Thursday September 3 - Mount Fuji, Hakone, Pirate Boat Cruise, Bullet Train

Got up way too early today to catch the tour bus to Mount Fuji. Only slept an hour. Stayed up all night catching up on the blog and I'm finally up to date.



Finally reached station 5 of the mountain (2400 meters). This is the highest anyone can go by transportaion. You must climb the rest of the way. There are a total of 10 stations, 10 being the highest at 3776 meters. It was very foggy today so we couldn't see much of the mountain. Tons of lava rock everywhere. Should I climb the rest of the way? It takes approximately 6 hrs by foot.





Next stop, Hakone Sky Gondola to view the volcanic Hakone Mountains:






At the end of the ride is Owakudan Vally, an ancient crater where you can smell sulfurous fume and see clouds of steam rise from the crevasses. Here you can buy black coloured eggs boiled in sulfurous hot spring water. They say if you eat one of these eggs, you will extend your life by 7 years. Of course me being greedy, I had 2 eggs.






We then went on a pirate boat cruise across Lake Ashi.






Took the Bullet Train from Odawa back to Tokyo:



Back in Tokyo, look who ran into: