JULY

We hiked Fuji, almost to the top, from the very bottom. We decided to take the traditional pilgrimage up Mt. Fuji, the way that it was meant to be done, the real way to experience the majestic beauty of Mt. Fuji and start from the very bottom on the Yoshidaguchi Trail, rather than taking a bus 2/3 up to the top. We started from the Fuji Senjen Jinja, there we bought a walking stick, that was stamped to prove we started from the bottom and took it all the way up with us. It was beautiful and rewarding to get to each of the stations (there are ten stations, 1-8, the real 8th, and 8.5 and then the summit) and we only saw four other people hiking up all the way to the sixth station, 2390 M (we started at 825 M). After the sixth station there were tons of people and it started to get much more windy. After the seventh station it started to rain, we perservered - GANBATTE in Japanese - to the real eighth station and then took a rest in a mountain hut. The mountain huts are where you can sleep before continuing, some people hike up much of the mountain during the day when it is far less crowded and then sleep in the mountain huts and leave with enough time to reach the summit in time to see the sunrise. The 'beds' in a mountain hut are very close together, it is just futon beside futon and you receive the amount of space one pillow and blanket wide, bring your ear plugs...We woke up at 1:30 am to leave for the summit but the storm had gotten much worse and I was feeling a little sick, either from exhaustion or altitude sickness or both. The wind was so bad that the whole line (yes by now there were so many people that it was a line of headlights snaking its way up and down the mountain) would stop and brace itself and the rain was so bad that it felt like it was coming up from below and it hurt. After about an hour, and reaching the 8.5 station, we decided to head back, I was feeling really sick and the weather was just too much. So we went back to our cozy beds in the mountain hut and slept there until 7 am when we left to go back down in the pouring rain. The only good thing about the rain is that everyone was wearing their rain gear and it was so colourful, other than that it was most uncomfortable. The way down was as difficult as the way up, we were exhausted and sore and tired, when we finally made it to the fifth station we took a bus back down to the city of Kawaguchiko and spent the night there. We headed back home the next day, defeated but proud of ourselves. We climber over 2500 M in one day, almost 19km, and were less that .5km from the top.

We spent a weekend at home and Denis was invited to participate in Mikoshi, which is when many people carry a portable shrine through the streets. The thing was huge and weighed one ton! It was lots of fun for me, I just walked beside and took pictures but Denis was really sore after and his shoulders were bleeding because the Japanese people like to make the Mikoshi bounce on their shoulders...it was pretty crazy. But every time that they stopped to take a break there was bunch of old ladies serving us food and drinks. It was a lot of fun!

The last weekend in July was the Fuji Rock Festival. Although the name would lead you to believe that it is near Fuji, it is not. It is actually close to wear we live, less than a two hour drive. The festival was awesome, it was everything an outdoor music festival is suppose to be and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were amazing. We camped on a hill so steep that we kept sliding to the bottom of our tent, it rained and everything was muddy, it was sunny and hot, and raining and wet, for the headliners there were people farther than you could see, and the lines for the porta potties was ridiculous - sooo much fun.