Mt. Fuji & Hakone

On February 28th we went to Mt. Fuji. It was roughly a 2 hour drive by bus to the mountain. It was a pretty trip and would have been nice, but likely unrememberable had it not been for our tour guide. For confidentiality purposes and because I subconsciously make it a point to never remember tour guides names I will call him Mr. Doom Giggles, I think Anne might have named him David Downer (after the SNL character Debbie Downer), but I think the Giggles is too characteristic to leave out. He was a Japanese native in his 60s and he talked endlessly about the troubled Japanese economy, the cost of living in Tokyo, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and more. After about 70% of his comments he would giggle like a small school girl. I realize that some of this giggling may be cultural (I have been told that in many Asian countries giggling can be a sign of embarrassment), but since he was the one who brought up the topics and stayed on them for extended periods of time I think he just likes to giggle. My two favorite quotes were “Due to the recent financial struggles over 30% of the Japanese young have given up there hopes and dreams – giggle, giggle, giggle. “One day soon Mt. Fuji will erupt and completely destroy Tokyo – giggle, giggle, giggle.”

Mt. Fuji is known for its elusiveness and today was no exception. All we were able to see was a thick fog from the clouds, but if anyone asked we promised to say it was very beautiful and looked just like it does in pictures. To make up for the fog we made use of our stop to view the mountain by wandering into the woods and causing trouble. I did my best “Curses!” pose by the closed gate which lead further up the mountain (it being closed due to avalanche concerns).

We then traveled to Hakone, a resort destination known for pretty mountain views and osens (hot springs). Immediately after getting off of the bus we smelled what was decided to be rotten eggs and milk. This smell was the sulfur from the natural hot springs. The smell quickly ended any desire our guests had of going to a hot spring (that and that no clothes are not allowed in hot springs). We enjoyed a boat ride of the area and witnessed a Torii gate said to be the home of the Ashi Lake Dragon. They say he sometimes shows up in people’s pictures, but I think that only happens “in the autumn mist”. Oops, sorry wrong dragon, or is it? This started to sound strangely like Puff the Magic Dragon. A mysterious dragon living in a misty area near a body of water in a land starting with H. I was further convinced after originally looking up the lyrics of the song to find out how to spell honah lee when I noticed that the lyrics also mentioned pirate ships. This being too much to handle as Lake Ashi has 2 touring pirate looking ships. Apparently Puff is Japanese. Before leaving Hakone we took a cable car and enjoyed a scenic view of the area.

Back in Tokyo we enjoyed a teppenyaki dinner at TEN or at least that was how it was translated in English. The character was the Chinese character for tian (meaning heaven) which would have been more accurate because the food was good enough for heaven.