Stuff I've eaten - Tokyo edition

The first night we had omakase at a nearby Sushi restaurant that the internet seemed to agree was the best in Shinjuku. It was a very traditional, formal sort of affair so I didn't break out the camera. It was awesome though.

Random chocolate

A hot dog at the Studio Ghibli cafe

 their own label beer

 Abura-soba

 There are drinks vending machines every 3 meters on average.

I can't read enough Japanese to tell you what this is. 

 My drink from the maid cafe, a green tea iced latte

 cheesecake

 A blue samurai, frozen beer slushie on a shandy mixed with blue curacao

The orange version of above, which when I ordered it, I didn't realise was made with half/half beer and orange juice.

I didn't finish it.

 The Sukiyaki dinner (minus a few courses, miso soup, salad, tempura, dessert)

 A matcha frappucino from Starbucks

 The food from the mountain hut halfway up Fuji

 Breakfast the next morning

They've got Mt Fuji and the elevation embossed underneath a picture
of said mountain. I've filled the indentations with maple syrup.

 Shabu shabu

the least interesting soup in the world

somewhat better, still dull tasting afterwards though.

Team Idiot

Top Row: Smug Asshole, Yours Truly, Steven (a brit), Tim (another brit, climbing the mountain for charity), The japanese tour guide, assorted Japanese people.
Middle Row: Dr. Cliff (an american), Charlotte? (Cliff's wife), Todd? (American), Mrs Todd (Singaporean), 2 random Japanese people, 3 "english" speaking people in a group, assorted Japanese people.
Bottom Row: Ken (Sydney-ite), Sue? (Ken's wife), Mary-beth (Phillipino living in Dubai), Nick (englishman in Dubai, Mary-Beth's husbando), Assorted Japanese people.

A man a plan Fuji-san

So as I might have mentioned a post or two back, part of the plan was to climb Mt Fuji.
That time had arrived.

We got up stupidly early in the morning and walked to a nearby hotel to meet the tour group, we rounded the corner into the lobby and a familiar looking Japanese man asked "How was your Sukiyaki?".

We introduced ourselves to some of the other climbers and Také suggested a few preparatory measures before we set off (buying lunch before we left to avoid queues, making sure people had enough cash, and so forth)

At 7:30am We got on a bus and drove for a couple of hours to the 5th Station

The place has a few tourist shops

using the toilet here costs 100 Yen (about $1)

The view from the 5th Station was already spectacular

And of course Fujisan itself

At 11:30 the trail was quite crowded when we started out

Usually the view off the mountain was breathtaking.

We climbed quite slowly, and stopped every twenty to thirty minutes for a short break.

The weather was fairly erratic. It could be quite clear one minute.

and covered in fog the next.

The climbing was like a fairly steep hike for the first hour or so. Once we passed the 6th station there were more and more frequent sections where you would need to climb up rock faces. Usually these were akin to a very uneven set of stairs, but occasionally they were steep enough that you would need to grab handholds to get up them.

By the time we reached the 7th Station hut (at about 4pm) where we were to get several hours sleep before continuing the climb to the summit I was starting to really struggle to get enough Oxygen.

When I'd had a chance to rest inside a warm hut for 20 minutes, still wasn't able to breathe properly and didn't feel particularly able to eat, I had to acknowledge I was suffering from altitude sickness and that continuing the climb would be stupid. I spoke to Také and he made arrangements for me to leave the hut after dawn and descend from the mountain.

The common area of the hut. Také is in the white t-shirt.

Toilets here cost 200 Yen to use.

Sleeping arrangements

We were woken at around 10pm and the others geared up to continue the hike.

Of the climb to the peak Ken says "it was an endless struggle through water and wind, a climbing purgatory where you constantly felt as if the summit was only minutes away, only to have your hopes dashed the moment you hauled yourself to the top of whatever rock face you were struggling up". 

