So we just spent three lovely nights back in Nagoya, we have been in Japan for over three weeks now, and with this portion of our trip coming to a close, what better way to spend our last few nights outside of Tokyo than in a quaint little hotel at the foot of Mt. Fuji with idealic views of the mountain from our hotel window, right? WRONG. We are now sitting in Mishima, and having just gotten off the fastest train in the world, we should be right where we need to be, yes? NO. We are a whooping two hour bus ride away on two separate local buses that only run once an hour. But being the clever couple that we are, we bought the 21-day unlimited JR pass that will at least make this arduous journey free, right? WRONG AGAIN. This little detour is going to run us 8520 Japanobucks, over 100USD. The mountain is sneering at us from our crappy little bus window, and all I can think right now as we sit in a seemingly eternal line of cars in local Mishima traffic is that maybe all the people on the Shinkansen bullet train taking perfectly representative photos of Fuji-san from the comfort of their overpriced seats had the right idea.
-Davida
She's right. We're sitting on what's basically a septa bus. Traffic sucks, the ride is bumpy and the seats are cramped. It's running us $100. Bummer. But as we wind our way up the narrow streets on the way to Gotemba to catch another bus, through small towns no one has ever heard of, Fuji starts to grow close and rise above the cloud line. It stands alone, not part of any discernible range, and the hills around it are green while its white peak dominates an otherwise low lying landscape. The memory of a thousand Hiroshige and Hokusai watercolors fills my head. Ancient, unknowable Japan creeps into my soul and before we've even made it to the base, Fuji- san, sacred and ghostly, has put her mark on me.
-Ken
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