The alarm goes off at 6AM. It's too late. Both Barbara and I are already up. My body is still not quite sure what's going on with this time change. We get ready and head to breakfast. The apple juice here is...extraordinary. I'm not quite sure what it is that makes it that way. It may be just a different apple type that they juice. I don't know. Barbara had some the previous couple of days and I finally tried it. I should just learn to listen to my wife more.
I think it's about time we covered a topic that needs to be addressed. Toilets. There are a couple different toilets here; Our standard western toilets and the squat toilets. We've experienced the squat toilet while wandering around China. Every hotel we've stayed in, regardless of country, have had standard western toilets...until now. There is nothing standard about the western toilet here in Japan. They take it to the next level. The come with all kinds of upgrades and amenities. The one we have here in the hotel will wash you. You can choose the level of water pressure to use and it thankfully uses warm water. Ours has two different washing options; Bidet or Spray. It is a very strange sensation. I, myself
prefer the Bidet.
Barbara has obviously experienced more variations on these wonders of modern science. She tells me tales of buttons that will make flushing noises for you without you wasting water flushing (to cover up any sounds you want to cover). Some of them have adjustments for water temperature and even a drying button. On Mount Fuji, she tells me the toilet seats are warmed for you.
That being covered, we move on. Down to the lobby we head to hook up with the tour to Mount Fuji & Hakone. We are going to drive to Fuji-san by bus and head back by bullet train! Turns out to be a large group. Very large. Like 5 busloads of people large. I guess this is a popular tour. I understand a little better now when they said that this was fully booked for yesterday.
On the two hour drive out our guide, Ami, tells us all about Mt Fuji. She tells us about the different local prefectures of Japan. She tells us about which fruits come from what prefecture and in what month. She continues to bombard us with information for quite some time. I can't catch even half of it. And in case I missed any of this information, she covers it all again several more times. I still miss much of it. She then leads us in a song about Mt Fuji. I'm pretty sure I sang this in Japanese class with Hasagawa-Sensei.
As we get into the mountains we are actually greeted with something that I thought we had missed; Cherry Blossoms. They only bloom a short while during the spring months. It is a big thing here in Japan to view the cherry blossoms. In Tokyo, that time has already passed. However, due to the slightly colder climate we are getting into, the trees are blossoming just for us. Both Barbara and I are thrilled to get to see them as we had already made peace with missing them entirely.
Mount Fuji is divided into stations with station 0 at the bottom of the mountain and station 10 as the summit. There is a road going up to station 5 that is open as soon as enough snow has left the mountain. We are told on the way to Fuji-san that until yesterday at 1pm, the road was only open to station 1. However, the season has started and Station 5 is now open for business. If we had actually gotten on the tour yesterday, we would only have gotten to station 1. But, we get to head up today! That's the universe smiling on us.
There was some decent cloud cover today that is most likely going to cover the upper reaches of Mt Fuji. The weather is a fickle thing and mountains can be pretty shy. Our first glimpses of the mountain shows exactly that. We can see both slopes going up, but, the clouds cover the upper cone. We pass through station 3 and BAM! the clouds part and we get a great shot of Mt. Fuji. Our driver pulls off to the side of the road for some pictures. You can't wait when a mountain decides to come out to dance. I have not fully checked all of the photos yet, but if they are half as good as what I was seeing, they should be pretty magnificent.
We can't stay long on the side of the road as we have a schedule to keep. So, we pile back on the bus and continue our journey up the mountain. We make it to station five and I am thrilled for a couple things; First, the clouds are still staying out of our way and giving us stunning views of this renowned peak. Second, I brought a sweater. It's COLD up here!!!
Seems like no time at all passes and it's time to leave. Back in the bus and heading down the winding road. By the time we reach station 2, the clouds have rolled all the way back in. It was like they got out of the way just for us. I sure do appreciate it.
Our next stop is a river cruise on the Ashi river. Well, they call it a cruise. It's a 15 minute ferry ride. Other than the scenery, it was exactly that; A 15 minute ferry ride. That 'cruise' took us to the base of Mt. Komagatake, a volcanic cone of the Hakone mountain range. We get onto a gondola for a trip up to the summit. The views from the tram ride were nice. The colors of the trees were pretty varied. There were several trees of mountain cherry blossoms that spotted the landscape with their white flowers to add a splash of color to the various greens of the trees. At the summit of the mountain sits a Shinto Shrine.
