Conquering Mount Fuji!

The first thing I'll say about climbing Mount Fuji is... that I'm not sure I ever want to climb it again. Not that it wasn't worth it. The sunrise at the top of the mountain was incredible. But it's a long and tiring way up. And climbing it once in a lifetime is enough according to me... and my body.

Warning: LOTS of pictures ahead! Probably the most picture-loaded post I've ever written. But you won't be disappointed because they're awesome pictures!

We left the dorm early at 6:30 am on Monday morning.

Geared up and ready to climb

Arriving at Fujinomiya Station

We took the train to Fujinomiya, and then a bus to get to the Fujinomiya 5th Station. That's where we started climbing. As you can see in the map below, there are different trails that lead to the top. We chose the Fujinomiya trail on the way up and Subashiri Trail on the way down.

The Fujinomiya Trail is the blue trail

Starting off at the 5th station

The first day (Monday), we made it up until the 9.5th station. At first, we were motivated and the climb wasn't too difficult. I think we made it to the 7th station with only 2 breaks. Then, from the 7th to the 9.5th, the climb got steeper and steeper and we took breaks about every 10-15 minutes to rest our legs and breathe properly again.

It was hard. The terrain were dangerous and you could easily fall if you placed your foot on the wrong foothold. Or twist your ankle. Or hit your head on a rock as you fell. Lots of ways to injure yourself if you weren't careful. But we climbed slowly and tried to choose the safest paths.

Steep...

And steeper...

Taking a short break

What surprised me was that kids as young as 4-5 years old and men and women that seem to be about 60 years old or older were also climbing Mt. Fuji. It kind of motivated me and I tried to hide my panting when we passed them. If they can do it, then I can too. That's what I told myself a couple of times when the going got tough.

When we arrived at the 9.5th station, we checked into a small mountain hut, what they call a yamagoya in Japanese. It's really just a place to sleep, not to do anything else. We couldn't even brush our teeth. And we slept in a room full of other people we didn't know.

This is the mountain hut at the 9.5th station,
where we slept for about 8hrs before climbing again

The room where everyone slept all together

View from the 9.5th station (at around 6 pm)

After sleeping for a few hours, we woke up around 2 a.m. and got dressed into warm clothes, installed our flashlights and started climbing again. It was so dark! During the day, when the sun was high up in the sky, the going was dangerous but at least we could see. This morning, when we started climbing, it took us a lot more time because we couldn't see beyond what our flashlights lit up. But slowly, steadily, with a few breaks, we made it to the top at around 3:00 a.m. And then... we had to wait. The sun only came out around 5:00 so during 2 hours, we froze our butts off. The wind was strong and there's no place to hide from the wind at the top of the mountain. So we huddled closely together and sang some songs to distract ourselves.

My roommate Anzu with her headlight

Finally, the sky slowly started showing tints of pink, yellow, and orange. And about 30 min later, out came the sun!

Starting to come out

With my roommate Anzu

Amazing view!

We did it! We climbed to the top of Mt. Fuji and saw the sunrise!!!

Then we started our descent. Going down was much easier than going up but it was still tricky and dangerous at times. The trail we took to go down (Subashiri Trail) was made mostly of soft sand so we kind of "slid" our way down. There were still a lot of rocks here and there so you had to be careful. I think I fell about 5 times along the way because I slipped on some rocks but fortunately, they weren't hard falls because of the sand. In total, it only took us 1h45 minutes to go down while it took us 3h04 minutes to go up (breaks not included).

Kage Fujisan: Mt. Fuji's shadow

Another surprising thing is that I had great phone connectivity up on Mt. Fuji. I even sent a picture of the sunrise from my phone to my parents and grandmother when we were up at the very top.

Finally, after taking the bus and the train, we arrived home. I immediately took a shower because we hadn't been able to wash ourselves the night before. My face, feet, and skin were full of sweat and sand and dust. It felt so good to take a shower. Then, later, my roommate and I went to a hot spring bath and that also felt like heaven.

