Japan - Climbing Mount Fuji

On Wednesday I went with a group of friends to climb Mount Fuji and ski back down. We started climbing at 2299 meters at around 7:30 in the morning. I was able to climb up to 3100 meters by about 14:00 before I was too worn out to go any farther. I have mostly been in Tokyo at sea leave for the past month, so I was really feeling the effects of the thinner air as I climbed Mount Fuji. As I got higher, it got so that I could only take a few steps before I would need to rest and catch my breath.

Unfortunately it was really icy, so the ski down wasn’t that great. It was a fun challenge, but so much work.

Mount Fuji

The group heading out.

The original plan was to ski up the mountain using skins on he bottom of our skis. The skins and special bindings allow a downhill ski to work more like a cross-country ski and you can actually ski up the mountain. Once you reach the top, you can peel the skins off the skis, lock the bindings down and ski like you would normally. Unfortunately it turned out to be too icy for that to work, so we had to put on crampons and carry our skis.

Crampons on my ski boots.

I'm slowly making my way up the mountain.

It was a little hazy so the views were not as amazing as it could have been.

Happy to be heading down.

Jeff skiing down.

Top of Mount Fuji is 3776 meters (12,388 feet).
Our starting point was 2299 meters (7543 feet).
My max elevation was 3097 meters (10,162).

My Route.

Japan - Octopus on a Stick

Japan - Kasai Rinkai Park

On the beach at Kasai Rinkai Park there was a group of people going around digging in the sand. So I went over to see what they were digging for.


That were catching this little guys, I'm not sure exactly what they are.


They would catch them by finding one of their holes and then dumping salt on the hole. This would cause the little guys to come poking out where they could be grabbed.

Japan - Photographers

I was walking around Kasai Rinkai Park when I cam across this big group of photographers just waiting in a big line. It was a pretty wide range of photographers, some had really nice cameras with big lenses, but other just had little point and shoots.


I was trying to figure out what they were shooting when out walked a group of models.


The photographers and models broke up into smaller groups and scattered around the park and started doing photo shoots. I'm not sure if this was some kind of class or photo club or what it was.

Japan - Hasedera Temple in Kamakura

The Hasedera Temple was nice because it's on a hill side and has some beautiful gardens and paths through the trees. Plus lots of interesting statues.

Because the temple is on a hillside it has a nice view of the Kamakura beach.

Japan - Great Budda in Kamakura

The Kotokuin Temple is a Buddhist Temple that is home to the Great Buddha statue. The Great Buddha is 11.31 meters tall and was constructed in 1252.

The Buddha is hollow and you can actually go inside of him. This is looking straight up.

Japan - Komachi-Dori Street in Kamakura

Komachi-Dori Street in Kamakura is a little street full of small shops and restaurants that runs from the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine to the Kamakura train station.

Japan - Weddings in Kamakura

While I was at the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine there were two weddings. One of the interesting things about the weddings is that the Bride and Groom get paraded around the Shrine so that everybody can see them and take pictures.

Japan - Kamakura

I went on a day trip to Kamakura, which is a small beach town about 60 km south of Tokyo. It's a popular tourist spot because of it's beaches and many Temples and Shrines.


The Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura.

Japan - Ginza Line Subway Tunnel

Normally if you look down the tunnels at the end of the subway station all you see is darkness. But I setup my camera on a tripod and did some long exposure shots down the tunnel. Because the exposure are so long, I was able to get enough light for the photos to turn out and to reveal what you would not normally be able to see.

Japan - Ueno Park Cherry Blossoms

The difference between Morning and Night at Ueno Park.

Japan - Tokyo Tower

Japan - Cherry Blossoms in Yanaka Cemetery

Japan - Fish on a Stick

No, I didn't try it.

Japan - Cherry Blossoms

Japan - Kids Think I'm Cool

Japan - Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus)

Japan has many interesting and amazing things to see and do, some are even a bit strange...this is the strangest thing I've seen so far. This past weekend I went to the annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki called Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus).

The festival dates back to the Edo period (1603-1867) when prostitutes prayed for good business and protection from disease.

Somewhere behind all of the guys with cameras is a lady sitting on a giant wooden penis.

Unfortunately this is the best photo I have of someone riding the giant penis.

She's feeling the power of a giant penis.

Yes, that's a gianormous pink penis sticking up out of the crowd. What's even stranger is that the pink penis's name is Elizabeth.

This kid is going to need lots of consoling when he grows up. He'll have strange nightmares about giant black penises and he won't understand why.

The penises head out of the shrine for a parade around town.

The penis parade heading down the main street of town.

These guys were carving penises out of vegetables. The vegi-penises were later auctioned off to raise money for AIDS research.

These two are obviously impressed by the skilled carving.

This guy is just a little bit too weird.