As the senior (in age) member of this team l have asked and been given permission to write the last item. We started with a plan to climb Mount Fuji in memory of our Jamie and to raise £1000 for the Road Victims Trust.
Although not planed as a holiday we have had some great experiences from being stranded in the middle of the largest train station in Japan with no ticket to get out, seeing dogs dressed in tartan trousers, lying naked in a peppermint scented bath with other naked men and being sung to by the girl serving me with an ice cream.
Our only aim was to climb to the top of the highest mountain in Asia, why, because of the the association of Jamie's nickname (fuji) and the mountain, and we did it. Challenge completed.
I would like to thank everyone who supported us, those who were able to support by donation and those who supported us through encouragement and prayers.With your help we achieved our goal and raised around £5500 when all the donations are made. Thank you all so much, Jamie would have said "wow, that's cool"
I'd also like to get a special thanks to Anne unable to be with us but totally supported us and to Tim for being a great companion, setting up the web site and amusing you all with his blog (l think that's the right word).
We have been through the loss together and we reached the summit togther.
Thanks again to all of you, the mountain as been climbed and we're on our way home.
Good night, good bye and God bless you all.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Day 6... The Final Day
So after a very long nights rest, we woke up with some tender legs, but it was all worth while, we had completed what we set out to acheive Mission Successful!! With an early flight back on Sunday morning we decided to move hotels and stay in a hotel at Haneda airport which would mean we could have an extra hour in bed. So at 10:00 we headed in the bus off to the airport. Haneda airport is in the South of Tokyo and gave us an opportunity to meet some friends near Yokohama.
Being masters of the subway system, a short journey soon saw us in the Yokohama station where we met up with Victoria, Vart and Jacob. We took the worlds fastest elevator up the Yokohama Landmark Tower (750m a minute), where we where able to take in some fantastic views of Yokohama and the surrounding area. After lunch we then headed down to the waterside, in typical Japanese fashion there was a little mini theme park where Vart and I had to have a go on the bright pink rollercoaster!! although it would appear that Vart and I are not the right size to fit in a Japanese rollercoaster. We then headed along some beautiful parks taking in the fascinating Japanese scenery and architecture. It was another hot day, so an ice cream was in order, an ice cream like you have never seen before. Imagine an icecream version of subway, by a choir! You pick which ice cream you want, they make it in front of you, whilst singing a song!! We have now realised that these random activities are fairly common in Japan!! We then headed off to a pier that looks like a boat from the outside (Osanbashi Pier), here to our amazement as we where walking down 5 gorgeous cars turned up and parked alongside us, 3x Lamborghini, 1 x X-Bow and 1 Ferrari. So after a few minutes I put my tongue back in and continued up the pier. Its amazing how busy the waterways around Tokyo and surrounding areas are. So a lovely final day in Japan, and thankyou to Victoria and Vart for showing us around. So we are now in our hotel room, which looks out onto a gorgeous runway, and 4 x ANA planes at the moment!!
This is me signing out, thank you for all the comments and support, the donations keep coming in and we are confident that with the offline donations as well we have hit our £5,000 target. Of course if anyone wants to climb Mount Fuji I am happy to advise but unfortunately I am washing my hair and will be unable to join you on the actual climb!! Thank you!!
Being masters of the subway system, a short journey soon saw us in the Yokohama station where we met up with Victoria, Vart and Jacob. We took the worlds fastest elevator up the Yokohama Landmark Tower (750m a minute), where we where able to take in some fantastic views of Yokohama and the surrounding area. After lunch we then headed down to the waterside, in typical Japanese fashion there was a little mini theme park where Vart and I had to have a go on the bright pink rollercoaster!! although it would appear that Vart and I are not the right size to fit in a Japanese rollercoaster. We then headed along some beautiful parks taking in the fascinating Japanese scenery and architecture. It was another hot day, so an ice cream was in order, an ice cream like you have never seen before. Imagine an icecream version of subway, by a choir! You pick which ice cream you want, they make it in front of you, whilst singing a song!! We have now realised that these random activities are fairly common in Japan!! We then headed off to a pier that looks like a boat from the outside (Osanbashi Pier), here to our amazement as we where walking down 5 gorgeous cars turned up and parked alongside us, 3x Lamborghini, 1 x X-Bow and 1 Ferrari. So after a few minutes I put my tongue back in and continued up the pier. Its amazing how busy the waterways around Tokyo and surrounding areas are. So a lovely final day in Japan, and thankyou to Victoria and Vart for showing us around. So we are now in our hotel room, which looks out onto a gorgeous runway, and 4 x ANA planes at the moment!!
