Fuji-San

After repeated requests from individual readers I will now (finally) post about our trip to Mt. Fuji. :)

The season for climbing officially ends on 30/September, so we checked the weather forecast and chose one of the last weekends of September for that trip. We would also have gone during the week, but the weather forecast for the weekend was simply better. On Saturday evening we took a bus from Shinjuku at about 19:00. Around 22:00 we arrived at Station 5 of Fuji. I bought a special Japanese walking stick, we turned on our flashlights and off we went…

Branding of a walking stick

On station 6 we caught up with the crowds of hikers. I got myself a branding/stamp on the stick showing that I made it to station 6. We continued to hike through the night and at 5 am we had almost reached the top. The closer we came to the summit the more difficult the walk became because of the masses of people who wanted to view the sunrise from the top. Finally everyone stopped and we also did so to take some nice pictures.

Endless trails of hikers

Sunrise, seen from (almost) the top of Mount Fuji


We reached station 10 shortly after sunrise. It was still very crowded. I stopped to get the final stamp/branding for my walking stick. After circling the crater rim most people had already started to descent so we were more on our own.

The very busy tenth station



A lone shrine on the rim of the crater


According to plan we chose a different road for the descent, walking down slopes of volcanic sand. At around noon we arrived at the base of the mountain, from there we took a bus and later a train. We arrived tired and hungry in the afternoon in Tokyo.

The inner part of the crater

Descending into the mist

All in all a very nice and unique experience, however one should not go at the end of the season on a weekend. It’s probably much better to bring some warm clothes and go during the week shortly after the season to avoid the crowds.