Mt. Fuji (3,776m 富士山), Japan

PanShiBo

On Jul-23 2017 two of us summited Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan.

PHOTO: California Climbers' Salute at the top of Mt. Fuji, Japan

PanShiBo

2017.07.21 TaiPei - Tokyo

Our main plan of the 40-day "Journey To The East" was twofold: climb YuShan (tallest peak of Taiwan) and Mount Fuji (tallest peak of Japan). Ideally it would be nice to complete entire "Asian Trilogy" (Fuji-san, Mount Kinabalu, and Yushan), but since we never climb guided trips, which is the case of mandatory requirement of Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia, it was left off.

So, Yushan was  a success, enroute to Japan off we go...

Bye-bye Taiwan




Tigerair is a budget airline that we flew to Tokyo. After you buy a ticket, you have to pay for the check-in luggage and on-board food. You are not allowed to eat your own stuff - even a cookie. If you do, a flight attendant will show up and let you know about that.






Hello Tokyo!

PanShiBo

2017.07.22

We stayed in Tokyo just next to the "Imperial Palace". One day was enough though..8)



Vera was trying to find out why police are equipped with wooden sticks like that. Contrary to my theory, "..no relaxation.." was the answer..


Typical impeccable Japanese cleanness is everywhere..


Not sure what tourists come here for, to us (right after Taiwan what a contrast!) it looked quite a boring place. Nearby National Museum of Modern Art was  more fun though.

PanShiBo

2017.07.22

Piece of Tokyo Imperial Palace (park) as seen from The National Museum of Modern Art.


What we read on the Internet about Japan, was not exactly true: regular transportation was not that expensive.


Buying long-distance bus tickets to FuJi Shi, our base town for the Mt. FuJi climb.


Buying bus/train tickets without knowing language was not a big deal - compared with other countries I have been to (no big lines, and no glass separation between clerk and you). Japanese politnesee (= patience) + smartphone Japanese dictionary helped too 8)

PanShiBo

Japan TIP: If you plan to travel by regular public transport in Japan, don't count on Google maps. Better ask locals.  

PHOTO: I will leave it up to you to guess what it is for. Hint: it is not related to the public transportation. 8)

PanShiBo

Mount Fuji TIP: There are no permits required or fees to be paid. No quotas either. The wide trail is class 1 (family type), sometimes briefly changing to class 2. As such it makes Mt. Fuji the easiest peak to climb (at least to us): bypassing ~100 Japanese hikers, some breezing canistered oxygen and yet others smoking (no kidding!) it took us 6.5 hours from parking, return, including the complete rim walk. Public shuttle bus (inexpensive) conveniently takes you to/from trailhead.

PHOTO: Despite it was a weekend, getting on a bus to the Fujinomiya 5th station didn't need reservation - plenty of sits was still available. We purchased the tickets in the morning of the climb.

PanShiBo

Before the trip we believed that transportation in Japan is so expensive, that we decided to rent a car, and even obtained International driver's licences required in Japan. It was a good thing we didn't rent - public transport (long distance buses and regular trains) was just fine and ticket prices reasonable. Yet another myth about Japan that is widely circulated in the media is that you must rent a pocket WiFi or you will be left without  access to the Internet. We are not those types that can't live without Internet for longer than 10 minutes, so hotel's free and fast WiFi was always enough.

PHOTO: This hotel in FuShi Shi just open a few weeks ago. Cleaner than some hospitals. 8)

Monkey

PanShiBo
Japan TIP: If you plan to travel by regular public transport in Japan, don't count on Google maps. Better ask locals.  

PHOTO: I will leave it up to you to guess what it is for. Hint: it is not related to the public transportation. 8)

This is toilet,

PanShiBo

There are 10 official peaks on Mount Fuji's rim. The last one, Kmagatake became our 200th peak that we have climbed together. 8)

vera

本来打算在日本两周的行程，因着台湾的丰富多彩，一再压缩，最后实在到了不能再减的地步，7月21日的傍晚，我们终于抵达成田机场，短短的日本之行开始了！

前后只有4个晚上，当然都是围绕富士山这个中心的。富士山每年只有7、8两个月开放，所以我们才会选择这个时间来。

07/21 住东京
07/22 上午参观日本皇居，下午去静冈县下的新富士市（Shin-Fuji) 入住
07/23 登富士山，新富士第二夜，也是当地的Summer Festival之狂欢夜
07/24 住Hamamatsu（滨松市）
07/25 离开滨松，直达名古屋机场，回温哥华

富士山，可谓人人皆知。四条登山路线，我们选择了第二popular的、距离最短的以蓝色为标记的“富士宫线”：

TH （富士宫口五合目）：海拔 2400m
Return： 10km
最高峰“剑锋" ： 海拔3776m
完成时间：7小时内
目标：登顶剑锋，并尽可能多地拜访火山口环线上的其他山峰

结果：6.5小时，囊括了富士山火山口沿线所有peaks（不知道到底多少个，反正每个都去了），满载而归。


PHOTO: Crater rim of Mt. Fuji, Japan

马赛克

精彩的行程。期待后续。