Shinto Thin Air

"only Fuji knows,
how hard breathing has become.
slowed feet crunch pumice...."

--Haiku by: Tori Maku, Early 21st Century, Japan

I was jogging along the Tama River a few days ago when I noticed a mushroom-like shape jutting up out of a mountain chain in the distance. After staring at it for a while, I realized that it was the perfectly conical top of Mount Fuji. It is rare to see Fuji in the summer, as it is so hazy most of the time, so I felt quite lucky to see my favorite mountain peaking out as I ran.

Just a few days earlier I never wanted to see Fuji again. We started climbing at around 8pm on last Friday night. Most normal teachers at 8pm in Tokyo were probably about to relax for a post-school-week cocktail or head off to bed after an exhausting five days. Bucking convention like a malnourished rodeo clown, Tokyo Tori and friends decided to embark on a 12-hour journey that would take us to the top of Japan's tallest mountain, into sub-zero temperatures and low oxygen zones, and back again with no sleep whatsoever!




The climb was exhilarating and, at times, grueling (for me and Brendan...not necessarily for the Sherpa-woman Justyna who was always way ahead of us). We drove up to the 5th station (9 total) and hiked the rest. There were huts along the way that sold hot drinks and beer. We chose beer (still jovial) at the first hut and hot drinks (no longer jovial, very cold) at the second one we stopped at.

The mountain was completely deserted until 2am when all the huts became Japanese clown cars with hundreds of hikers spewing out of them in record time. It was almost as if there were tunnels beneath the huts that held more and more people. There was potential for a WW2 joke about the Japanese and their tendency to spring en mass from hidden tunnels ("banzai!") but the air had become so thin at this point that I had no energy left for creative thinking! Honestly, the lack of air feels like you have a water-soaked cloth over your head and no matter what you do, you just can't seem to get a satisfying breath.



We finally reached the top and passed through the Shinto Tori (sacred gate to mark a beautiful natural spot in the Shinto religion) at around 4:30, which gave us a chance to find a good spot to view the sunrise at 5:15. It was a gorgeous sunrise and we were enthralled to see some form of light after almost 8 hours of climbing through the dark. Because it was -3 or so at the top and the vendors up there do not sell hot soup past the end of August, we stayed for just a short while and then began our descent (see title picture at top). It was a great trip and I will take anyone who's interested back to the top....as long as you pay for the oxygen tank and the donkey.