This is me signing out, thank you for all the comments and support, the donations keep coming in and we are confident that with the offline donations as well we have hit our £5,000 target. Of course if anyone wants to climb Mount Fuji I am happy to advise but unfortunately I am washing my hair and will be unable to join you on the actual climb!! Thank you!!
Friday, 1 July 2011
Day 5
So whilst this isn't actually Day 5, I will cover off the descent of Mount Fuji and what we did after the climb.
So having summited at 04:03, and the walking round the crater it was time to begin our descent down the mountain. Normally there is a seperate trail to go down, but we need to to begin our descent on the trail we had just walked up. We slowly began to climb our way down the moutain to the 8th Station. Climbing up is easy to get motivated because you want to get to the top, now we had reached the top I think it was getting more and more difficult to keep going. After hitting the 8th station we where able to move to the normal trail down, which was very small clinker, this meant it was like walking on the Moon (not that I have done that, but how I imagine it to be). With every step it was hard not to fall over, and there where a couple of falls. after a 4 and a half hour descent we where back at the car. Shattered and exhausted.
We had come, we had seen, and we had conquered Mount Fuji. A fantastic mountain but we know full understand the quote "one who never climbs Mount Fuji is a fool, and one who climbs twice is twice the fool." It was absolutley amazing, but I would not want to do it again.
Now after climbing mount fuji there is only one thing to do an Onsen, which is very popular in Japan. All we knew is it was a hot pool, at the base of Mount Fuji. The legs where looking forward to this. As we arrived, as with all Japanese culture we removed our shoes, and walked into the reception, here we where given 2 towels, and off we went to the changing room. Now this Onsen, has 16 different baths, but the Japanese way. So Luke explained what we had to do next, we where to strip down, and use the little towel to cover ourselves. We then made our way into a big bathroom, here we used the showers to clean ourselves with the little towel. Once we where all clean (this took a while) we headed into the garden and found a little hot bath, in a little bowl, there where 3 so one each. Because we used the small towel to clean ourselves we had to then put the towel on our head, to show we weren't making the water dirty. Over the course of the next hour, we switched between some big hot pools, small hot pools, jacuzzi, sauna, peppermint bath. You name it they had it. We then headed back to the hotel, and having told ourselves we would force ourselves to stay awake, we both fell asleep, and didn't wake up until this morning, hence no blog update.
So all in all a very interesting experience, but more importantly we are glad for all the encouragement and messages from home, but also grateful for the kind donations that are coming through every day.
So having summited at 04:03, and the walking round the crater it was time to begin our descent down the mountain. Normally there is a seperate trail to go down, but we need to to begin our descent on the trail we had just walked up. We slowly began to climb our way down the moutain to the 8th Station. Climbing up is easy to get motivated because you want to get to the top, now we had reached the top I think it was getting more and more difficult to keep going. After hitting the 8th station we where able to move to the normal trail down, which was very small clinker, this meant it was like walking on the Moon (not that I have done that, but how I imagine it to be). With every step it was hard not to fall over, and there where a couple of falls. after a 4 and a half hour descent we where back at the car. Shattered and exhausted.
We had come, we had seen, and we had conquered Mount Fuji. A fantastic mountain but we know full understand the quote "one who never climbs Mount Fuji is a fool, and one who climbs twice is twice the fool." It was absolutley amazing, but I would not want to do it again.
Now after climbing mount fuji there is only one thing to do an Onsen, which is very popular in Japan. All we knew is it was a hot pool, at the base of Mount Fuji. The legs where looking forward to this. As we arrived, as with all Japanese culture we removed our shoes, and walked into the reception, here we where given 2 towels, and off we went to the changing room. Now this Onsen, has 16 different baths, but the Japanese way. So Luke explained what we had to do next, we where to strip down, and use the little towel to cover ourselves. We then made our way into a big bathroom, here we used the showers to clean ourselves with the little towel. Once we where all clean (this took a while) we headed into the garden and found a little hot bath, in a little bowl, there where 3 so one each. Because we used the small towel to clean ourselves we had to then put the towel on our head, to show we weren't making the water dirty. Over the course of the next hour, we switched between some big hot pools, small hot pools, jacuzzi, sauna, peppermint bath. You name it they had it. We then headed back to the hotel, and having told ourselves we would force ourselves to stay awake, we both fell asleep, and didn't wake up until this morning, hence no blog update.
So all in all a very interesting experience, but more importantly we are glad for all the encouragement and messages from home, but also grateful for the kind donations that are coming through every day.
Day 4
So, the day had come, the reason for the trip to Japan, today was the day we faced Mount Fuji. With a few hours to kill we decided to take a quick trip into Tokyo to climb a tower, Tokyo Towe was built in 1958 for the Analog TV Stations and stands at 333m tall. We took a trip to the top and looked out over all of Tokyo, interesting to see that Japan is now moving to digital and the New Tokyo Tower stands at 634m. After a quick subway back to the hotel it was time to do the final pre climb checks.
We repacked our bags and made sure we had everything, popped down to the shop to purchase our water and "pick me up" foods. It was at this point that I realised why Dad had such a small bag, it was so I could carry all the water!! The weather was hot, and we headed down to meet Luke who was going to be our guide up Mount Fuji.
After an hour drive we arrived at the base of Mount Fuji and looked up at this enormous volcano. I think at this point Dad and I looked at each other, thinking Oh Dear, It is actually quite big. We needed to spend some time adjusting to altitude so we tucked into some food and drank plenty of water. Just as we began relaxing down came the rain, followed by lightening, we where going to get very wet unless it cleared up in the next 30 minutes. Luke went through the safety briefings, taught the rest step (a way of conserving energy), altitude sickness warnings, and if it begins to lightening on the Mountain we run to an emergency hut!
Just as we ran through our final checks, the rain began to cease, and the summit of Fuji came into view again, it was time to begin to the long climb to 3,776.24m. Due to Mount Fuji being a volcano the mountain itself is made up of ash and rock, and subsequently there is little life on the Mountain itself. The first stint of the climb was fairly simple, like a good walk in the woods, and we arrived at the next hut. Unfortunately, due to it not being the "official climbing season", we where unable to purchase a Fuji walking stick, nor where too many of the huts open for business. As the sun began to set the path turned from ash, to thick stone, headlamps where turned on as began trying to find out next steps up the mountain. Effectively the climb up Fuji is one big zig zag, for every turn we made, we knew we where one closer to the stop.
It was important as we got higher up that mountain, that we stopped regularly for 5-10 mins to adjust to the altitude and take on lots of water, it was now pitch black, and we relied on our head lamps to guide us up the mountain. It was probably a good thing as we couldn't see the summit and we just carried on walking. As we approached the 7th Stations the air was becoming noticeably thinner and we took a lot longer rest at this station to try and acclimatise. At this point in the climb, there wasn't too much conversation going on, we where all focused on finding where to put our next steps and climbing up, the temperature was beginning to drop and I decided to put on my hoodie, and we continued our climb up to the 8th station. The 8th station was open, and we grabbed a cup of coffee, and would take a 2 hour rest before we made out summit attempt.
I knew that during the 2 hour break there was no way Dad would sleep, but I can normally sleep anywhere but unfortunately I could not sleep in this hut. I think we all shut our eyes, but noone slept, waiting for 03:00 when we would climb the rest of the way to the summit. The clock seemed to take forever to tick over but at 02:45, we all began to put our kit back on, and wrapped up for our final climb.
The path continued to zigzag up, with the rocks becoming ever bigger, by 04:00 the light was beginning to come through, we where worried we wouldnt get to the summit in time, Luke had prewarned that whilst it will get light the sun won't rise until 4:30. Still Dad and I took no risks and stormed up the Mountain to make sure we didnt miss the sun rise. We turned the corner and ahead of us stood a Shinto, this symbolised the top of Mount Fuji, and at 04:03 we had reached the summit of Mount Fuji. Now amazing whilst at home I struggle to get reception on my phone in my own house, at the top of Mount Fuji we had full reception, so a quick phone call home, and texts to special people we where able to find the best spot to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately it looked very cloudy and misty, we knew it wasn't going to be a perfect sun rise, but still there where enough breaks in the clouds for us to be able to see the sun rise. as we found an area to hide from the wind facing the East we waited in anticipation for the sun to rise, and at 04:32 the sun began to show, first just the rays of light and then the full sun came into show. After about 30 mins of watching the sun, i wanted to walk around the crater of the volcano, which would take about an hour. So we repacked our stuff and began to walk around the crater, wow this volcano was huge, as began to peer down into the volcano itself. The wind was gathering some real pace, and at some points was struggling to stand up. But the reason for walking round the crater was to get to the highest point, there was a weather station which stood right at the top, and after a 30 minute walk we had reached the highest point on Mount Fuji. We had done it, now the difficult part of getting down again. Unfortunately one part of the crater was shut, so instead of walking all the way round we had to turn round and head back to the path.
We repacked our bags and made sure we had everything, popped down to the shop to purchase our water and "pick me up" foods. It was at this point that I realised why Dad had such a small bag, it was so I could carry all the water!! The weather was hot, and we headed down to meet Luke who was going to be our guide up Mount Fuji.
After an hour drive we arrived at the base of Mount Fuji and looked up at this enormous volcano. I think at this point Dad and I looked at each other, thinking Oh Dear, It is actually quite big. We needed to spend some time adjusting to altitude so we tucked into some food and drank plenty of water. Just as we began relaxing down came the rain, followed by lightening, we where going to get very wet unless it cleared up in the next 30 minutes. Luke went through the safety briefings, taught the rest step (a way of conserving energy), altitude sickness warnings, and if it begins to lightening on the Mountain we run to an emergency hut!
Just as we ran through our final checks, the rain began to cease, and the summit of Fuji came into view again, it was time to begin to the long climb to 3,776.24m. Due to Mount Fuji being a volcano the mountain itself is made up of ash and rock, and subsequently there is little life on the Mountain itself. The first stint of the climb was fairly simple, like a good walk in the woods, and we arrived at the next hut. Unfortunately, due to it not being the "official climbing season", we where unable to purchase a Fuji walking stick, nor where too many of the huts open for business. As the sun began to set the path turned from ash, to thick stone, headlamps where turned on as began trying to find out next steps up the mountain. Effectively the climb up Fuji is one big zig zag, for every turn we made, we knew we where one closer to the stop.
It was important as we got higher up that mountain, that we stopped regularly for 5-10 mins to adjust to the altitude and take on lots of water, it was now pitch black, and we relied on our head lamps to guide us up the mountain. It was probably a good thing as we couldn't see the summit and we just carried on walking. As we approached the 7th Stations the air was becoming noticeably thinner and we took a lot longer rest at this station to try and acclimatise. At this point in the climb, there wasn't too much conversation going on, we where all focused on finding where to put our next steps and climbing up, the temperature was beginning to drop and I decided to put on my hoodie, and we continued our climb up to the 8th station. The 8th station was open, and we grabbed a cup of coffee, and would take a 2 hour rest before we made out summit attempt.
I knew that during the 2 hour break there was no way Dad would sleep, but I can normally sleep anywhere but unfortunately I could not sleep in this hut. I think we all shut our eyes, but noone slept, waiting for 03:00 when we would climb the rest of the way to the summit. The clock seemed to take forever to tick over but at 02:45, we all began to put our kit back on, and wrapped up for our final climb.
The path continued to zigzag up, with the rocks becoming ever bigger, by 04:00 the light was beginning to come through, we where worried we wouldnt get to the summit in time, Luke had prewarned that whilst it will get light the sun won't rise until 4:30. Still Dad and I took no risks and stormed up the Mountain to make sure we didnt miss the sun rise. We turned the corner and ahead of us stood a Shinto, this symbolised the top of Mount Fuji, and at 04:03 we had reached the summit of Mount Fuji. Now amazing whilst at home I struggle to get reception on my phone in my own house, at the top of Mount Fuji we had full reception, so a quick phone call home, and texts to special people we where able to find the best spot to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately it looked very cloudy and misty, we knew it wasn't going to be a perfect sun rise, but still there where enough breaks in the clouds for us to be able to see the sun rise. as we found an area to hide from the wind facing the East we waited in anticipation for the sun to rise, and at 04:32 the sun began to show, first just the rays of light and then the full sun came into show. After about 30 mins of watching the sun, i wanted to walk around the crater of the volcano, which would take about an hour. So we repacked our stuff and began to walk around the crater, wow this volcano was huge, as began to peer down into the volcano itself. The wind was gathering some real pace, and at some points was struggling to stand up. But the reason for walking round the crater was to get to the highest point, there was a weather station which stood right at the top, and after a 30 minute walk we had reached the highest point on Mount Fuji. We had done it, now the difficult part of getting down again. Unfortunately one part of the crater was shut, so instead of walking all the way round we had to turn round and head back to the path.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Day 3
A fairly chilled out day today primarily due to the climb soon upon us. We faced a difficult decision this morning, we knew we had to get to our tea ceremony for 12:00, but do we take a taxi, bus, or face the underground. When looking at prices there was only one option, the underground, however this would mean we would need to take on the world busiest underground station in the world with 3,000,000 users per day (well 3,000,002) today. Having looked a youtube videos I now felt prepared enough to take on the Japanese subway system, and once we worked out how the paying system worked we where incredibly impressed with the way it works, just follow the crowds and the signs. However just when we though we had mastered this, Mike shot off and through the wrong gate, which now meant he was stuck on the inside. I faced a difficult decision, do I leave my own Father to face the wrath on the Japanese Transport police alone, or do I too illegally pass through the barrier and support him in what could be a difficult time. I took the room key and left him....only joking I too passed through the barrier. We where now stuck on the inside and unsure where to go, but we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, information kiosk. Who thankfully spoke no English so we pushed through the wrong way, pretended to be on the outside, and then turned round and headed out. So in the space of 5 minutes we had broken the law 4 times, and we are currently in the room awaiting the knock on the door to be taken away!!!
However, the crimes where worth it... Happo-En is amazing. In typical Tokyo fashion, between 6 sky scrapers and modern buildings is a 300 year old Japanese garden, it would appear that random Emperors then send historic buildings over to the garden to preserve them. The main income seems to be from weddings as the garden is picturesque, however we where to visit the tea room and partake in our own special tea ceremony. So we where guided to the Tea room or "Muan" as we now know. This tea room was built during the Meiji Era by a silk merchant, and now we where being led like royality to our ceremony. Inside where 2 Japanese Women, who greeted us and gave us our own fans, (we where very grateful due to the stupidly high temperatures outside) we sat down and the ceremony began. We where handed a piece of paper on it we laid 3 sweets, the first was a jelly type sweet with a sugar coating, the second was a rice pie with some bean filling (Tasted like flour) and the third was a sugar shell. We where to eat these while the lady brewed our tea. One the tea was brewed it was served in a bowl, and we had to bow, rotate it clockwise twice, Take a sip, drink it all, slurp at the end, then rotate anti clockwise twice. A lot to remember but we did it, and then to our amazement we where told that the bowls we where using had a symbol of Mount Fuji on and we where surrounded by Fuji Cherryl Trees, by which we explained we had one in our garden at home, she was quite impressed!! We then toured the garden, before chilling by the pool back at the hotel...
So the time has come to commence the climb, a lot of apprehension today, and talk by the pool, so how likely is it really for Altitude sickness to kick in..."Well we've been skiing in high altitude resorts", having now googled it they are 1500m lower than we are going. Yer but at least it wont erupt to which I then read "Mount Fuji last erupted in 1708. Many scientist believe that this valcanoe has a history of errupting every 300 years" so basically it is due!! But its all mind over matter...the next blog update will hopefully be an indepth description of the successful climb up Mount Fuji!!!
If you are really bored photos have been upload to www.flickr.com/timmckeegan
Thank you once again for your generosity in donations to www.justgiving.com/fujimckeegan.