Not too much time is allowed for us to wander around on the top of the mountain. But, there's not really much to do except take photos and congratulate yourself for summitting. Seeing as we took a tram up, there's no point in celebrating. But, we did take some photos. At the base of the tram we have to wait for another car to bring the rest of our group back down, so we head into one of the local shops that is known for their woodworking. Spectacular! I could have spent quite a bit of time and money admiring some of the intriacate inlay work that was done in that shop. We picked up a couple things and I told the man behind the counter I thought his work was beautiful.
With the rest of our group down from the summit, we get back on the bus and head off for our final part of the tour; The bullet train back to Tokyo. What took 2 hours to drive to will take less than 37 minutes to return from. Oh, and it runs about $37. Why the hell is Amtrack so expensive?!? It's just a damned train on a track. This is a bullet train. Oh, and it was first put into service in 1964...fifty years ago in October. Not like it's new technology. Stupid Amtrack.
I would love to say that riding the train was different than any other train. But, it's not. Oh, it's fast alright. But, it's just a fast train ride. I do so appreciate that we didn't have to go back by bus...that was an option on the tour for $30 less. As we arrive into Tokyo station, we get off the train and head off to find a magic land that our tour guide told us about today; Ramen Street. It's apparently in the basement of the train station. There are many, many ramen shops that people supposedly stand in line in order to get in.
After quite a few bad turns and poor directional decisions, we find exactly what we are looking for, Ramen Street location achieved! Sure enough, there are several shops with Disneyland like lines to get in. Seriously, there's one line that had 'approximate wait times'. It went back to just about an hour wait to get in and eat ramen. We were too hungry for an hour. So, we wandered a bit. We finally found one that had a line that we felt we could handle. However, ordering was going to be interesting...
That's the ordering vending machine. No waiter asking to take your order. No, you buy tickets for the meal you want and then wait in the line until there is a seat available for you. Then you hand the staff your tickets and he eventually brings you the food. Well, we got a couple bowls of ramen and a plate of gyoza. Faith in the ramen producing humanity is restored! Friends, this is the ramen we were told about. This was the ramen of our dreams. This. Is. Ramen. We actually ordered 'dipping' ramen. So, they gave us a bowl of the broth and another bowl filled with noodles. We were a bit stumped as to exactly what to do (we didn't know we ordered 'dipping' ramen at the time). Luckily for me, Barbara has very little shame in her game. She pulled the guy who sat us over and asked how to eat it. He smiled and nodded and told us to get some noodles and move them over into the broth. Eat those. That ramen will live in my dreams...
It was way past time to head back to our hotel, so we begin to head back to our hotel to call it a night...just after we pick up a couple of these delicious looking pastries from a shop here in the basement.
I think it's about time we covered a topic that needs to be addressed. Toilets. There are a couple different toilets here; Our standard western toilets and the squat toilets. We've experienced the squat toilet while wandering around China. Every hotel we've stayed in, regardless of country, have had standard western toilets...until now. There is nothing standard about the western toilet here in Japan. They take it to the next level. The come with all kinds of upgrades and amenities. The one we have here in the hotel will wash you. You can choose the level of water pressure to use and it thankfully uses warm water. Ours has two different washing options; Bidet or Spray. It is a very strange sensation. I, myself
 |
| Our Bathroom Command & Control Center |
Barbara has obviously experienced more variations on these wonders of modern science. She tells me tales of buttons that will make flushing noises for you without you wasting water flushing (to cover up any sounds you want to cover). Some of them have adjustments for water temperature and even a drying button.
That being covered, we move on. Down to the lobby we head to hook up with the tour to Mount Fuji & Hakone. We are going to drive to Fuji-san by bus and head back by bullet train! Turns out to be a large group. Very large. Like 5 busloads of people large. I guess this is a popular tour. I understand a little better now when they said that this was fully booked for yesterday.
On the two hour drive out our guide, Ami, tells us all about Mt Fuji. She tells us about the different local prefectures of Japan. She tells us about which fruits come from what prefecture and in what month. She continues to bombard us with information for quite some time. I can't catch even half of it. And in case I missed any of this information, she covers it all again several more times. I still miss much of it. She then leads us in a song about Mt Fuji. I'm pretty sure I sang this in Japanese class with Hasagawa-Sensei.
As we get into the mountains we are actually greeted with something that I thought we had missed; Cherry Blossoms. They only bloom a short while during the spring months. It is a big thing here in Japan to view the cherry blossoms. In Tokyo, that time has already passed. However, due to the slightly colder climate we are getting into, the trees are blossoming just for us. Both Barbara and I are thrilled to get to see them as we had already made peace with missing them entirely.
 |
| Cherry Blossoms |
There was some decent cloud cover today that is most likely going to cover the upper reaches of Mt Fuji. The weather is a fickle thing and mountains can be pretty shy. Our first glimpses of the mountain shows exactly that. We can see both slopes going up, but, the clouds cover the upper cone. We pass through station 3 and BAM! the clouds part and we get a great shot of Mt. Fuji. Our driver pulls off to the side of the road for some pictures. You can't wait when a mountain decides to come out to dance. I have not fully checked all of the photos yet, but if they are half as good as what I was seeing, they should be pretty magnificent.
 |
| Fuji-San |
Seems like no time at all passes and it's time to leave. Back in the bus and heading down the winding road. By the time we reach station 2, the clouds have rolled all the way back in. It was like they got out of the way just for us. I sure do appreciate it.
