Japan, driving me crazy?

SINCE I'm going to Okinawa next week, I needed to get a Japanese driver's license. The hotel where I'm going is 2 1/2 hours away from the airport, by car! There is no shuttle to get to the hotel from the airport, of course there's public transportation, but it's only 1 bus which goes each way once a day. This meant I had to get a Japanese driver's license and fast.

A quick Google search will pull up many pages of different people explaining different methods and required papers. For Canadians (and some other places accepted by the Japanese driving bureau as acceptable) the requirements as of 2009 are: Canadian driver's license, translation into Japanese (by a certified office) of the license, Canadian passport, Japanese Alien card and proof of residency in Canada for at least 3 months after you got your license. And of course the license fee.

For the whole of Kanagawa province, which is about 1/8th the size of Japan, there is only one office which does this. The admissions office is also only open from 8:30am to 9:00am and from 1:00pm to 1:30pm. There is also a limit of 13 people who can do it in one session. This is a pretty short time for any public office I've ever seen, and it might just be the world record.

The office only accepts applications to do the paperwork for those two 30 minute periods since there are only 2 staff and every country has different requirements. So I grabbed all the things I could think of, airplane ticket to Japan, Red Cross certification in Canada, Canadian passport, Canadian driver's license, the translation, a letter I used for my mortgage from my employer stating hours, date I started and salary, the Alien card, and I took it all there. It took me about 1h45 on the train to get to the station.

I got off the train and realized that the bus stop had so many people waiting I would never make it on time on the bus. So I walked/ran for 15 minutes and got to the office just at 1:15pm.

When you get there you have to go to the window, there the two officers review your papers and see if you have the paperwork properly done to their satisfaction. After some questioning and talking between them they finally gave me a number on a big blue card. I was in! Whoo! No 7, No 8 was the last person to make it on time before they closed.

At 1:30pm they closed the office, leaving everyone sitting outside wondering what would happen next. I talked with another guy who was there doing the same thing, he was Australian. We chatted and compared different papers for a while.

At 2:30 they reopened their window and started calling people in. However not everyone was called by number in order. As I watched other people go to the window, they sent them in different directions, seemingly for different papers.

They finally called me to the window, they took my no 7. I was told to go around the corner and get 4 small pictures taken. I went to the back of the building and got the pictures taken, it cost 600yen. Then I came back with the pictures, handed one in and waited some more. They called me back and gave me a pile of forms, one big one with 3 pages and my alien card. I was asked to sign a waiver saying that I only wanted my car license for now and that if I wanted my motorcycle license I'd have to go through the process again.

I was then told to go to the building next door. I went and in the back of the building I paid 4500yen for 4 stamps. They stuck two of the smaller ones on the 3 paper form and also handed me two larger ones loose. I then had to go upstairs to a machine, press some buttons, enter two 4 digit codes, get a paper with a barcode and PINs on it, fill out some information on the big paper, and hand it all in back at the first building.

I handed in the forms and again waited. They called me back a while later, this time I went into the office and did a quick eye exam, there is a large sheet with many circles on it. The circles have holes on one side, pointing either up, down, left or right, you have to answer where the hole is. Then they flash a set of lights on the left of the sheet and you have to tell them which colours were up and down. The whole thing takes about 30 seconds, very efficient this part.

Then they sent me with a form and my barcode back to the first building to a different part of the first floor. I had to hand in the form, scan my barcode, get my picture taken (again?) get another form and go back to them with it and hand it in.

After handing it in and waiting some more, they made me stick my big stamps on a blue cardboard, sign a waiver saying I got all my documents back, and ushered me out. I had a big red no 12 stamped on my card. I had to fill out some more information on the card and go wait at a few rows down at a new window.

Finally after some more waiting, they called my number, it turns out they're group numbers and you have to wait until the everyone in the group is finished whatever they're doing. So I waited in line with 50 other people in group 12, went up, gave my blue card with stamps and got my license!

