We got up early this morning for our trip to Mount Fuji. We were up at 6:30 so we could have some breakfast and walk to the Tokyo Mode Gakuen to catch the bus.

We got the meeting point 10 mins early at 7:50. It seems this is a place for multiple tour companies start their journeys. We look around at the lists the guides have, and our names aren’t on any of them. There are a few other groups who can’t find their name either. The advice we get is to try another guide. Just before 8 another person with a clipboard runs across the road saying she was on the other side as there was no spot for her driver to park. We were on her list. We cross the road trying to find the bus number she gave us. There is no number we can see. After walking back and forth we realise it’s the number on the rego plate that you can’t see through the hedge the busses are parked against. After walking on the road (we couldn’t climb the hedge) and squeezing past other busses we find ours. We jump on and find the last two seats together. Ready to go.

Once we get going the guide makes sure we all know it’s a public holiday and long weekend in Japan and her tour yesterday took five hours to do the usual two-hour drive to Mount Fuji 🤦. We’re on the bus now so we didn’t have any choice but to at least get the first stop. I started looking at train timetables as an escape plan and let Gus know if he needs to get off the bus to let me know. I watched the map on my phone and traffic was bad but not crazy.

As we drove along the freeway Mount Fuji appeared. It was a little foggy, but you could see the whole thing. Apparently, this only occurs about 20% of the time. We were in luck (figuratively and we were told spiritually).

It took us about three hours to the first stop. We were rushed through a tea making class, gift shop, toilet and back on the bus. We then went to the next stop, The 5th station. Now I didn’t read what the 5th station was. I knew Mount Fuji had stations on the way up the mountain. I didn’t read about the order or height. What I didn’t realise was that the 5th station is as high a you can drive and is about 2300m above sea level. As we started the drive up the mountain we were given rubbish bags for windy roads, and we started spotting snow that had settled. We were reminded to get our jackets. Ahhhh we had t-shirts. But I figured we were from Canberra and Gus and I don’t wear layers in winter. We’ll tough it out.

We get to the 5th station and it’s cold, but OK cold. We both thought we can deal with it. We got the obligatory photo in front of the sign with Mount Fuji in the background. We were told to get lunch as our stops were mucked up and there wasn’t going to be another chance to eat until 4:30. We got some treasures and tried to find lunch 🤷. Matcha treats and lollies in gift shops. I did find a noodle place but everything had meat in it. We walked for a bit and found an ice cream and corn on the cob stand. The little ordering machine only took coins and we only had enough for one lot, so I got Gus some eats and thought I’d get something later. We piled back on the bus leaving six people behind after waiting for 15mins. Sorry, not sorry. We then went to this little Bungendoreish place (Oshino Hakkai) with eight ponds filled with snow melt from Mount Fuji. You’re supposed to put your hands in it for 30 seconds ✔️ and drink some ❌ for good luck. We couldn’t drink any as we didn’t have enough coins to purchase the approved bottle. Apparently, there was all bottles allowed zone but the line was crazy and we had enough good luck for the day.

We then went to a crazy shopping centre which was three shopping centres all interconnected. It was an outlet centre for fancy things. Gucci, Prada, Anko etc. The only thing we were interested in was Pokémon and food. They have one of these things. It wasn’t food. Gus picked up some loot and new cards and we got a Dr Pepper and water from a machine (using our travel cards). We went and sat in the visitor centre and opened the cards and waited for the bus to be ready to go home. This is where the drama begins.

I make sure Gus and I go to the toilet at the last minute just to make sure. We jump on the bus and get on the way. After about 1.5hrs in the women across from me tells the guide she needs to go to the toilet whilst in the middle of the heaviest traffic I’ve seen and nothing in sight. The guide talks to the driver who doesn’t sound very happy. The guide comes back and says the driver said there are a nowhere to stop and asks if she can hold it. Of course she can’t. The guide then moves people from the back seat and rigs up a catching system from the afore mentioned spew bags. They disappear for 5 mins bringing back a bag of liquid. Problem solved. 30 mins later the driver pulls into a highway stop (no servo, just food and toilets). I figure out that no one’s told the driver the wee issue was solved. Whoops. He parks the bus and there is an angry conversation. The guide then asks if anyone needs to go to the toilet. No one says anything. Another angry conversation. Guide in tears no says, “Everyone please just go to the toilet”. We all jump off and do our thing. We jump back on and then find out the detour to the servo/no servo added two hours to the trip. The bus was silent for the rest of the trip. I’m still hungry and Gus is fed up. We get back to the bus/hedge at 10:30 (supposed to be 7). Guide in tears and bus driver throwing rubbish around. Gus doesn’t know what’s gone down as he had his headphones in. He just knows it’s too late to go to BIC Camera again. Fun times.

Shinjuku never sleeps so there are always restaurants open. It also has a lot of young drunk people on Saturday night of the long weekend. We weren’t up for that. We just visited our local 7 Eleven for triangles and ice cream. I found these wipe down cloths. Pretty much a giant wet wipe with some soap smell so you feel like you’ve had a wash. I though that’ll do for tonight.