I can now say that I climbed Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan! But I would never have been able to do it without my roommate Anzu. She's climbed it twice before so she reserved the mountain hut, she lent me hiking shoes, and organized the transportation to the climbing site. And we pushed each other when we got tired. If I had climbed alone... well, I would have probably given up halfway. It's so much more fun to climb with a friend. So again, thank you Anzu!

Before climbing Mount Fuji

Hello everyone! I've written in earlier posts that I'm going to climb Mount Fuji (which at 3776 meters, is Japan's highest mountain) ... and it's finally happening... tomorrow!!!

But before we can even start climbing, there is some preparation to do.

To start, there's the necessary equipment: hiking shoes, rain coat, warm clothes, hat, sunscreen, gloves, warm socks, etc. We've decided we don't need oxygen tanks. We're both athletes and my roommate's climbed it twice already without an oxygen tank. So hopefully we won't be falling unconscious.

Then, we also have to think about food. There are no restaurants up on the mountain so we have to bring everything with us. I think there are some vending machines and some small shops where you can buy some food but I've read that the prices are ridiculous. So we've decided to bring everything with us.

And we have to bring everything back with us as well. You aren't allowed to throw things on the mountain, even biodegradable matter like banana peels. So we have to make sure to have bags to throw away our garbage.

And just to get to the starting point (we've decided to start from the Fujinomiya 5th station), it takes about 2hrs and a half by train, and then another 1h30 by bus. So we're going to leave quite early tomorrow to be able to start climbing around noon. From Fujinomiya 5th station, it takes about 4-7 hours for the upward climb and 2-4 hours to climb down.

I still have to pack so I will be signing off now. If I'm not too tired, I'll try to upload the pictures after tomorrow, when we get back.

Can you believe it? I'm climbing Mount Fuji!!! See ya soon!

Fireworks in Hiratsuka

Yesterday, my roommate and I took the bus to Hiratsuka city to see the fireworks display. We watched the fireworks from the beach, along with probably hundreds other people.

There were lots of women wearing pretty yukatas, (the simpler and lighter version of a kimono). And so were we : )

Two pretty ladies : my roommate Anzu (left) and me

I think I still have to master how to wear the yukata. It's definitely not as complicated as a kimono but not easy either. My roommate struggled about 15 minutes just to try to tie a bow in the back. But with her yukata, there was no need to tie a bow. Nowadays, most people buy already-made bows that you simply stick in the back.

The fireworks lasted for about an hour. It was quite spectacular. There were a few breaks in between of course to prepare the next round but it was almost non-stop.

Waiting for the bus

I'm so lucky to have Anzu as my roommate. Without her, I never would have known about the fireworks, or even how to get there. So thank you Anzu!

Herbivore Men

This is a post for a special someone... who let me know today that I am slow in updating my blog. But it's hard to update when there's nothing new happening... so I decided to write about something else related to Japanese culture.

I first heard about "Herbivore Men" back in Canada, about a year ago, when I competed in a Japanese speech contest. At least 2 or 3 of the speeches were about these "Herbivore Men", known in Japanese as Shoshokukei danshi. I didn't understand the term at that time but since I've been in Japan, I've heard it many times (along with some new terms as well) and I thought it'd be interesting to write about.

In the past, men were considered Nikushokukei danshi (肉食系男子), in other words, Carnivore Men. These are men who actively pursue women.

However, a large percentage of Japanese men now fall under the category of Sōshokukei danshi (草食系男子), Herbivore men. These men are passive when it comes to relationships. Shy and gentle, they don't approach or pursue the women they like. According to Wikipedia, they "shun marriage or gaining a girlfriend" and "are characteristically described as frugal, and interested in personal grooming".

Now, to compensate for these "Herbivore Men", who won't confess their feelings or ask girls out on a date, girls have started to become more forthcoming in relationships, becomingNikushokukei joshi (肉食系女子), Carnivore Women.

And there are also two other terms that I learned not too long ago when I ate supper at the Iwasa's.

Asparagus Bacon (アスパラベーコン) : You know how the bacon enveloppes the asparagus? On the outside, the guy appears to be a Carnivore but he's actually a Herbivore on the inside.

Note: Picture taken from Google

Cabbage Roll (ロールキャベツ) : This is the opposite. On the outside, the guy appears to be a Herbivore when he's really a Carnivore on the inside.

