Today we took a bus tour to Mount Fuji. We thought when we booked it we would get to ride the bullet train but apparently not which was a bit sad. Anyway we bussed out to Mount Fuji with an English speaking guide (she was quite hard to understand). Along the way she got us all to sing this song that every Japanese person knows.
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| View from our hotel room window (21st floor) |
I'm not sure if t was cool or lame. Chris says that the lameness of it made it cool.
This song ended up being significant to the trip because at the base of Mount Fuji as you start to climb, grooves have been cut I to the road at different spaces and depths to make noises as you cross them that make the melody of the song as you drive. It wasn't very loud so I didn't get a video. But
here's a youtube video.
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| sideways traffic lights |
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| Olympic office |
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| The crown princes palace guest house (at the end of the street) |
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| it's foggy :( |
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| Terraced rice paddy's |
Once we got to Mount Fuji it was very misty with a lot of low cloud so we didn't get a really good view. The mist did clear a bit though so we almost got a view of the top. We were at gate 5, half way up, at the top of the shrubbery line where it turns to rock and snow.
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| Entrance to the Shinto shrine on Mt Fuji |
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| A dragon robot lucky charm machine |
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| The shrine |
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| snow on Mt Fuji |
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| Horsies |
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| a bit of blue sky! Maybe we'll see the top |
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| Not quite to the top |
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| Volcanic rock gravel |
After that we enjoyed a traditional Japanese meal at a restaurant and reevaluated the tour plan. Due to the mist and storm activity our itinerary changed a bit. We ended up on a boat tour around lake Kawaguchi.
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| traditional Japanese meal (half eaten) |
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| Lake cruise |
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| People fishing in the rain |
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| Behind those clouds somewhere is Mt Fuji - usually you can see it reflected in the lake here |
We drove around to the opposite side of Mount Fuji and took a cable car ride overlooking lake Ashi.
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| More rice |
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| The peace windmill restaurant |
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| In late summer this grass goes silver and is a popular place for photos |
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| Lake Ashi from the cable car |
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| In the cablecar |
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| Piggy letting off some steam - volcanic activity |
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| a balloon teddy |
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| view from the top |
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| volcanic steam vents |
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| going back down |
We then drove back to Tokyo. We found some shopping and something for dinner and some snacks and walked back to our hotel.
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| Cocoon tower in Shinjuku |
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| The streets at night |
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| Sneaky shot of a sumo in a shop |
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| Green tea kitkat - it wasn't bad actually |
We had our beer, fashioned the styles of hotel pajamas and got ready for tomorrow.
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