FUJI-SAN AND STUFF
Week Two in Tokyo turned out to be a little more normal. I was on a bearable sleep schedule, I had a better feeling of where I was, work wasn't as tiring (though not exactly super engaging) and yeah, all was going ok. Again, frisbee was a great release and fun spot in the middle of the week.
As an unexpected development, I ended up moving to a different apartment on Friday. I'll go into the details more in just a bit, but it turned out being an excellent call. Now I'm living in Azabujuban, a little closer to downtown, near a few other CAReer trainees, and with a few more people and lights around. It's definitely a big step up from where I was at, and despite the hecticness of the timing it was all well worth it.
Why was it hectic? Well, I ended up moving mere hours before we jumped on a bus to go climb Mt. Fuji. But first, here are some pics of my new digs! Note the balcony picture, on the right hand side. Not bad, huh?
Mt. Fuji-san
Last Friday late afternoon, me and a motley crew of Germans and Austrians boarded a bus headed to the tallest point in Japan. The ride there was beautiful - lush, green forests in beautiful mountains with the sun trying to peek through. It reminded me a little bit of Guatemala, with the landscape and lush forested areas.
The sun was doing its best to come out and give us a great view, and eventually, it cleared up and boom, there was Fuji-San. What a drastic mountain, it literally comes up from nothing in its surroundings to such a pristine peak. The view on the way was gorgeous, with a full view from foothills to summit.
We eventually got up to the ski-village-like base camp that is Station 5, and had some time to kick around before we left for the sunrise at the summit. We got some food, I took a nice little nap, and we had some powwow time with the whole group for a while. Eventually, 22:30 rolled around, and it was time to start the climb!
Station 5 was at about 2300m (~7500') and our goal was the unit at 3767m (~12400'). Our group of 8 was determined to make it, along with the hundreds, if not thousands, of other hikers and mountaineers with the same goal.
Long story short, all went well. It was a long hike up, but with plenty of breaks and a good pace, no injuries, sicknesses, or problems along the way. I broke off about half way up to keep going and got to the top around 4:30 just as dawn was starting to break. Holy cow was that a serene experience.
We had a quite clear night the entire way up and had some star gazing opportunities between the many hits along the way. But then, just as we got close to the top, cloud cover set in all around the mountain. That paired with the incoming light made the sunrise absolutely majestic.
We all reveled in our success and the wonderful new day for a while at the top. It was extremely impressive and hard to look away from. Eventually, we started walking around the crater and exploring the top with the sunlight. The hike around the top took about an hour and was quite cool. There were a couple of shrines up top, as well as multiple gates (I bet there's a specific name for them...) and, of course, unbelievable views in every direction. Plus we got to see the shadow of the mountain, always a cool sight.
Unfortunately, we did not spend nearly enough time at the top. I probably could've stayed up there for hours just admiring the view, but our bus back was a bit early. The trek down wasn't too bad, just long like all descents. As we got towards the bottom and descended below the clouds (that was really cool to watch, going from above to below the clouds) we got socked in with fog. It felt a little eery, but also super awesome.
We got down to the bottom and were able to get comfy, eat, and chill out for our bus with a little time to spare. Huge shoutout to my buddy Simon for what happened next. Thankfully, he reserved tickets for us in both directions, to and from the mountain. Because we had tickets already, we got straight on the bus. But sitting down, we saw this massive mob of people fighting for the extra seats. Eventually, every seat was filled and we made it back to Tokyo. Mission Accomplished.
Also, some physics fun brought to you by changes in altitude!Onsen, oh yeah
After we arrived back in town, I was able to finish unpacking and getting comfortable in my new place. I did that, took a quick nap, then headed out with a couple members of our crew to an Onsen for some relaxation.
What's an Onsen? It's a Japanese spa, and it's an awesome way to chill out, clean up, and de-stress.
Mt. Fuji to an Onsen. What a relaxing and awesome experience. Hot tubs and saunas galore, body feeling 100x better coming out of it. And the fact that it was after climbing Mt. Fuji makes it just that much better!!!
Week 3 Activities
My third week in Japan was pretty good. Monday I took a walk to the local Walmart that's way crazier. It's got some of the stuff you need, and most of everything you don't need, and it's called Don Quijote. I picked up some snacks for work. DARK CHOCOLATE KIT-KATs. ZOMFG. Win.
Tuesday I achieved a perfectly unproductive three hours at work as my Buckeyes beat Virginia Tech to start the year (a win against Hawaii was a nice win to wake up to Sunday morning the next week).
