A lot has happened since I last had the chance to blog anything, so here’s what happened.
Hikone’s mascot
Hikone Castle
After two incredibly wonderful days in Nara, we went to Hikone where we wanted to visit the famous castle, which was quite impressive. Again, we were more than lucky with our wonderful Couchsurfing host, Emily, who took us to a great little Japanese restaurant where we enjoyed delicious food and mouthwatering homemade yuzushu (liqueur made from yuzu fruits). We tried to give back a little by singing Happy Birthday in German to a Japanese lady very fond of German music and poetry. The morning after, Emily treated us to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony in her apartment, with matcha and Japanese sweets. Thank you so much, Emily, that was awesome of you.
Awesome food
On our list of firsts and mandatory things to do and experience, that makes
– seen geisha (if only in passing) – check
– experienced tea ceremony – check
– took a bath in a Japanese bath house – check
– rode a bicycle in the pouring rain while trying to hold on to an umbrella – check
– went to a Japanese arcade (I’ll get to that in a minute) – check
– took the Shinkansen – check
and, as a bonus of some sort
– accidentally walked into a porn shop because it said “costumes” on the door. (“Oh, look, Danie, there’s anime costumes in there, let’s take a look…”) Yeah.
still open on the list of cliché things one has to do on a first visit to Japan (we are not that remarkably innovative or unique) are
– singing karaoke
– going to a maid cafe
– trying on a kimono (and taking tons of pictures)
– watching fireworks
From Hikone, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train), heading for Tokyo. It was actually more comfortable than the Emirates plane. Trains are something Japan gets so very right (especially compared to Germany).
Arriving at Shinjuku station, it was time to be overwhelmed again. Shinjuku station is one of the busiest train station in the world, and finding the right of the 267 or so exists and our way to the bus station was quite challenging. Luckily, Danie’s orientation skills are far superior to my own, and we managed in the end. We left our luggage in the coin locker and took the highway bus to Mt. Fuji, where we arrived at about 19:20, stocked up on food and drinks at Kawaguchiko 5th station, turned on the headlamp, and set out to conquer Japan’s biggest mountain (3776 m), surrounded by complete darkness, except for the headlamps of other hikers. It is the normal thing to do, actually, as most people climb Fuji-san during the night to arrive at the summit just in time to watch the sunrise. The closer we got to the top, the more crowded it got, and sometimes we had to stand in line to pass through narrow passages. We got worried quite a bit when we experienced what we interpreted as early warning signs of altitude sickness (headache, dizziness, ringing in the ears …), so we took a lot of breaks and managed to get to the top an hour before sunrise, eventually.
Sunrise from the summit
Above the clouds
The crater
The sight was breathtaking, although not quite as romantic as it could have been, with tens of thousands of people around you (literally), but worth the pain and suffering. After an overpriced bowl of ramen (yes, there were ramen and souvenir shops on top, and – this being Japan – a whole array of vending machines, of course), we went down the Gotemba trail to experience osunabashiri, the great sand run, a gravel covered path down the volcano where you can run down taking huge leaps, feeling like jumping on the moon. Sadly, Daniela’s boots didn’t take too kindly to it. When we reached Gotemba 5th station, we decided to share a cab with fellow climbers down to Gotemba station, because the bus had just left and we were not in the mood for waiting two hours in 35° C or more.
Danie’s boots back in Shinjuku – RIP
It was hard not to fall asleep on the bus, or the following trains back to Shinjuku, as our heads kept falling down on each other’s shoulders. In Shinjuku, we once again managed to find the right train to go to our next Couchsurfing hosts, Brenna and Micah, whom we accompanied to a British pub back in Shinjuku after refreshing ourselves a little bit and turning back into human beings. After the pub, we went for a walk in Shinjuku (sensory overload and reality detachment alarm) and into a Japanese arcade, where we played insanely fun games before returning home.
Today, we might get to go to Comiket and see the big fireworks display over the bay. So excited.