Take A Hike! Part 1

My recent vacation started off well.

I arrived at the airport on the right day (that's another story) and with plenty of time to spare, my flight from Kumamoto-Aso Airport took off and arrived at Chubu Airport in Nagoya more-or-less on time, and my one piece of checked baggage didn't take a detour to some foreign country.

And then, once I found the train station, I was able to catch an express train to downtown Nagoya right away. Score!

On a side note: Lucky for me, a young lady who worked for the train company was standing in front of the ticket machines as I entered the station. She helped me quickly buy a ticket and catch the express train that was waiting to depart from Platform 1. What I especially liked about her was that she spoke Japanese to me, at least initially, instead of switching to English right away as many people in the tourist industry do when I speak Japanese to them. Also, when she noticed that I was a little confused, she really caught me off guard by asking me, in Japanese no less, if I spoke English! It took me a few seconds to realize that she hadn't said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak English." I tell you, that lady was cool!

Anyway, once I arrived downtown, the next step was to catch a bus to Iida, a city located two hours (by bus) to the northwest, in order to meet Eric, the JET that I was supposed to go hiking with. The only problem with that plan was that the last bus departed 20 minutes before I got there! Ugh!

Note to self: The next time someone tells you, "Buses leave every hour," make sure you ask, "Every hour until when?"

So much for my trip starting off well. And so much for spending/wasting the extra 350 yen on the express train. (At least I had the 350 yen covered in my budget under "Such is Life.")

The irony of my situation was that I had originally booked a hotel room for that night, but had then canceled the reservation when Eric told me I'd be able to get to his place in Iida that night. Lovely.

Good thing for me I remembered that the phone number for the hotel was saved on my cellphone. And good thing for me I've gotten past the stage of being chicken when it comes to picking up a phone and making a call and dealing with the person on the other end speaking in a language that I barely understand. (Even though English usually works pretty well, at least with hotels.)

So I called the hotel and found out they had no rooms available. But before I hung up, I had them give me the number of another hotel in the chain and tried my luck with them. No go.

Repeat process about three times.

Finally, the woman on the other end said "arimasu yo" instead of "arimasen" and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Another side note: Even though I don't exactly enjoy having to call around to find a hotel room or having to ask for directions to some place, for example, I realize that such situations can do wonders for my Japanese. One of the unexpected side aspects of traveling around Japan that can actually be quite nice, at least in the long run, is being put into situations that I almost never deal with, especially since I live in such a tiny town.

The next day I finally made it to Iida.

When my bus pulled into the station, Eric was waiting for me. My first impression of him was that he was an easy-going guy. I was right. For a couple of hours, we drove around town, ran some errands, and chilled at a park next to a river.

Late in the afternoon, we drove to a nearby town to meet up with the third piece of the puzzle, Akinori-kun.

When I first saw Akinori, he had a terrible case of bedhead and I thought to myself, "Oh, my God. This guy is such a goofball, I can't believe I'm going to be hiking with him." I'm glad I was wrong. It turns out Akinori is a great guy who laughs a lot, has a big heart, and is true to himself and others. (And check out his footwear for the hike! Unbelievable!)

Anyway, the next day, August 2, at 5:40 a.m. our adventure began.

Akinori's dad drove us (what a nice guy, eh?) to a bus stop located about an hour and forty minutes away. Two buses and another three hours later (half of the time was spent just waiting for the buses!), we were ready to start hiking.

We started out at about 1600 meters and climbed up to about 3000 meters, to the foot of Kita-dake, in about 5 1/2 hours, with a good 1-hour break for lunch.

After we pitched our tents (I shared a two-person tent with Eric while Akinori had a two-person tent all to himself), I climbed the last 200 meters up to the summit. Visibility was practically zero since clouds were everywhere, so I had no idea what was in store for me in the morning.

The three of us went to bed at around 7:30 p.m.

Akinori, being a farmer and therefore used to getting up early, headed to the summit around 4:30 a.m. to catch the sunrise. Eric and I slept in (ha ha!) until about 5:00 a.m.

When Eric unzipped the tent a few minutes later, I saw a beautiful horizon of clouds topped by a clear blue sky. But then Eric said, "You think that's nice? Look over here."

And there she was, Fuji-san, poking her head through the clouds! Wow! What an awesome greeting in the morning! That was day 365 in Japan for me, and I finally caught my first glimpse of the symbol of the country.