Very Zen Fujisan

We duly changed and took the train to Gotemba. On the way to Gotemba I noticed that the Lonely Planet actually had a map of the area around Mt Fuji. It showed train stations Mishima, Gotemba, and our intended destination Kawaguchi-ko. However it was also clear from the map that there was no line connecting Gotemba to Kawaguchi-ko. The woman in Nara had told us a load of nonsense, which we had stupidly believed instead of doing a bit more research ourselves. But you do expect people working at a railway ticket desk to know how to get somewhere by rail. Well, we consoled ourselves Gotemba is one of the starting points for climbing the mountain and it is one of the closest towns so there must be a view there. But it was obvious from the clouds all around that we would be lucky to see very far down a street in Gotemba.

Sure enough we couldn't see any sign of the mountain. And there was no train to Kawaguchi-ko. We thought about getting the bus to Kawaguchi-ko, but when we discovered it would cost us ¥3000 each for quite a short journey after which we would probably still see nothing we decided against it. Why is transport in Japan so horribly expensive? The silver lining on these very heavy dark and pendulous clouds was that the station shop sold some interesting looking beers; the first I has seen in Japan. Most Japanese beer is competently made, but very uninteresting: bland, but certainly not unpleasant, a bit like the temples. This stuff looked like it was made in a German style so I bought one of each kind: wheat, dark, and lager.

German-style beers

On the way home it looked like it was much clearer on the Kawaguchi-ko side of the mountain, so we may have had a view after all, but I was totally defeated: Japan was just too difficult for me. It's hard enough with the language difficulties, but then when you have been giving you duff directions all the time, or not telling you vital things you need to know it just proved too much for me. As we came back into Tokyo I mused that the tower blocks look more like Glasgow's 60s and 70s tower blocks than the modern things they had in Hong Kong.

Spaghetti sandwich on the train

It was a rather pointless day. My friend Tim used to describe episodes such as those a Zen Missions. I'm not really sure what it means, if is his use is at all "correct", but I suppose it must have something to do with the activity being it's own end. It had certainly been a very Zen day.

Sour grapes sweeties. How fitting!

written by  The Happy Couple on July 17, 2009 from Gotemba, Japan
from the travel blog: Michael's Round-the-World honeymoon
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