However, the crimes where worth it... Happo-En is amazing. In typical Tokyo fashion, between 6 sky scrapers and modern buildings is a 300 year old Japanese garden, it would appear that random Emperors then send historic buildings over to the garden to preserve them. The main income seems to be from weddings as the garden is picturesque, however we where to visit the tea room and partake in our own special tea ceremony. So we where guided to the Tea room or "Muan" as we now know. This tea room was built during the Meiji Era by a silk merchant, and now we where being led like royality to our ceremony. Inside where 2 Japanese Women, who greeted us and gave us our own fans, (we where very grateful due to the stupidly high temperatures outside) we sat down and the ceremony began. We where handed a piece of paper on it we laid 3 sweets, the first was a jelly type sweet with a sugar coating, the second was a rice pie with some bean filling (Tasted like flour) and the third was a sugar shell. We where to eat these while the lady brewed our tea. One the tea was brewed it was served in a bowl, and we had to bow, rotate it clockwise twice, Take a sip, drink it all, slurp at the end, then rotate anti clockwise twice. A lot to remember but we did it, and then to our amazement we where told that the bowls we where using had a symbol of Mount Fuji on and we where surrounded by Fuji Cherryl Trees, by which we explained we had one in our garden at home, she was quite impressed!! We then toured the garden, before chilling by the pool back at the hotel...
So the time has come to commence the climb, a lot of apprehension today, and talk by the pool, so how likely is it really for Altitude sickness to kick in..."Well we've been skiing in high altitude resorts", having now googled it they are 1500m lower than we are going. Yer but at least it wont erupt to which I then read "Mount Fuji last erupted in 1708. Many scientist believe that this valcanoe has a history of errupting every 300 years" so basically it is due!! But its all mind over matter...the next blog update will hopefully be an indepth description of the successful climb up Mount Fuji!!!
If you are really bored photos have been upload to www.flickr.com/timmckeegan
Thank you once again for your generosity in donations to www.justgiving.com/fujimckeegan.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Day 2
So today was the day we became Japanese Tourists in Japan, with the camera batteries fully charged, Sunglasses packed and guide map in hand!! The most impressive thing about Japan, is that everything is organised to the final detail, on time and ever so friendly. So our tour bus was due to pick us up at 08:05, and at 08:03 it arrived, and we jumped on board the big yellow bus. We decided to opt for the full day tour, basically a good way of ensuring we sleep well tonight!! The tour was broken down into 6 attractions.
1. Mehji Shrine,
Unbeknown to us, we actually visited this yesterday but fortunately our tour leader knew a lot more about this place than I did. Effectively this is a Shindo Shrine, which tend to be the biggest religion in Japan, although when I saw religion it is more of a superstition, effectively you visit a Shindo Shrine when something good happens, marriage, christening etc and a buddhist temple for a funeral. We went up to the shrine having had our soul cleansed (by walking through a gate) and made our wish!!
2. East Garden of the Emperor Palace
Wow this was impressive, what a huge area of land for a 77 year old man, here we learnt about the monarchy in Japan, but unfortunately we were not allowed into the palace, one assumes that is because I am not a Prince. However the Emperor was kind enough to let us walkthrough a small part of his 177 acre garden. It was perfect, they employ 2,000 people for the emperor just to look after the gardens and house!!
3. Asakusa Shrine
So this was similar to the shrine this morning but for buddha and a lot bigger, by this point both Dad and I where struggling with the heat, so we hit the souvenir shop which had aircon, and pretended to browse!! Rather comical they had a fortune telling machine, where you could keep putting money in until you got the fortune you wanted!.
4. Lunch at the top of a sky scraper, over looking Tokyo Bay.
5. A Tokyo Bay cruise, A rather flash boat awaited us and then subsequently took us up the dock, under the rainbow bridge, turned round and came back. This was a fantastic way to take in the sheer size and fantastic architecture in Japan.
6. Oadabia, this is a now a complete Island dedicated to amusement. Initially was built buy the emperor to store all of his weaponary should Japan ever come under attack, now it is full of amusements, shopping centres, theme parks, theme parks within shopping centres, TV stations you name it, anything to do with entertainment is on there.