They arrived chilled, to the bone at around 4am, huddled together like penguins for warmth before they could get space in a small hut and pay 900 Yen ($9) for instant noodles in a cup. Toilets here cost 300 Yen.

But in the end all their icy struggle was worth it, because they got to see:

Sunrise from Mount Fuji.

In the meantime, having had an extra 6 hours rest; I got up, ordered a hot chocolate and sat and watched the "sunrise" while I ate my breakfast. Shortly after that a group of us including the wife of a married couple on the climb with us, who had also had to stop because of back pain, began a leisurely descent of the mountain.

Mary-beth and I on the way back down.

Back at the 5th Station.

On the hike back down I struck up a conversation with a Japanese woman who had spent several months in Melbourne as part of a working holiday, and we had breakfast while we waited for our respective groups to return from the mountainside.

My fast friend Yumi

Eventually the others arrived in dribs and drabs. Nick (Mary-beth's husband) had purchased a wooden walking stick for the climb, which he got branded at each station up the mountain.

quite the souvenir.

And in the end

As the Japanese say, a wise man climbs Fuji once, and a fool twice,
but the true wisdom of this phrase is usually only learned the hard way.
-- http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Fuji

Japan!

We flew into Narita airport, which involved flying over a large number of golf courses,

 before catching the express train into Shinjuku station

Shinjuku station is a short walk from our hotel (technically an underground tunnel connects the station to our hotel, but we couldn't find it except by starting at the hotel. To be fair, it does pass through several different train company areas of the station and two shopping malls before going past some government offices and arriving at the hotel).

This is what the not tunnel looks like

 The room was a fairly spartan affair,

 and the complimentary robes don't fit me.

 Japanese bathroom

 with wacky japanese toilet controls

Which are awesome by the way.
Soon I'll  be back home and reduced to wiping my own ass like some sort of peasant.
What is this, the middle ages?

Anyway, we had been concerned about potential language barrier issues (we shouldn't have been. It's easier for an english speaker to get around here than some western european cities) so we had arranged a number of package tour type things.

The first of which was a morning tour of Tokyo, starting at the Tokyo tower.

From which there are some marvelous views of the city, where you can see a number of landmarks, including the Roppongi hills observatory.

It's the tall structure in the middle.

A tour guide robot.

Straight down.

Next stop was the Imperial Palace, which while cool is a little disappointing as a tourist stop. You can't see most of it, on account of the emperor currently living there, and valuing his privacy or some such rubbish.

 After that we visited Sensoji shrine, a famous Buddist shrine

not the shrine, but part of the complex.

 We breathed in sacred smoke

 and participated in a cleansing ritual

It burns!

the actual shrine

 There was a set of smaller shrines next door, that I liked more

 mostly because the main shrine lacks a stream full of Koi running through it.

A statue of an actor pretending to be a samurai.
The area used to be a theatre district or something.

 In the afternoon we visited the Studio Ghibli museum

 It was cool, if a little small. Sadly no photography was allowed inside so you get to make do with this:

The next day was free until the evening so we went and did some shopping

Saw more robots

 Visited Akihibara

 which is like 6 blocks of manga/anime insanity

and girls dressed as maids/schoolgirls trying to entice you into a maid cafe. which since you aren't allowed to take pictures inside of, except of the food, I might cover in the what I ate post...

 

That evening we were due to meet a tour guide to do a short amount of sightseeing before having a traditional Japanese Sukiyaki meal.

We fought our way through a plaza full of plastic cats, stopped briefly at an open air bar (stuff I ate), before meeting our tour guide Také, who took us to the Roppongi hills observatory.

From which there are some marvelous views of the city, where you can see a number of landmarks, including the Tokyo tower.

It's the tall structure in the middle.

Mt Fuji is on the left side of the picture.

Of the three tour guides Také seemed the friendliest, and easily spoke the best English. He dropped us off at the restaurant and bid us good night.

The toilet controls from the restaurant that evening are so
complicated they are separately wall mounted.