Mount Fuji Expedition

Sorry for being out of touch. I'll send a few blogs if I can tonight to catch up. First, Mount Fuji. You are correct, we did drive there in a little red car. Uno drove and we went top down. It took a couple of hours to get there. Driving in Tokyo was busy, but not too bad on a Sunday. There were a few tense moments though as they get REALLY close to each other. As we drove the city started getting smaller and smaller and we saw more mountains. They aren't big, but the sides are steep. Japan uses every bit of available flat land that they can and they terrace other areas, but they can't do much with most of the mountainous regions. It was getting colder and colder as we drove. We still kept the top down and cranked the heat. We were getting a few looks though. We saw Mount Fuji from the road and I got a picture, but you have to look really hard through the mist to see it. (The network is terrible from where I am now so I can't upload pictures. You'll just have to imagine.) You are correct about your personal account up the volcano, there are stations that you walk to and get a sticker for your staff. We cheated. You can drive up to station five and there is a little market and a cafe. It was about 3 degress Celsius - maybe 35 degrees Fahrenheit - when we got to the top. Uno was thoughtful enough to bring an extra jacket for me. (I had long sleeves and a leather jacket but had not brought winter clothes!) It was SO foggy at station 5 you could barely see across the street. Thus, I knew where I was, and I had a great drive up, but I could not see the mountain. The drive was sort of like the switchbacks on the Beartooth pass, but not as steep. It was nice. You are not supposed to climb this time of year unless you are a professional, plus all the other stations are closed. I was definitely NOT prepared for it this time around, but it gave me a good idea of what I will be in for when I actually get the opportunity. We ate a noodle lunch and went back outside. There were some horses you could rent and Uno was ready for his very first ride ever, but the deal was they take you to station 7 and we weren't up for that today (and we weren't dressed for it) so we passed. Toilet update. Most of modern Tokyo has at least one or two Western toilets along with about 30 Japanese toilets. So, when ya gotta go... It's actually not difficult. It was starting to rain a little so we headed back down. Not far from the volcano is an amusement park - and though Uno likes rollercoasters he's never been to this one. So, we go. The first one was in the previous blog. It was the biggest rollercoaster I've ever been on. We were waiting in line to go in and Uno said it looked like I was getting excited. I said yes and asked him how he was doing. He patted his cheeks and said, "A little pale." It was SO much fun. I could barely catch my breath from both the drops (4 big ones) and the fact that I was laughing so hard at all the "ooohhhhh" noises that Uno was making. It was hilarious. From there we went to the Eejanaika. This is completely indescribable! Here's the official website: http://www.eejanaika.jp/ You can always tell how fun a coater will be by the type of harness they use to strap you in. Little lap belt gives you a little ride. This thing had what I would call robot arms to hold you in. I had never seen anything this industrial before. We waited in line forever, but it was the craziest experience I've ever had on a roller coaster. This has the world record for the must number of loops. Plus, you go backward, upside down, twisting the entire time. It was great! One side note, I stood in line for a LONG time with a six year old Japanese girl. She went on the first coaster and then waited in line so her parents could go on the second one. We were fast friends and played while we waited. She had a little magnetic/erase notepad and I wrote math equations for her to solve. She knew a little English but it took all she had to say "Hello" and "Bye bye.". She drew a portrait of me that I got to keep. From there we took a little tamer ride on a freefall tower. You sit down, the tower takes you up, then you freefall. The best part of this ride was the big Japanese man sitting next to me. His scream was approximately the pitch of Sydney's - and he couldn't stop. It was quite funny. So, then after that we get back on the freeway and hit the traffic jam. It was at this point I wish I had Gary's conversational skills. We did chat a bit, but it got a little long - plus there were those awkward moments when we just couldn't figure out what the other person was saying. At one point he asked me how many Japanese Kanji characters I knew. I thought about it for a minute and then said, "zero". He laughed and told me I should really learn a few. I asked him for recommendations and he said (in the polite Japanese way), "Maybe 'Danger'?" I got to see a lot of cars on the drive there and back, but the one thing that looked the strangest, and just didn't fit in with Tokyo, were these tricked-out cars that looked like 1970's Caddilacs. They all had tinted windows and this same sign in gold lettering on the back window. I saw them on the drive there and back. It was when I saw about 5 or 6 in a row that finally asked Uno what they were - a car club maybe? "Yes" he said. "Maffia." Ah - I had heard about this. They're called the "Yakuza" and they are highly trained gangsters known for overall body tattoos, flashy cars, and missing the tip of their little finger - their signature. Police just accept their existence and don't get involved much. At this point I was trying to think of exactly how many of these cars I'd seen. Maybe 12 or 15? So, it was home late because of traffic and then off to bed. I'll blog again after dinner to tell you about my trip to Taipei.