Note: Picture taken from Google

That's all I'm going to write today. There's a lot more to explore on the subject but this is pretty much the extent of what I know. If you're interested, Wikipedia has a page about some of the potential causes that have led to this phenomenon and there are a couple other websites on the internet that talk about it as well.

Summer Training Camp in Tsumagoi

I'm back from Tsumagoi! It was a long week of hard practices and everyone was quite tired by the end but it was a good week.

From Hiratsuka (where I live), it took about 6 hours by bus to Tsumagoi, located in the Gunma Prefecture. They hold the camp every year during the summer because it's so much cooler up in the mountains which makes training much more tolerable than in Tokyo where the humidity is insane.

Some people had told me the air would be thinner but I didn't feel a difference really. Either my respiratory system is in good shape or there just wasn't much of a difference.

Arriving in Tsumagoi

For the first half of the week, it was just Tokai University. We ran and practiced some footsweeps. Then, during the second half, athletes from Asahi University, Ritsumeikan University and Biwako Seikei Sports University came to practice with us.

There were a lot more athletes than this but a lot of them
left for a competition only a few days after their arrival

This was our daily schedule: Wake up around 6:45, stretching exercises at 7:10, breakfast at 7:30, judo practice from 9:00-12:00, shower, lunch at 12:30, nap, second judo practice from 3:00-5:00, running from 5:15-5:45, second shower, supper at 6:30 and then to bed.

It was a hard week. But going through it together (with the Tokai girls), and encouraging each other during the practices : Faito! Faito! (which means "Fight! Keep going!") was also a great experience. Like my dad says, it's also a unique experience for a foreigner in Japan to have. Normally, foreigners don't attend these training camps because foreigners are usually only in Japan for a short time. But I've been here for almost a year now and they've come to see me as part of the team so there was no hesitation when they invited me to participate in the training camp.

We stayed at the Tokai University Tsumagoi Kogen Training Center

Written in Japanese : Tokai University Tsumagoi Kogen Kenkyu Center

Eating supper

Tsumagoi is reknown for its cabbage: there were fields of cabbage everywhere!

A little friend I found by the side of the road

Celebrating the end of the camp: Picture taken right after the last running practice

Summer training camp

After a nice long break from judo, practice restarted on Thursday. And I'm already exhausted! In the mornings we practiced for 3 hours! And then another hour in the afternoon. My body is aching everywhere: my neck, my back, my thighs, my legs, ...you get the picture. You can see me dragging myself up the stairs after practice. When I come back to the residence to eat lunch after practice, the others are just waking up. lol.

And it's not over! Tomorrow, I'm going to Tsumagoi (in the Gunma prefecture, located directly west of the Tochigi prefecture) along with the Tokai judo girls for a week-long training camp. We'll be running and practicing judo everyday. One good thing is that since it's a mountainous area, it'll be a lot cooler than here. It's unbelievably hot when we practice at the dojo in Tokai during the summer.

However, because it's a mountainous area, the air will also be less dense, making it harder to breathe. But since I'll be climbing Mt. Fuji in about two weeks, it'll be good practice : )

I won't have access to a computer during the whole week so I'll update as soon as I get back.

Coming back to Canada Countdown

Some of you might have already noticed the new addition to my blog: a countdown timer. If you look at the right side of the screen, under the heading "Countdown", you should see a black rectangle with numbers on it. That's the amount of time left before I take the plane at 17:40 on October 5th. The number of days/hours/minutes/seconds may vary depending on what time zone your computer is set at. You can also place your cursor on the rectangle and a different message will pop up. Pretty neat, right? : )

Now, it wasn't easy to install it on my blog. It took me 1h30 just to figure it out. I tried many different websites that create a countdown widget that can be used in blogs. I just got error messages telling me that the html was incorrect. But I was taking the html codes right from the websites. I've played a bit with HTML coding and website design so I understand a few things but I didn't know what was wrong with the codes. So I tried another website. And another. And searched countless times on Google: "how to add a countdown widget to Blogger", "countdown widget that works on Blogger", etc. And finally, after trying many different things, I succeeded!

