Japan Trip Day 11 Fujisan (Pictures)
This is where we end things. The day after this, was spent in an airport or on planes. I wanted to finish this trip off with something a little big. So I booked a tour that went to Mt Fuji. When it comes to Japan, things don't get much bigger than Fuji. Be warned, this is the single biggest album from this vacation. This album has 82 entries… I don’t even want to think about how many I had to resize for this revamped blog. This is a labor of love.
The bus stopped at a rest stop on the way to Mt. Fuji. I saw some mountains as I walked around. For some, mountains may not be exciting… but I live in the Cincinnati area. We don’t get mountains here. We get hills… lots and lots of hills.
These 3 photos represent some of my first views of Mt. Fuji. It was the first time during the trip when I got a chance to actually grab a shot of the mountain. There was a point when I could see Mt. Fuji out the front of the bus, but that was a worse picture opportunity.
Seriously, I'm just gonna state that all these pictures were taken while on Mt. Fuji. Could only go up to the 4th stop, since there was still too much snow above there. This is also where I cut open my scalp on one of the tiny Japanese doors. So I literally bled for this trip. It was actually a fairly nice head wound. Sorry, there is no picture of the wound.
Yes, I realize that this is just a pile of snow created by a plow or whatnot, but still...There was still snow on the ground. And it should be noted, that there was no room in my luggage for my coat, all I had were some light jackets. It was rather chilly on this mountain.
Just a series of pictures of Mt. Fuji from the bus.
This was the lunch that came as part of the tour. We were told it is called sukiyaki. It is sort of like a single person hot pot. I don’t know of anything off hand that we have in the states that would be comparable to a hot pot. What is under the wooden lid in the upper left hand corner was the hot pot itself. Cooking away at some beef and mushrooms, and tofu. It was actually really good. The stuff outside the pot was okay... but I loved the broth that was formed in the hot pot. The meal came with all you can eat rice. In Japan, rice is life.
Lunch was served with a little entertainment. Traditional Japanese drummers. The guy in the middle pounded on that drum like it was his mortal enemy. I wanted to tell that poor drum to use the safe word. Poor drum.
Did you think I was done with Mt. Fuji? That mountain is the focus of this trip, you better believe it will pop up again.
We have arrived at Hakone and Lake Ashi. It was kinda cold along the waterfront. But the views were spectacular.
All of these were taken on Lake Ashi. Yes, there was a pirate ship (well… at least I think it looked like a pirate ship)
Looking up at a mountain top... I think this was the mountain we were going to ascend later. I believe I heard that there was something special about that green-roofed building, but I missed it. I should pay attention to my tour guide from time to time.
There was a large random torii gate. I call it random because I did not see a shrine nearby and those typically indicate the presence of a shrine.
Yo-ho-ho. There is a pirate ship in Hakone. I'm pretty sure people book it to cruise around the lake and drink rum... Well, maybe not the rum part. However I can not rule out the possibility of rum. I will have to take a rum-gnostic view on this one.
Another torii gate, this one is in water. It's not as far out as the Floating Torii Gates of Oouo, but since I didn't have time to visit Oouo (which is near Kashima, by the way) This was what I got instead.
The torii gate disappears in the distance. Good-bye torii gate, I will miss you,
Is this two pairs of twin photos? Effectively yes. But they were separate items in my camera, so they both get uploaded!
The Focus here was on the building in the center of the picture, sadly I was inside the boat as opposed to on deck when this showed up.
What's that I see in the distance... Is that... a snow-capped peak? I wonder what it could be. Hint: It's Mt. Fuji again
They have shrines on top of mountains! I’m telling you there are shrines everywhere. I bet there is a shrine behind you right now!
Two more really similar pictures. One with people, and one after I threw those people off the mountain. Or I moved past them to get my chance to take the second picture. But come on, just picture me Sparta-kicking these people off the mountain! Oh yeah, and if you haven’t guessed by now… that is Mt. Fuji in the distance.
A look down at lake Ashi. We won’t talk about how I called it Lake Asha in the old gallery. That never happened! It’s hard to see, but in the center of the picture is the cable car I rode to get up here. The cables themselves are much easier to see along the left bottom corner.
The far shore of lake Ashi. It is even harder to make out, but I believe that just above the mountains you can see the Pacific ocean. Or more accurately Suruga Bay, which is connected to the Pacific.
Remember that shrine from a little bit ago? Here it is again to jog your memory. I seriously wanted to go up there, but we were on a pretty tight schedule, and I didn’t want to miss the bus and get stranded.
I loved the views from this mountain, but that cable car thing scared the piss outta me. I was terrified. And the tour guide kept telling me to get closer to the door. Not gonna happen tour guide man (he told us to call him Joe, I think his name was actually Tojo).
It’s Lake Ashi again. All the buildings look so tiny from up here. I feel like I’m forgetting some…
IT’S THE SHRINE FROM BEFORE!!!! DON’T FORGET ABOUT IT!
…I should probably book another trip to Japan right now so I can verify that that shrine is still lurking on top of the mountain.
Mount Fuji from inside the cable car thing. You can't see my knuckles in this, because they are about as white as the snow on the mountain. I had a death grip on that strap. But, if I were gonna die somewhere, I can think of worse places. …like Detroit.
3 Pictures of Odwara Castle. Another castle I didn’t stop at. Not stopping at the castles was a recurring theme on this trip.
Shinkansen! Or as it is commonly referred to outside Japan "Bullet train!" Notice how the front of it looks like the front of a damned airplane. Also worth noting that the tracks on the far side and the tracks on the near side are for limited expresses. We go fast, but make stops at stations along the way. I believe this one was called the Hikari. The middle sets of tracks are for the Nozomi line, which does not stop as much along the way. I did not get to ride the Nozomi. I only did the Sakura away from Osaka towards I believe I got off at Hakata. And I also rode the Hikari from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo.
I wasn’t gonna say this, but every time I said “Shinkansen” I felt like it is something that should be shouted by a Dragonball character… “Oh, you have a Kamehameha? Well I’ve got a Shinkansen! Checkmate, bitch!”
This blog is called The Half Empty Pint... did you think I would end it with anything OTHER than beer? The first, I believe, was a yuzu lager. The second one was a sakura stout. seriously, the Japanese put sakura in everything!
I can confirm it is a yuzu lager, the ramen shop near me carries it in cans. They also have the Asahi Super Dry. If I get a longing to go back to Japan, I can partially satisfy that desire by going to the ramen place. Bonus! I don’t need a 12 hour plane ride to get to the ramen place. Score!