But it's not really done yet. I then had to go to a machine near the front door, wait in line, put my license on the pad, take it off when it was done reading it, enter my security codes and validate my information.

And then I was done! Whoo! The only drawback was that I had just renewed my license in Canada in December 2008, So they thought I'd only been driving for 11 months. They don't have licenses which expire and need to be renewed in Japan, so unless I go back and provide them with a driver's abstract showing that I've had a license for longer than that, I'm considered a "new driver". But I don't care, I have my license, I can now drive the rental car! To Okinawa I go!

Mount Fuji

SOME time ago we had decided we would climb mount Fuji. It is called a unique spiritual journey and named one of the 100 things that a person should do in their lives.


Mount Fuji stands 3776 meters (12,285 feet).

Mount Fuji is very special to the Japanese, they refer to it with the same prefix as to a social superior, Fuji San.

Fuji San is often, mistakenly, spoken of by many people as the most sacred mountain in Japan. It is one of (probably The) the most perfect volcano cones in existence.

Fuji-san is younger than most Japanese mountains, it began to rise only 25,000 years ago and assumed its general form by 8000 BC. It is frequently active, but hasn't had an eruption since 1707, which is a good thing considering many people live on and around it.

Fuji-san has been venerated as the home of a fire god, the dwelling of a Shinto goddess of flowing trees, and since Buddhist times, the abode of Dainichi Nyorai, the Buddha of All-Illuminating Wisdom.

According to early Shugendo myths the mountain was first climbed by the wizard-sage En no Gyoja around 700 AD. The first recorded climb was by an unknown monk in 1707. In 1860, Sir Rutherford Alcock, the then British Ambassador to Japan, became the first foreigner to climb Fuji-san. Women were not allowed to scale the mountain until the time of the Meiji restoration (1868).
Tradition holds that every Japanese should climb Fuji-san as a pilgrim once during their lifetime. There is a old Japanese saying which also goes: 'He who climbs mount Fuji once is a wise man, he who climbs it twice is a fool'.

Mount Fuji is divided into ten stations with the first station at the foot of the mountain and the tenth station being the summit. There are many trails but only one from which you can start at the bottom, it's called the Yoshida guchi trail. The climb is completed by 99% of people who attempt it, going by bus or car and starting at the 5th Station. The stations are described as having food and water for sale at expensive prices and offering lodging for 5000 yen per night or 7000 yen per night with food. Bathrooms are also located at the stations and cost 100 yen per use.

So with a bunch of equipment for the climb and a lot of reading up on the Internet on what to bring and how to do the climb, we decided we would not do it the way most people do (climb from 2/3 up starting at station 5) but would go the traditional way from the base at the Sengen Shrine. We also wanted to do a night climb since we could then enjoy the greatest sight of Fuji-san, the sun rising standing from the summit. We estimated a 12-13 hour climb to the summit.

Oh ye of little knowledge... We took the trains from Yokosuka and traveled along 4 different train lines before we got to the station at Fujiyoshida, the city at the bottom of the Fuji-san. We left at 10:30am and got there at 4:50pm.

Mount Fuji from the Train.

Once there we walked around searching, and finally, ended up at the shrine where our big journey was to begin. It was a beautiful temple with two large sacred trees. The monk told us to start our journey we should just walk straight on to the path and go up.

Entrance from the street, The pathway, Gate to the temple


Temple, Dragon water fountain,Sacred tree


Exit from the Temple onto the path

So we walked out and found the traditional path, a small narrow path deep in the forest, littered with stones, leaves, branches and ruts. This was a good hike and rough going (we thought so, but in hindsight it was nothing at all) until about 6:00pm when the sun started to sink low.

Then we got out the lamps and started to walk in the dark.
By 6:30pm it was pitch black, during our trip through the forest we barely saw the full moon, which was shining above in a clear sky, due to the thick tree cover. Then we started slowly stumbling our way up the path, in the dark with our flashlights and with the quiet crunch of our footsteps.

The path in the dusk, me

Note: We didn't take pictures from here on until the sunrise, we were too occupied with climbing, so some the following pictures of the path are from other people.