Our next stop is a river cruise on the Ashi river. Well, they call it a cruise. It's a 15 minute ferry ride. Other than the scenery, it was exactly that; A 15 minute ferry ride. That 'cruise' took us to the base of Mt. Komagatake, a volcanic cone of the Hakone mountain range. We get onto a gondola for a trip up to the summit. The views from the tram ride were nice. The colors of the trees were pretty varied. There were several trees of mountain cherry blossoms that spotted the landscape with their white flowers to add a splash of color to the various greens of the trees. At the summit of the mountain sits a Shinto Shrine.
 |
| Mountaintop Shrine |
With the rest of our group down from the summit, we get back on the bus and head off for our final part of the tour; The bullet train back to Tokyo. What took 2 hours to drive to will take less than 37 minutes to return from. Oh, and it runs about $37. Why the hell is Amtrack so expensive?!? It's just a damned train on a track. This is a bullet train. Oh, and it was first put into service in 1964...fifty years ago in October. Not like it's new technology. Stupid Amtrack.
I would love to say that riding the train was different than any other train. But, it's not. Oh, it's fast alright. But, it's just a fast train ride. I do so appreciate that we didn't have to go back by bus...that was an option on the tour for $30 less. As we arrive into Tokyo station, we get off the train and head off to find a magic land that our tour guide told us about today; Ramen Street. It's apparently in the basement of the train station. There are many, many ramen shops that people supposedly stand in line in order to get in.
After quite a few bad turns and poor directional decisions, we find exactly what we are looking for, Ramen Street location achieved! Sure enough, there are several shops with Disneyland like lines to get in. Seriously, there's one line that had 'approximate wait times'. It went back to just about an hour wait to get in and eat ramen. We were too hungry for an hour. So, we wandered a bit. We finally found one that had a line that we felt we could handle. However, ordering was going to be interesting...
 |
| I can take your order... |
That's the ordering vending machine. No waiter asking to take your order. No, you buy tickets for the meal you want and then wait in the line until there is a seat available for you. Then you hand the staff your tickets and he eventually brings you the food. Well, we got a couple bowls of ramen and a plate of gyoza. Faith in the ramen producing humanity is restored! Friends, this is the ramen we were told about. This was the ramen of our dreams. This. Is. Ramen. We actually ordered 'dipping' ramen. So, they gave us a bowl of the broth and another bowl filled with noodles. We were a bit stumped as to exactly what to do (we didn't know we ordered 'dipping' ramen at the time). Luckily for me, Barbara has very little shame in her game. She pulled the guy who sat us over and asked how to eat it. He smiled and nodded and told us to get some noodles and move them over into the broth. Eat those. That ramen will live in my dreams...
It was way past time to head back to our hotel, so we begin to head back to our hotel to call it a night...just after we pick up a couple of these delicious looking pastries from a shop here in the basement.
Incredible day! Thanks for the detailed blog.
ReplyDeleteI saw something on TV once about the ramen in Tokyo Station and I remember seeing the lines. How awesome is it that you got the magical experience of whatever show I watched promised you would have? My mouth is watering at the idea of dipping ramen. What did the broth taste like?
Fuji-san apparently loved the Moebarb. I can't imagine the feeling you must have had climbing even just half of that iconic mountain. Was it crowded? Lots of bumping into people or no?
Love the critique of Amtrak. Seems like Japan figured their business out early on. Barb works for the mayor! Barb... make some magic. Do it for Fuji-san.
My friend, I want detailed accounts of that toilet over our next pint together. A moment-by-moment, poophoric account. I have dreamed about that experience for years. I may officially hate you now.
Hoping there is one more blog before you return...
I can't even describe the ramen broth. There were small slices of some kind of meat in there (that had a glorious bacony flavor to it. But, it wasn't bacon), some cabbage, slices of scallion...
DeleteFuji was not as crowded as I had thought. The bus parking lot has room for 40 buses, and less than 20 slots were taken up. The shop was filled to the brim with people, though (it was warm in there).
There is still a post and a half to come. I just need to finish up the details on our last full day there. Stay tuned.