Wednesday my boss gave me and another trainee, Simon, a ride up to Kitsuregawa. There, Mitsubishi has a large testing and development facility, that's quite decked out with tools and resources. They've got a giant oval track, a multipurpose track section, hill sections, and full system, component, and vehicle test benches. It makes our facilities in Portland, and Madras especially, look like a total joke. But that visit was fun, I even got to drive our fully electric light duty truck! What fun!
Thursday after work, I met up with Simon and some other coworkers and went to an all you can eat and drink fest near work. Mitsubishi has leased the building that this restaurant/meeting place has been in for the last 30 years. But now they're cutting the lease, and the restaurant will be going with it, so they're having some AYCE/D things to get rid of all the food and drink. What's that mean? A free sake box, pint glass, and flowing beer, food, and sake. It was a fun night. Plus, free pint glass!?!? How dope is that!?!?!?
Friday, I took the morning off to use the first day of actual sunshine since I got here to walk around my new apartment. The two highlights, Zojoji temple and the Tokyo Tower. It was a b-e-a-utiful morning, and it was great to explore! The temple was beautiful. Very serene and interesting to explore/experience.
Then I meandered over to the Tokyo Tower. There's two levels, and both of them give you a great view of this ridiculously huge metropolis that's called Tokyo. Wow. The city just goes forever...
Friday night I went to the International Cafe, a networking event held by Mitsubishi Fuso to promote the diversity of the company and facilitate networking amongst all employees (or at least the ~60 that were there). And, apparently true to Japanese fashion, it was an interesting event. Interesting, but an overall good time. we played charades, had some Costco (WHADDUP) sushi and wrap things, and got to meet some cool people.
Then I had drinks with some fellow trainees, both at a low-key bar next to my place, then in a noisy english pub in Roppongi, then at a dance club. Highlights - two dudes dressed up as Master Chief with lights on their armor and bouncers acting like their club is actually legit taking their job way too seriously. But the best part? I can see it from my balcony. There's nothing like a walk home that takes less than 2 minutes!!! :-)
Ausflug and Expeditions
(Not too) bright and early on Saturday, me and Simon jumped on a train for a little day trip to Kawagoe. (Fun Fact: Salem, OR is one of its sister cities!) The short of it, we saw the:
Kitain temple
A museum right next door about the Kawagoe Castle that used to be there
A grove of 538 carved disciples of Buddha (each one unique from the rest) that were carved over roughly 40 years
An AWESOME shop that makes hand-crafted knives and cutlery of all sorts (super expensive but extremely impressive)
A beautiful architecture style unique to the town due to a fire in 1893
Candy Alley
And a fun little community fest. It was an awesome little adventure :-) but lo, the fun was not over!
Me and Simon met up with our boss, a coworker, and another trainee for dinner. The initial plan was to go for pizza, but we learned that pizza (or at least that restaurant) is loved by locals. So we upgraded, hardcore. Handmade Gyoza. Oh. Baby. So delicious.
That, paired with meeting up with some other friends afterwards for drinks and hookah, and then successfully catching the last train home made Saturday an awesome day in Tokyo. And it literally was quite all over the place.
Sunday = Frisbee
I was a little bit tired today (Sunday morning) when I woke up, and like usual, debated not going to Frisbee and lounging around for a bit before exploring. Something made me put on my frisbee clothes and get on the subway out to practice. As always, I'm glad I did.
Again, frisbee is such an oasis for me. Practice was a little slow, and one pretentious d-bag tried to went all 'I live here and that makes me cool' on me and tried to explain some non-existent strategy that made no sense to me, but even despite that, it was a great time to get out, pick up a new phrase (Yoku Deshita - well done), share some laughs and smiles with some great people, and work up a sweat moving my body around the field. I had a great sky (leaping catch, like in football on a hail mary or something like that) and had an all around good time. Oh flatball, how you keep me going :-)
Wrap-up
Japan has been a blast so far, and that won't be changing any time soon. I've got a short week this week, and then, after a potential weekend hiking trip, I'm flying to Seoul for a week with a friend and will be exploring a bit of Korea. I can't wait!
I'm hoping to get another post (probably a wall of text) with just thoughts and observations of stuff that have come across my mind in the last few weeks. Keep your eyes posted, but just be warned, there will likely not be a bunch of pretty pictures like the others. Open at your own risk...
Original Publish Date: September 13th, 2015