The day I climbed Fuji also happened to be the day I most wanted to die.
Saturday night. We started the 4-hour drive from Nagoya to Fuji-san. Cost of taking the highway: $50. I can't believe they charge people to drive on the freeway here. Bank robbers, all of them! On the way, Ruth's friend, Koji, convinces us that hiking the more difficult trail will be rewarding. "Besides, it has a better view" he says. I will regret our decision in about six hours...
Sunday morning, 6 a.m. We wake up, have a quick breakfast, and start our climb from level 5. Don't we look ready to conquer the mountain?
Ignorance is bliss. From the first five minutes, I can tell that this is going to be painful beyond words. I know from pictures and peoples' testimonies that the more popular path winds back and forth, making the climb bearable. The "path" we chose is hardly a path at all, unless you consider jagged boulders and dangerously loose gravel marked by the occasional metal marking rod a "path."
Level 6. If someone suggested quitting and going back, I would have.
Level 7. If someone suggested quitting and going back, I would have.
Level 8. If someone suggested quitting and going back, I don't know what I would have done. The climb is so steep that getting down would be as agonizing as going up. But then again, level 9 is notorious for having very little oxygen. The gale-force winds and fog so dense that I can't see 10 feet ahead of me isn't exactly helping with the decision making process either. Oh yeah, did I mention that since "official" climbing season ended in August, all (and I do mean ALL) of the toilets were closed? And--lucky me!!--the anti-altitude-sickness medication I took was a diuretic.
Level 9. If someone suggested quitting and going back, I would not have bothered with the "going back" part. If I lie down right here, hypothermia will kill me slowly and relatively painlessly, right?
Level 10. The summit. I'm not so much happy to reach the top as I am RELIEVED that there is no more up to go.
The hike down takes three hours, but it's physically more painful that going up. My kneecaps are ready to pop off. How much does kneecap-replacement surgery cost these days?
I won't candy-coat it. Climbing venerable Fuji-san was no cake walk and right now, I can't say for sure if it was really worth it or not. At least I can say that I did it. As the saying goes: A wise man climbs Fuji once. Only a foolish man would climb it twice. Thank God that's over.
Currently reaing: Frankie McCourt - Angela's Ashes
Currently playing: No Doubt - Hella Good
Autumn has unofficially set it. Last night I pulled out my comforter because for the first time in a long time, I felt a little chilly with only a sheet for cover. Officially, fall begins on Sept 23, the autumnal equinox, but I can forgive the weather gods for sending the cooler breezes a little early. I'm tired of the blazing hot humid sticky summer anyway.
On an entirely different note, I leave in an hour to go climb Mt. Fuji. The actual climbing will be done tomorrow so if you don't hear back from me by Tuesday or so, it will be safe to assume that I have set up permanent residence as a human icicle atop the summit of noble Fuji-san. Fingers crossed...
Currently reading: Fray - Joss Whedon
Currently playing: Haushinka - Greeen Day
I have internet again!!! To commemorate this momentous occasion, let’s conduct an experiment.
Title: Confidence vs. Arrogance. A Study of the Changes in the Western Male Psyche Brought on by Extended Exposure to Japan.
Materials: Highly impressionable Western males, Japanese females, Japanese societal tendency to raise Western males to demi-god status, bunsen burner.
Methods:
1) Remove highly impressionable Western males from their respective home countries and add to a test tube containing generous portions of Japanese societal tendencies.
2) Heat test tube over the bunsen burner and allow mixture to come to a boil. The reaction material should now appear consistently big-headed. Remove from heat.
3) Decant contents of test tube into a beer mug containing Japanese females. Mix vigorously and record observations.
4) As a control, substitute Japanese males for Western males.
Observations:
Initial exposure to Japanese society has a positive effect on the Western male psyche, causing the previously shy and/or nervous specimens to become more confident and self-assured. Conversations between the males and both Japanese and Western females become wittier and more enjoyable for all parties, especially when alcohol—a catalyst—is introduced into the reaction.
However, after prolonged reaction time (anywhere between 3 weeks and a year, depending on the individual), the Western male undergoes an undeniable psychological change which can be picked up using certain obvious behavioral cues: refusal to shave one’s week-old stubble (“Japanese girls like me this way.”), gratuitous use of the words “me” or “I” in any and all conversations (“Everyone loves me.” “I am SO COOL.”), or complete confidence that one’s Japanese-speaking skills are superb (“I can have a meaningful conversation in Japanese.” “I’m taking the highest level on the Japanese Proficiency Exam. I can learn 2000 kanji in two months, no problem!”). Other tell-tale signs of confidence-turned-arrogance include, but are not restricted to, draping one’s arm around any female without even using the excuse of extravagant drunkenness, dating and dumping Japanese girls at a rate unheard of since caveman times, and neglecting to do one’s English teaching job properly (“My supervisor is cool like that; they just let me do whatever I want and it’s OK.”)
As expected, the control group, Japanese males, shows no difference in behavior when substituted for Western males under the exact same reaction conditions.
My Two Cents:
It’s interesting what living in a different country can do to you. What’s even more interesting is that those very same “reaction conditions” produce entirely different effects on the general Western female population. While Western boys get their egos boosted, sometimes to the extreme, we ladies suffer the very opposite fate. Surrounded by women who pamper themselves, wear mini-skirts in the winter, fit into an American size 0, and shower sweet feminine attention all over gaijin men, how can we help but to feel less womanly, less desirable, and less attractive? As one male JET actually said to a female JET: “Japanese women are just better than Western women. They’re skinnier, they’re prettier, and they’ll do what I tell them to do.”
Believe me, I’m not asking for attention or sympathy. I’m far beyond that now and I don’t need the attentions of Western men who currently would much rather have some Japanese take-out. I don’t blame them; I’d probably do the same. Instead, I’ve reached the Western female counterpart of Western males’ Japan-induced arrogance: extreme cynicism. I just don’t care. So in the meantime, I will climb Mt. Fuji. I will travel all over Japan and the rest of Asia. I will become a shit-hot snowboarder. I will expand my collection of tacky Japanese shoes. And I may return home a little disillusioned and possibly a little bitter, but that’ll be a small price to pay for all of the good stuff this country has to offer. That’s enough cheese for the day. Peace out yo.
Currently reading: Aurther Golden – Memoirs of a Geisha
Currently playing: Outkast – Hey Ya
Long story short: There were two earthquakes off the east coast of Japan but by the time the seismic waves made their way to sleepy little Mie, I would guess that the quake felt like a magnitude 4-something or 5-something. Nothing even fell off my shelves.
CNN.com assured the American public that nothing bad happened because "the region shaken most strongly by [the earthquakes] was a sparsely populated rural area." Yeah, that rural area they talk about, that's about where Mie-ken lies. Haha.
To my British friends in Japan, welcome to the Pacific Ocean and the world of plate tectonics!
Currently reading: Isabel Allende - House of Spirits
Currently playing: Nerf Herder - Sorry
