Mt Fuji

On Sunday we flew from Singapore to Tokyo, and took the train to Zama City to stay with Kate's friend Trisha and her new daughter, Ainsley.



On Tuesday morning we took a bus to the Kawaguchiko Fifth Station, at 2,300 m (7,500') on the North side of Mt Fuji.



We started hiking and a little less than 3 hours later we arrived at the Taishi-Kan hut, our home for the night at 3,020 m (10,000').





We went to bed early and made an alpine start at 1:20 AM yesterday. After making good time for most of the remaining distance to the summit, we ran into a little congestion:



It wasn't so different from the commuter train at rush hour:



We arrived at the summit a little before 4:00 AM:



and got front row seats for the sunrise. As we waited, the parade of headlamps continued its steady creep up the mountain.



The sunrise was one of the most spectacular we have ever seen, with the sun appearing to rise directly out of the cloud layer:







And still the parade continued up the mountain:



After the sun was up we grabbed some hot drinks and began walking around the crater.



On the west side, we were afforded a remarkable view of the mountain's shadow, cast across the countryside:



The hike up was a cakewalk compared to the descent, a 4-hour ordeal of blisters and pounding toes.



We made it back to Zama in the afternoon, and Trisha took us for some of the best sushi we've ever had. Better yet, it came on a converyor belt: