Japan Diaries [Day 3]

Day 3 [September 28th]

* We take an organised tour to Mount Fuji today (Japan’s largest mountain; booked from within Australia), navigating our way from Yurakucho station (nearest to our hotel) to Hamamatsucho station’s bus terminal (thank goodness for English-speaking people behind the counter at Sunrise Tours here!). Three buses were on our tour, our guide Hari was an eclectic man, who spoke just as much about loveless marriages and climbing suicides rates in Japan, as he did about Japanese history and sight-seeing information (was he serious? Who knows – Japanese humour is difficult to work out a lot of the time for me!)

* A stinking hot day in Tokyo, heard many exchanges of “atsui desu ne” between people (translation: “Hot, isn’t it?”). About 30C, but very high humidity (felt more like 35C to me). I sweltered because we are barely into Spring weather here in Australia! The media were reporting that this day was probably Tokyo’s last day of Summer heat before cooling down into Autumn (this turned out later to be true). Luckily for us, we were going up a mountain…

Here was our tour itinerary:
* Bus to Mt. Fuji’s Visitors Centre
* Bus to 5th Station of Mt. Fuji (2305m high; highest point without hiking!)
* Explore Mt. Fuji’s tourist area
* Bus to a hotel near Mt. Fuji for lunch (bento style!)
* Bus to Lake Hakone for boat/cable car rides
* Bus to Odawara Station
* Ride the shinkansen (bullet train!) back to Tokyo.

* My thoughts on the tour? Too much transport and not enough time for exploring places properly. Mount Fuji was a little disappointing because it was so touristy (shops were actually placed on the mountain!), the brochures described it so differently. Lake Hakone was actually really pretty (shrouded by mist), and the cable car ride was scary ~ yikes! 1km above the ground, I was freaking out a bit, heh. There was lots to look at and plenty of opportunities to buy souvenirs. We settled on a few postcards in the end (though plush toys were tempting!)

* Dinner was back in Tokyo, near Yurakucho station, at a random shokudo restaurant (which means a ‘set meal’, you choose your main plate/bowl and it comes out with lots of little side dishes, such as rice, salad, miso soup, garnishings, etc; very popular in Japan). It was alright, but not as good as some of the other places we’ve eaten at so far – but just like anywhere you go, win some and lose some! We’re both so exhausted from all of the travelling and collapse in our hotel room at night, sleeping away our Friday night. I tell Matt that we should experience night-life in Shinjuku or Roppongi on Saturday night, looks like lots to do!

* Oh, and toilets vary a LOT in Japan. Some places only offer the high-tech toilets (see other entries for detail; complete with rushing water sounds for those people disconcerted by the sound of their own toileting, and deodorising shots – I kid you not!). Whereas some places on offer ‘squat’ toilets, which are little more than toilet bowls set into the ground. I’m yet to try the latter, choosing to hold on at the moment when faced with that option!