A Beautiful Morning on Top of the World!!

Ive only been in japan for just over two weeks now, and this place manages to amaze me everyday. On the weekend, my roommate Frank, another seminar house III friend Simon, and I hiked up Fujisan. It was absolutely shinjirarenai!!! (unbelievable) We caught the night bus on Friday night and started hiking Saturday morning. It was so foggy that we couldn't see 10 metres in front of us, but that only made the hike even more exciting. The wind came in heavy gusts which gave us little sneak peaks of the surrounding countryside, that quickly disappeared when we were enveloped by the eerie mountain clouds. We slept in a hut with about 50 other people, all of us tired and packed in like sardines. The wake up call came at about 2:30 the next morning and we walked outside to a beautiful clear night sky. The lights from the cities below were glowing and it was the first real impression of how high we actually were. The last 2 hours hike to the top were fraught with peril, our guide told us that sadly, two people had been killed earlier this year from bad weather conditions. As we were ducking down, shielding our faces from the volcanic rocks flying through the air, I could'nt help feel excitement and anticipation for the summit. It was worth the wait!!

I couldn't help but feel that this mountain trip was the perfect metaphor for my initial experience of Japan. I'd only had brief exposures to Japanese culture, mainly through Anime and movies, but nothing could ever prepare me for the actual experience of this country. I thought that Osaka would be a bustling metropolis and was so surprised at how quiet and peaceful it can be. One thing that really sticks out about Japan for me is the way it takes its time. I'm used to the instantaneous, spontaneous and reactionary, western lifestyle, but everything here seems to be a bit more considered and contemplated. I notice it in the way people respond to being asking directions, everything seems to be thought about in depth and elaborated on, rather than just skimmed over, as would be the case back home. I felt it was a little difficult to develop any comradery with the locals on the hike, and really felt like a bit of an outsider. But by the end of the bustrip back home, and after a lot of smiling and waving, broken Japanese and english, we seemed to be making some headway, and I did feel a little sad saying sayoonara to the people we had shared an amazing experience with. We even got a smile and a wave goodbye from the cute girls who had totally dismissed our previous attemps at starting a conversation. The fog of the unknown was lifted only after the experience and interaction with Japan and its people. I still have a lot to learn before really getting to know this place, and it's going to take some time, but it's definately going to be worth the wait.