Path

We had our first moment of surprise and nearly a heart attack. We hadn't even made it near the first station. This was our first incorrect assumption on the maps.

So we started (again) climbing. This trail was wider, the first few parts were confusing since they were paved. The biggest difference however was how steep the path was. This path was finally wide enough for two people to walk side by side, made of dirt and strewn with stones. There was also a new development, long and tall stairs between flatter parts which came more and more often.


We fashioned some fairly straight walking sticks from sticks we found on the ground, they were grand.

Stairs

The second moment of surprise came in the form of a large, Indiana Jones type, booby trap in the middle of the path. We couldn't believe our eyes. For reasons we still do not know, all along the path there are big square holes dug in the path, two each time, one above the other. The first one is filled with large jagged rocks and the second is a shallow pit usually with water or mud at the bottom. Getting through requires going around around the jagged rock ones and sometimes around, sometimes through the pit ones.

Pit in the background

It was with great anticipation that we arrived at station one. We were looking forward to seeing another human being and maybe finding a nice place to sit. This is where surprise number three awaited us. The first 4-5 stations are not stations as described, but old, abandoned, dilapidated, and sometimes collapsed, huts. The first two "stations" had serviceable roofs and some wood benches, however some other "stations" were nothing but rotting timber on the ground, with not even a bench to sit on. This is also where we realized, nothing is marked properly on the maps. The times to travel between places, the distances and the names are mostly guesses. There are, for example 2 stations called "station 4". And to top it off, the secondary "stations" are not marked on the maps, in fact, the marking on the maps don't come close to the real spots where they are.

Dilapidated stations

Station 5 was our goal as of station 3, we knew it would be a real station since this is where all the other hikers started their climbs, there are many pictures of station 5 on the Internet with it's shops and bus stations.

Our hike grew harder by the minute as the slopes, pits, stairs, misleading signs, lack of stations, hunger, lack of sleep, new surprises and misleading paths slowed us down. This was all exponentially psychologically and morally draining because we were climbing in the dark. We gained moral support from each other to continue the climb.

We took stops at regular intervals and snacked on our sandwiches and granola bars. There was no turning back till we got to the fifth station since going back would take longer than going forward. So despite the dark and the climbing which got harder and harder, we pressed on forward.

Our morale was getting high again as we passed the second station four and 30 minutes later found ourselves excitedly looking forward to arriving to station 5 and some civilization and rest.

Our fourth surprise was highly demoralizing as we got to station number 5 only to find it was another dilapidated wooden shack. We stopped in confusion and tried to figure out what the problem was hoping we hadn't strayed from the path. We figured that there probably was a real station 5 but that maybe it would be another hike till we found the actual station we had seen on the pictures. We continued hiking and came across second collapsed "station 5". We pressed on, passing two more sets of huts and shacks before the path took us for a short while onto a paved road and finally, in the near distance, we saw the lights of the real stations.

Old Station 5

Getting to the first real 5th station felt incredible, here there were people, sleeping inside, others awake, benches and a washroom. This was what we had been looking for. Gone was our tiredness and low morale.

Real Station 5!

We bought two 500ml bottles of water for 300 yen each. Looking down we could see the amazing distance we had covered and a sign told us we had climbed from our beginning altitude of 800m to 2300m. The bathroom was very interesting, flushing would send a slow wall of foam bubbles down which would clean away everything. It was 10:30pm by the time we got there, 5 hours after we started climbing the mountain and 12 since we had left the house that morning. We had finally arrived to the place where everyone else started their climbing. The whole time we had only encountered one person going down the trail and two others going up.

We drank and ate and rested a bit at station 5, now knowing we were within close range of humanity. We could clearly see the lights of the other stations as beacons leading us to our next stop.

After a 15 minute rest we put on our warm sweaters and jackets and started towards station 6.

