. It was pretty rewarding.
We made it. It may have been fast paced, but we stopped to enjoy and snap pictures at every opportunity we had. It was one of the coolest things I did this summer.
I spent the majority of the 10 hour train ride sleeping. I actually had one more night in Japan after my dad left, and spent it in Chiba, close to the airport. There was a fairly significant earthquake that night that woke me out of a hard sleep as the hotel swayed back and forth. Pretty insane to experience that. I guess it was Japan's "get the hell out of here already!" message to me as I was leaving.
.....
So, that was my first blog. I enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone for your emails and interest. I was really shocked at how many people read my every ridiculous caption and smartass comment. If it weren't for all the emails and comments, I wouldn't have put nearly as much effort into. It truly helped in making a great summer.
I already have plans brewing for other trips aboard in the future. Stay tuned over the years!
