Monday was a special day for us. Sadaoki, my old boss, had set aside (guarded in his words) the whole day to take us anywhere in his car. To provide some background to this Sadaoki runs a lab of some 40 people, works both days of the weekend, is about to become Dean at Tokyo Institute of Technology, travels internationally many times per year, and was last year honoured with Japan's highest recognition for science - being presented to the emperor. So, to say he is busy and an exceptional scientist is an understatement. 
For our destination we had chosen to go to Mt. Fuji - one of the icons of Japan. Neither Maria or I had ever been to Fuji-san and felt it would one of those major sights for the world trip. Sadaoki was agreeable, but (quite reasonably) asked us to come to his place (by train) because driving in the middle of Tokyo is a terribly slow experience and I suspect would have taken longer to get from his place to ours than it took to get to Fuji-san. So we needed to get up at 5:45 to leave the house at 6:30 to walk into Kichijoji and catch a sequence of 3 trains to get over to Sadaoki's station where he would be waiting for us at 8am. We arrived at 8:05 to find Sadaoki waiting for us ... Though the task had been made harder by Grant being sick in the night and at around 2am Zoe bringing him down to our room. Made all of us that bit more tired.
So then it was a couple of hours in the car along Japan's express ways - a great chance for me to grill Sadaoki about a wide-ranging set of topics - and 2,500 yen later in tolls we were on the skirts of Fuji-san. What we weren't prepared for was just what a visual spectacle Fuji-san is as
you approach it. It really does stand-out and dominate the skyline as you approach - even though there are other mountains in its environment it is at least as stunning as any of the images you might have seen of it - snow capped and cloud shrouded it really took me by surprise just how visually impressive it is. No wonder it has inspired so much art and literature such as the famous Ukiyoe 48 (?) views of Mt. Fuji (of which most people have seen a few images).
Sadaoki had a good plan. Rather than going straight up Fuji-san we would take a look at some of the famous sights around Fuji first. There are 6 (? Ahhh, how quickly we forget) famous/beautiful lakes around the base of Fuji-san. So first we went to lake Kawaguchi - beautiful, but also with great views up to Fuji-san ... And also cold already at 0 in the middle of the day (we were already at around 1000 metres above sea-level).
From there it was to my favourite - Oshinohako (the 8 ponds (of Mt. Fuji)). Springs that are where (some of) the melted snow of Fuji, having passed under ground and come back to the surface in surprisingly deep (10 metres) and clear ponds populated by giant and colourful koi (carp). Its quite an impressive area with many traditional thatched roof buildings as well as being a kind of tourist trap in a very charming way - a number of quaint traditional food venders line the road (that must be walked) leading into and out of the area.
From there it was lunch then up Mt. Fuji. We had learnt that it was open up to step 4 of the 10 steps (stations) up the mountain. It needs to be much later in spring or probably even summer before enough of the snow has melted for you to be able to drive to the top station. So up we went to step 4 at 2020 metres and lots of snow everywhere. I'd been promising/threatening the kids with a snowball fight all day; so that's just what we had with me being attacked from both sides. A lot of fun, and Sadaoki even joined in for a bit. Then down the mountain to another lake where we found Omochi (sweet rice paste in a ball - if you've seen the movie A Taxing Woman its the thing the old man nearly chokes on in the restaurant and must be sucked out with a vacuum cleaner) being made in the traditional way - a large wooden bowl which is hammered into with a mallet-like instrument, and every second stroke someone reaching in quickly to move the large sphere of dough-like substance. Of course we then had to try it - oishii data (it was yummy).
Then the long drive back to Tokyo with the car's nav system getting live updates on congestion points and suggesting alternate routes back to Sadaoki's house. Sadaoki dropped us at his station just after 4pm, and with the train rides back to Kichijoji, some minor shopping, and the walk home, we were in the door before 6 (in time for me to see the last couple of Sumo matches of the day on TV) and to my relief have a light meal at home.
For our destination we had chosen to go to Mt. Fuji - one of the icons of Japan. Neither Maria or I had ever been to Fuji-san and felt it would one of those major sights for the world trip. Sadaoki was agreeable, but (quite reasonably) asked us to come to his place (by train) because driving in the middle of Tokyo is a terribly slow experience and I suspect would have taken longer to get from his place to ours than it took to get to Fuji-san. So we needed to get up at 5:45 to leave the house at 6:30 to walk into Kichijoji and catch a sequence of 3 trains to get over to Sadaoki's station where he would be waiting for us at 8am. We arrived at 8:05 to find Sadaoki waiting for us ... Though the task had been made harder by Grant being sick in the night and at around 2am Zoe bringing him down to our room. Made all of us that bit more tired.
So then it was a couple of hours in the car along Japan's express ways - a great chance for me to grill Sadaoki about a wide-ranging set of topics - and 2,500 yen later in tolls we were on the skirts of Fuji-san. What we weren't prepared for was just what a visual spectacle Fuji-san is as
you approach it. It really does stand-out and dominate the skyline as you approach - even though there are other mountains in its environment it is at least as stunning as any of the images you might have seen of it - snow capped and cloud shrouded it really took me by surprise just how visually impressive it is. No wonder it has inspired so much art and literature such as the famous Ukiyoe 48 (?) views of Mt. Fuji (of which most people have seen a few images).Sadaoki had a good plan. Rather than going straight up Fuji-san we would take a look at some of the famous sights around Fuji first. There are 6 (? Ahhh, how quickly we forget) famous/beautiful lakes around the base of Fuji-san. So first we went to lake Kawaguchi - beautiful, but also with great views up to Fuji-san ... And also cold already at 0 in the middle of the day (we were already at around 1000 metres above sea-level).
From there it was to my favourite - Oshinohako (the 8 ponds (of Mt. Fuji)). Springs that are where (some of) the melted snow of Fuji, having passed under ground and come back to the surface in surprisingly deep (10 metres) and clear ponds populated by giant and colourful koi (carp). Its quite an impressive area with many traditional thatched roof buildings as well as being a kind of tourist trap in a very charming way - a number of quaint traditional food venders line the road (that must be walked) leading into and out of the area.
From there it was lunch then up Mt. Fuji. We had learnt that it was open up to step 4 of the 10 steps (stations) up the mountain. It needs to be much later in spring or probably even summer before enough of the snow has melted for you to be able to drive to the top station. So up we went to step 4 at 2020 metres and lots of snow everywhere. I'd been promising/threatening the kids with a snowball fight all day; so that's just what we had with me being attacked from both sides. A lot of fun, and Sadaoki even joined in for a bit. Then down the mountain to another lake where we found Omochi (sweet rice paste in a ball - if you've seen the movie A Taxing Woman its the thing the old man nearly chokes on in the restaurant and must be sucked out with a vacuum cleaner) being made in the traditional way - a large wooden bowl which is hammered into with a mallet-like instrument, and every second stroke someone reaching in quickly to move the large sphere of dough-like substance. Of course we then had to try it - oishii data (it was yummy).
Then the long drive back to Tokyo with the car's nav system getting live updates on congestion points and suggesting alternate routes back to Sadaoki's house. Sadaoki dropped us at his station just after 4pm, and with the train rides back to Kichijoji, some minor shopping, and the walk home, we were in the door before 6 (in time for me to see the last couple of Sumo matches of the day on TV) and to my relief have a light meal at home.
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