Climbing Mt Fuji and 5 hour rehearsal!

This past Sunday, the TenGooz gathered at 5:00pm

once again for a five hour,gruelling rehearsal as part of our preparation for our gigs in Melbourne Australia.Next time you catch our show you'll be surprised at what we've done with Jin Jin as well as some other songs which we have been making changes with.

Let me take this opportunity to recount one of the highlights of summer 2006 and I might add, one of the standout experiences in all my travels. many of you might be surprised by this, but im talking about a climb to the top of Mt Fuji! I know many of you think that the ascent up the

highest mountain in Japan was tainted by piles of trash,huge crowds and boring scenery.That image is what kept from taking the climb for all these years.
Luckilly,my friend and avid trekker taguma San suggested that we do Fuji(she had made it to the top several times) and I unenthusiastically agreed, since I thought it might be good to just get it over with and finally be able to say that I had made the climb. Taguma San would also be providing logistics and transport which made things sound convenient and a little more tempting.Just before stting off, I started building up a little excitement and convinced my buddy rick Weisburd to join us and fortunately he came along.

Fortunately for the two of us, despite the pessimism and badmouthing of the sacred mountain by numerous people, we found the trip to be dramatic inspirationaland at times thrilling and we found the trails spotlessly clean,convenient facilities and great folks climbing with us.

We set out from Tsukuba by car and due to traffic in Tokyo,made it to the parking lot at the 5th level(half way up)

by 1:00pm. from there we just startd walking.It about one hour between each station(Fuji is divided into ten stations)and we decided to take a rest at the 8th station as the sun was setting.This part of the trip posed the only negative aspect of our climb.For 8000yen you get a hurried meal(there isnt enough room for all the guests to eat at once so we have to take meals in shifts!) and after eating I wanted to sleep for a few hours before making the final assault up the slope. This however proved impossible for me as we had to sleep za ko ne or as we might describe it

sleeping like sardines in a tin!It was impossible for me to relax with a strangers face almost pressing against mine.

So I decided to just sit up for a few hours and set out at 11

By 11 I mean 11pm ! We set out in total darkness using our flashlights to try to avoid misteps. My light burned out after what seemed like only an hour.The last stage proved to be the hardest as the sandy trail made the going slow and the high altitude brought on breathlessness after a few steps.

Before we knew it,though we were at the summit waiting to see the sunrise(goraiko).unfortunately we arrived an hour too early and had to endurefreezing temperatures and extreme drowsiness before the exciting and teasingly slow appearance of the sun.its something i will not forget soon and im thinking I might do it again next year.

care to join me?