The climb was very similar to the previous part but was better in the fact that we didn't have booby traps anymore. It was also slightly larger and easier to follow. It was also much steeper.
Rations

Just a few steps under station 6 the tree cover disappeared. It was a beautiful full moon and it gave us some extra light. At the 6th station we finally encountered other hikers going up the mountain, many of them. Most were Japanese, we only saw a couple of foreigners climbing the mountain during the entire trip. We put on our winter jackets and wool gloves, it was now 11:30pm and temperatures were quickly dropping.

Food hut, Lights of people, Climbers

Note: our pictures from here on

From here on it became some serious climbing. Tough hard slopes and scrambling up long stretches of rocks were what we had to do. The path is a long series of zigzags up the mountain. Most people passed us, but we took comfort in knowing that they had all started an hour or two ago and we were already long into our 7th hour. Station 7 is actually 3 stations, the first is an hour climbing from the 6th, the other are 15-20 minutes from each other.

Zigzag path to station 8

Station 8 is where things started to go downhill for me, I started to get a pounding headache, dizziness and feeling nauseous. This I really felt when I got up or sat down. It was probably due to minor mountain sickness and compounded by a lack of sleep and enough water. I had a very hard time going up the rest of the mountain but was helped a lot by my girlfriend and another friend who was climbing with us.

The climb from the first 7th station to the second 8th station took us till 4:30am. It was a slow, grueling climb. Up sheer faces and all climbing with hands and feet.
This is where we decided to wait, shivering, to see the sunrise at 5:30am. We huddled and waited for an hour.

Waiting for the sunrise

The sunrise was different from anything else I have seen, even in my mental and physical state I kept looking till the sun was too bright. I would describe it as slowly majestic, but I can't do it enough justice.

Sunrise from Mount Fuji

We decided to spend the 1000 yen it cost per person and spend 1 hour together taking a quick nap in one of the rest huts at the fourth 8th station, another one hour or more climb away.

Afterward I wanted to take the return path and go to the bus before reaching the top, but I was convinced to finish the climb. So we set out again, going from the last 8th station to the summit. It was 11:00 am by the time we reached it. Elevation 3776 meters, almost 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) higher than where we started.

Mount Fuji 9th station climb, my girlfriend

The summit itself was a bit disappointing, a big mass of stone huts and bathrooms and people gathered in one place. Other parts of the summit had some sights to see but we decided we were too tired to walk and look around anymore. The crater was an interesting sight, steep banks going down deep into the mountain.

Summit marker, Stairs and gate to summit, Fuji Summit Gate


Fuji's Crater

The climb to the summit was one of the physically hardest things I've done in my life.


Both us us at the summit

The way down is along a flat path which is made of mountain sand, rocks, and is mostly soft. It is also in a zigzag pattern, and at an insane angle downwards. Some people were jogging down this 60 degree slope. After the first few stumbling zigzags down I started to feel much better and was able to pick up the pace. We trotted down the rest of the mountain in a method closely resembling skiing down a slope (which we kind of were, except it was sand and rocks). We trotted and slid from side to side of the path. It helped quite a bit, keeping the wear on our joints down. We made it to the bottom to the 7th station, then a bit lower, and finally we were on the straight path to the second real 5th station where we would take the bus home. The climb down took another 5 hours.

We got to the bus zone at 2:00pm-ish. We bought some souvenirs and had a small plate of food, we also got ice cream, an incredible treat after this climb.

We took the 3:00pm bus and left. We took the trains home and by the time we crossed the door it was 8pm Sunday.

We traveled 13 hours, climbed up and down a mountain for nearly 18 hours, walked 19 km (12 miles) in distance and climbed 3 km in elevation. We did this with no sleep, little rest and food. I'm impressed and changed by what we did and saw, it was truly a unique experience, an incredible personal feat and something that I will never forget, it will haunt me for years to come.

I will be sticking to the Japanese saying though, only a fool would do that twice! Well... maybe one day in the far future I'll try it again. Next time though, I'll be better prepared, after all if I can do this, what else can I do? Maybe Everest?... Nah...


Should have brought a hat! but a t-shirt works too.