Birthday...Matsuri...富士山 (Mount Fuji)...

The past 2 weeks were very fun filled. My birthday was the 29th and I wanted to keep it pretty low key. I was able to talk to some family that day which made it very special. Also, Lisa managed to send me a package and it was delivered on my birthday. Michael took me to a fancy sushi kaiten (sushi on a conveyor belt) which was delicious! He also managed to get me a scrumptious birthday cake. I think the cake was meant to serve 8, but Michael and I ate it all within 2 days. It really wasn’t that big. All in all, I had a fantastic birthday.

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Over the weekend of the first, Michael went surfing in the morning with Tsuruta-san and Kenta-san. Surfing is one of Michael’s new interests which he enjoys and it’s a lot of fun, but exhausting at the same time. At night, Utsunomiya had a big festival (Miya Matsuri). I have yet to find out the true meaning behind the festival. There were lots of groups, communities, etc. that join together and carry small portable shrines. They walked up and down the main street and finished off the night at Futaarayama Shrine. We met up with Kenta-san and Tada-san during the festival and walked around and ate the usual festival foods.

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This past weekend marks the beginning of Obon holiday. On Sunday, Michael and I went with Yuta-san, Hayashi-san, Azumi-san, Erina-san, and Monica-san to climb Fuji-san (Mount Fuji). We left Utsunomiya around 6:30am and drove down to Shizuoka. From there we parked the cars and took a shuttle bus to the fifth station of Fuji-san. The fifth station begins at 2,305m and the top of the mountain is 3,776m. We began our journey at 13:00! The trek up was pretty slow paced because there were many hikers. Our goal was the seventh station so that we could have dinner, rest and wake up around 23:00 to begin hiking again to catch the infamous sunset. We made it to our mountain hut (山小屋) earlier than expected, so we chilled outside to take in the amazing view. Dinner was served around 5:00 and then it was bedtime shortly after. Our plan was to wake up at 22:30 to begin our ascent to the top of the mountain, unfortunately that did not happen. We were hit with a downpour of rain and it continued through the night. With hopes that the rain would let up, we delayed out departure until 2:30am, but again the rain was coming down pretty hard. By the time 5:30am came around, Yuta-san decided that it would be best to head back home. We put on all our rain gear and headed home. It was a disappointment to say the least, but we all made it back safely, which was the most important factor. We were told that a typhoon developed in the Sea of Japan that day which caused the heavy rain. To top things off, there was a pretty sizable earthquake too. It’s a weird feeling when you are swaying in a mountain hut 2,800m above sea level. The journey was a wonderful experience and we intend on climbing Fuji-san again!

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