Mt. Fuji
フジ
Off we go again...
Yesterday was pretty awesome. Another early morning...but for a great reason. We were going to travel to see the iconic Mt. Fuji! At 7:45am I met a group of about sixty students and ten faculty outside our Yokohama port. We got in two busses and began to travel through the streets of Yokohama towards Mt. Fuji National Park. The ride was about an hour and a half long. Towards the end, as elevation began to change I felt a little light headed. Snow began to appear on the sides of the windy and rugged roads as we worked our way up the sloping mountainous peaks.
Adventure Time.
I don't mean the TV Show. This is real life baby. We pulled up to Hakone (pronounced Ha-cone-ay) a quaint little village area situated under the giant shadow of Mt. Fuji. Then we got in a creaky gondola and slowly climbed up the hundreds of meters to reach a mountaintop. By this point I was pretty freezing cold.
Then we finally reached to top. You could see all the islands of Japan from this vantage point and the ominous Mt. Fuji loomed in the distance. It. Was. Amazing.
So we snapped a bunch of pictures in our brief ten minutes, then went back down the super shaky gondola. Then we hopped in the bus and headed to the giant lake below to board a pirate ship. Yes indeed, a pirate ship.
They remodeled pirate ships from the 1700's to be used as tourist ships and to cross the famous "Hakone Lake". Legend has it that at the bottom of Hakone Lake resides a fire-breathing dragon. Every once in a while, children were sacrificed to the lake in order to pacify the dragon's hunger to devour the whole village.
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| Argghhhh! |
So thankfully we were not devoured by any fire breathing dragons but rather successfully crossed the Lake in about 30 minutes. Once across, we approached a sacred religious shrine area, known as a Torii. "Torii's" mark the boundary between the earthly and the sacred. Once you cross over, you are in the realm of the sacred and must pay your respects.
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| The "Torii" divides the Earthly from the Sacred |
I walked through the Torii and then up a series of steps. Several elderly Japanese individuals make the pilgrimage journey too, slowly making their way up the concrete steps to reach the shrine. Once at the top, I approached a snow encrusted shrine and paid my respects. I rang a bell twice, tossed in 100 yen, clapped twice, bowed twice, made a wish and then bowed once more, following their ritual religious customs. My friends did the same.
Although Westerners may look down on this type of religious ritual or worshipping nature, we should contemplate our own religious traditions and customs first. Every religion employs a series of repeated gestures and often they only make sense to those who practice the religion. Furthermore, as I approached the humongous trees and snowcapped mountains, they seemed to glow with a certain aura of power.
Nature is very obviously alive and it is very obviously powerful. I can understand how a people in tune with nature and their role in the world would come to worship the "kami" known as the the "spirits of nature".
Up next we had some break time for lunch. Everyone went to go buy Ramen Noodles. I instead, I went off on my own and meditated for about thirty minutes. While at peace, I came to a revelation about my purpose in the universe and here on earth, specifically "what" I am destined to do. As far as the "why" and the "how" I am still uncertain. But I now know "what" I am destined to do. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to know more.
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| I meditated right here |
So that was great.
Final destination was an open air art museum. It was quite...unique, in the sense that it had some really eccentric art. I thought it was generally pretty coolio. I can only really convey the artistic merit through photos so here you go:
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| Selfie on top of that tower (pictured above) |
So then I wrapped up by going to a hot spring with everybody. We all warmed our feet and enjoyed the bubbles and exfoliating rocks. I know that sounds weird but it was a great experience. Don't judge me.
So that was the end of the day's adventure. I packed up and we drove the hour and a half back to Yokohama. Then the real adventure begins. Now I cannot stay on the ship, I have to travel overland from Yokohama to Kobe (About 1,000 miles) in order to meet up with the ship again, which is moving from port to port. So what that means is I'll be taking a train several hours to Kobe and figuring my way out in Japanese :O.
I am sure it'll be fine. I am writing this in Tokyo at my cousin's house. Here are a couple pictures to wrap up...Peace!
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