My Biggest Accomplishment in Japan: Climbing Mt Fuji

Climbing to the very top of Mount Fuji was one of the things that I have always wanted to do ever since I came to Japan and guess what? I DID IT!!!! Cool, huh?

Tina and I got our Japanese friends to help us book the tour and we went with forty other Japanese people to climb this massive mountain.

We left at 7:30pm on Friday night from Himeji and went to Mt Fuji by bus. It took the entire night to get there and we arrived at Mt Fuji at around 5am the next morning. It was so uncomfortable sleeping on the bus overnight, so we didn’t really get much sleep, but I was so excited about being able to climb the mountain, that I didn’t care about my lack of sleep!

Anyway, we went to this beautiful shrine amongst a forest just before we climbed the mountain to pray for our safety. Then we headed up the mountain at around 11:30am.




















It was really, REALLY hot from the fifth station and we were sweating like anything. The view was amazing though because there were not many clouds that day and we got a clear view of the city below us. This is Tina and I looking all keen and energised before our big hike up the mountain.

















We met a nice couple who we befriended on the bus before the climb and they became our helpers any time we needed to understand what was going on. The man's name was Atsushi and the lady's name was Mako. They were really friendly and helpful to us the entire time.








This is what Mount Fuji looks like from the fifth station. Pretty amazing, huh?






















This is the beautiful view from the seventh station.















We climbed all day until around 5pm when we reached the eighth station. It was such a steep climb in some parts. This is a good photo to show you how steep it actually was.


















At the eighth station, we stayed in this small hut where we all slept lined up in sleeping bags – men and women all in together! It was so bizarre and surreal, but a great experience all the same. This is what all the rows of sleeping bags looked like in our little hut.



















We had a nice filling tea consisting of rice, meatballs, fish, curry and something sweet. Most of the people at our table couldn’t eat their meals, so they gave their food to us so we could polish it off for them!

We slept until around 10pm and then we had to get up and start hiking again so that we could reach the top of the mountain by sunrise.

All through the night, we hiked up the mountain. By this stage, it was getting really cold and Tina and I felt like our hands were about to drop off because they were so cold! Our tour guide told Tina and I to cuddle each other, so we were hugging each other and climbing the mountain the entire time! We had a bit of a giggle because Tina’s hands were freezing so we climbed the mountain with her hand in my pocket throughout the entire night! If she was a guy, we probably would have looked like a couple!hehe

Anyway, as we were about 100 metres from the top, we could see the sun starting to edge through the clouds and push its way above the mountain. We were getting anxious and worried that we might miss the sunrise, so our tour guide started speeding up the process.



It was a bit hard though, because there were literally thousands upon thousands of people all climbing this mountain at the same time. I couldn’t believe how many people there were. It was like the entire population of Japan woke up and decided to climb Mt Fuji on the same night!



So we weaved through all these people and finally reached the top of the mountain at around 4:30am. The sun still hadn’t risen by this stage, so we were safe! There were so many people at the top of the mountain eagerly anticipating the sunrise with their cameras ready to go.



When the sun came up, they raised the Japanese flag and sang this beautiful song. It was magic! Tina and I went crazy taking thousands of photos of the beautiful sunrise.



















It was positively the BEST view I have ever seen in my whole entire life! I felt so privileged to be able to see it with my own eyes! No words can describe the beauty of it. It was just heavenly. If I could imagine what heaven would look like, it would be what I saw that morning on the top of Mt Fuji!


















After admiring the sunrise and taking numerous photos of it to try and capture its beauty, Tina and I got a bit carried away and lost the rest of the group. I was stressing because I was worried that they would leave without us so I was frantically rushing around trying to spot someone who looked familiar. In the meantime, Tina was casually walking around behind me, not really caring what was going on!

Eventually, we found the group and started making our way back down the mountain. It was really tricky because it was so steep and there were many loose rocks that made it really easy to slip and fall. There was also so much dust that made it really difficult to breath in fresh air and it all stuck to my face and made me look black!

















We finally made it down and I felt really proud that I had achieved the difficult task of climbing Mt Fuji. It was liberating!

We felt so dirty and disgusting and the next step of the way was to clean and scrub our bodies thoroughly in the onsen (hot springs or public bath). Tina was so embarrassed because she didn't want all the women on the tour to see her naked, but I didn’t care! I was just glad that I could feel clean once again!



So that was that! A great challenge, a great achievement, a great memory! やった！！！