For those who want to know how I did it (and for the other people like me searching the web to find an answer to their problem), here it is:

1) First, you need to create your widget. There are a lot of websites out there that will make them for you or have better designs but the one that worked for me was http://mycountdown.org
2) Select a countdown from the left-hand menu. They're all pretty much the same. Once you select one, you can customize it: choose the background color, font color, time and date, text, etc.
3) Then, you copy the code.
4) In Blogger, go to "Layout", then select "Add a Gadget". Under the tablet "Basics", you should find "HTML/JavaScript". Select it.
5) Paste the text you just copied into the text box. Make sure that "Rich text" is written on the top right side of the text box. If you click on it, it changes to "Edit HTML". If you think like me, you would think that that's where the code should go. But no, for some reason, it alters the code completely if you place it under "Edit HTML".
6) Then save your changes and hopefully, you should see the countdown widget appear on your page. If it didn't, go over the steps and just keep trying. There is a way. It just might take you an 1h30 to find it ; )

Kimono and yukata!

Yesterday, my great-aunt Shizuko had organized for me to take a picture wearing a kimono. She had everything all prepared. One of her close neighbors had worked as a kimono specialist and agreed to lent us a kimono (buying one is waaay too expensive). Shizuko'd also found a photo studio that would take my picture.

Let me tell you, wearing a kimono is very complicated. There are so many layers and different sashes and belts. Both the kimono specialist and my aunt helped me get into the kimono.

First, there are thin undergarments to absorb sweat because the kimono is thick and it gets pretty hot under all those layers. Then there is sort of satin robe. Then the kimono which is pretty heavy. Then come the many sashes and belts. The kimono specialist would pull tightly on the sashes to help keep everything in place. When it was done, I couldn't breathe properly. I'd start to breathe but have to stop about halfway because there was no more room for the chest to expand. Then I had to insert my feet into tight sandals. I had to be careful when I walked because the kimono doesn't allow much space for movement. And I certainly didn't want to trip over the hem and rip the kimono. So I took tiny steps.

Unfortunately the pictures aren't ready yet so I can't upload them right now. They'll be ready in about 2 weeks. I can't wait to see them : )

Then, after getting out of all those layers and back into normal (breathable) clothes, we walked back to the kimono specialist's house. I had mentioned to my great-aunt that it would be great if I could buy a yukata (a lighter and simpler version of the kimono) to bring back home with me. And my great-aunt mentioned this to the kimono specialist who immediately told us she had some at home that weren't being used. Back when she was teaching, she would bring yukatas as a display or to be tried on by students but now there were hanging in her house collecting dust. So she brought a few yukatas for me to choose from and I immediately knew which one I wanted. A nice pink color with beautiful flowers. Pretty isn't it? : ) Now I just have to remember how to wear it properly.

The kimono specialist, Koizumi (left) and my great-aunt Shizuko (right)

London Olympics 2012: a disappointing result

This past week, I watched more tv than I do in a whole year. From 5 o'clock to about 10 o'clock I was pretty much glued to the tv, following the live broadcast of the judo competition. I was very hopeful for the Japanese team. I was especially excited to watch Haruka Tachimoto (4th year at Tokai) and Riki Nakaya (a graduate from Tokai) compete in their first Olympics.

Note: Picture taken from Google images. I do not own this picture.

Unfortunately, the team did not do as well as expected. They only won 7 medals. Out of those 7 medals, only one gold (Matsumoto -57kg), 3 silver (Nakaya -73kg, Sugimoto +78kg, Hiraoka -66kg) and 3 bronze (Ebinuma -66kg, Nishiyama -90kg, Ueno -63kg). And many of the athletes lost in the second round, a big upset.

If it were Canada, 7 medals would be amazing. Just winning one medal is an amazing feat. But for Japan, it's not good enough. For Japan, as repeated many times by the Japanese judo athletes in interviews, there is only gold. Nothing else counts.

I'm not sure exactly what was missing or what went wrong. Is it simply that the other athletes were better? I don't think so. Was it the mental preparation? It's more likely a number of factors and they will surely be examined intensively by the Japanese judo coaches and managers in the months to come.