After a return to the hotel, we have done some final training after a trip to the local convenience store (see below) and we have booked our selves in for a "Tea Ceremony" tomorrow!
Unfortunately we where reminded today of just how large Mount Fuji is, the highest building we saw today was the new Tokyo Tower at 662m, so Fuji is nearly 6 times that height, oh well only a day to go until we crack on!!!! Time for bed....
1. Mehji Shrine,
Unbeknown to us, we actually visited this yesterday but fortunately our tour leader knew a lot more about this place than I did. Effectively this is a Shindo Shrine, which tend to be the biggest religion in Japan, although when I saw religion it is more of a superstition, effectively you visit a Shindo Shrine when something good happens, marriage, christening etc and a buddhist temple for a funeral. We went up to the shrine having had our soul cleansed (by walking through a gate) and made our wish!!
2. East Garden of the Emperor Palace
Wow this was impressive, what a huge area of land for a 77 year old man, here we learnt about the monarchy in Japan, but unfortunately we were not allowed into the palace, one assumes that is because I am not a Prince. However the Emperor was kind enough to let us walkthrough a small part of his 177 acre garden. It was perfect, they employ 2,000 people for the emperor just to look after the gardens and house!!
3. Asakusa Shrine
So this was similar to the shrine this morning but for buddha and a lot bigger, by this point both Dad and I where struggling with the heat, so we hit the souvenir shop which had aircon, and pretended to browse!! Rather comical they had a fortune telling machine, where you could keep putting money in until you got the fortune you wanted!.
4. Lunch at the top of a sky scraper, over looking Tokyo Bay.
5. A Tokyo Bay cruise, A rather flash boat awaited us and then subsequently took us up the dock, under the rainbow bridge, turned round and came back. This was a fantastic way to take in the sheer size and fantastic architecture in Japan.
6. Oadabia, this is a now a complete Island dedicated to amusement. Initially was built buy the emperor to store all of his weaponary should Japan ever come under attack, now it is full of amusements, shopping centres, theme parks, theme parks within shopping centres, TV stations you name it, anything to do with entertainment is on there.
After a return to the hotel, we have done some final training after a trip to the local convenience store (see below) and we have booked our selves in for a "Tea Ceremony" tomorrow!
Unfortunately we where reminded today of just how large Mount Fuji is, the highest building we saw today was the new Tokyo Tower at 662m, so Fuji is nearly 6 times that height, oh well only a day to go until we crack on!!!! Time for bed....
Monday, 27 June 2011
Day 1
So after a long flight we arrived in Tokyo at 05:30 and we where at the hotel by 06:30, after an attempted check in we where soon told we cannot check in until 14:00. I think it is fair to say we have pretty much walked round all of Tokyo! And it is interesting to say the least. Whether it is just me, but I guess I expected Tokyo to be very modern with some traditions still about, I imagined big apple stores on every other corner, and big Sony widescreen TVs, the truth is we have seen one major shop, and thousands of small corner shops, selling random things. After spending 6 hours walking round Tokyo there doesn’t seem to be any similarities between anyone. On one hand it is very Western, but then you see another person in their Karate outfit, and very Japanese dress. So it would appear in my opinion that Tokyo is slowly moving Western but pleasingly also keeping its heritage alive. We decided to take on Shinjuku Train Station at 08:00 am (bear in mind this is the world busiest train station) wow what an experience, one things for sure I am never going to be a commuter in Tokyo, but brilliant to be able to say I have done it, we then preceded to walk round numerous parks (all part of the training programme) and it was fascinating to see the layout and mix of modern ideas with heritage. The first park we went to had a shrine in the middle of it and then a gym for OAPs around the edge. From their we attempted to go to the sword museum to discover it is shut on a Monday, and then to the Tokyo General Museum to discover that is shut due to the earthquake, we then tried to go for lunch to discover the restaurant we wanted to go to was shut as well. So hopefully that is all out bad luck out the way and everything goes perfectly now!
Obviously the reason for this trip is to climb Mount Fuji, but we need a couple of days to see Tokyo! I would just like to say a huge thank you for all the very kind donations, and the amount you have raised is amazing!!
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