Cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji, Sushi, Kimono, Sumo, Samurai, and Shinkansen are etched in our mind apart from the World War when we think of Japan. We had to give a miss to cherry blossoms and Sumo because of off season. No worries, as there is always another time.
We researched a lot to visit Mount Fuji on our own. But it was painstakingly difficult and burning a hole in own pocket. We were adamant to let go of this because it is inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage list. After giving a thought to various options we opted for a guided tour, albeit being a bit pricey. The previous evening we confirmed our booking and were asked to be at the pickup point promptly at 8 in the morning.
We took Ginza Line at Asakusa to Kanda and then transferred to JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku Line. Sounds heavy to the head right? We were baffled by the Tokyo metro lines at first as well. However, once you get the sense of it, metro is the best and comfortable way to travel. We had taken the metro pass for five days and we traveled in and around Tokyo like a pro. And when in doubt, ask a Japanese. They are genuinely nice people and will go out of their way to help you in every possible way. So it took around 30 minutes to reach Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal.
Our guide for the day is Marie and she is just a bundle of energy. Tokyo's rush our stalled the journey a bit, however, Marie kept us engaged giving us anecdotes about Japan, its people, culture, language, religion. The bright gold and crimson red colored autumn trees on either side of road transported us into a different world. We were captivated by the riot of colours. This lifted our dampened spirits as we were told earlier Mt. Fuji isn't going to be snow-capped today. Within two hours we reached the Mt. Fuji, 5th station. We wanted to pick one of the colored leaves as a souvenir. As if reading our mind Marie told not to pluck or pick any leaves as they belonged to the forest. We really loved the idea of property of forest and respecting the nature. We could have taken them anyway if we wanted to, but aren't the photos and memories enough to tell the beautiful moments we had here?
Various artists captured the beauty of Mt. Fuji in their canvases. And we we're told it is still an interesting subject for poets and artists. The only Japanese author we know is Keigo Higashino of detective Galileo series (The devotion of Suspect X, Salvation of Saint, & A Midsummer's Equation). The famous Malayalam movie Drishyam which later remade into various languages is inspired by The Devotion of Suspect X. We digress.
Mount Fuji is the highest peak in Japan with a height of 3776 meters. This is an active volcano that most recently erupted in 1707. It is one of the three holy mountains along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is worshiped as sacred by Japanese for many years and they still do. According to UNESCO, Mount Fuji has "inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries". It was inscribed in their cultural site list in 2013.
Here standing at the Mt. Fuji 5th station we could see the summit clearly. It is the shortest route to climb the mountain. The weather of Fuji is unpredictable and changes rapidly from minutes to hours. The fluffy cloud stretched out as far as our eyes can see. The sun peeked through shadow of brilliant white clouds in the morning sky. There are a few restaurants and souvenir shops here. The vehicles are not allowed to move from here. There are no water or power lines on Mt. Fuji. Water is transported up to 30 KM from the foot of the mountain to the 5th station with 5 tanker trucks every day. And electricity is supplied by two large generators that run day and night.
We were told "Aokigahara" the world's second most popular suicide site after Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco is situated at the north west base of this very mountain. This suicide forest has the legend of housing "Yurei" ghosts of the dead in Japanese mythology. Statistics say more than 500 people lost their lives, mostly committing suicides. Now officials have put enough sign posts in Japanese to convince people with suicidal intent to reconsider their plans.
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