I came back from my friends house in Yamanashi on Sunday, but my internet connection has been flaky for the last few days and I didn't really want to spend an hour typing a paragraph on my cell phone.
Yamanashi was really fun though. It's way up in the mountains about 3 or 4 hours from here, one of the two prefectures that Mt. Fuji is in. The weather was pretty good, and Saturday all but the very top of Mt. Fuji was visible. Mt. Fuji is 3775 meters (12,387 feet), a bit shorter than Mt. Rainer at 4392m (14,410 feet) and further south, so in the summer there is usually no snow. After I arrived in Yamanashi, we went to a sushi place for lunch and then drove up to Mt. Fuji. When climbing Mt. Fuji, there are 10 stations and there is a road going half way up the mountain to station 5, which is where most people climb to. I didn't actually climb the mountain, except a little ways to station 6. When I climb, probably next summer, I am planning on starting at the bottom. Both my grandpa and my Japanese teacher said that you have to start at station one. Starting at 5 is kind of cheating...
After Mt. Fuji, we went to one of the five lakes that surround the mountain, and to this famous spot where a cold water spring gushes from the ground. I don't know what it's called, but I'll have pictures of it all sometime when I get my film developed. (I should start doing everything in B&W so I can do it myself. Or get the digital body for my SLR...)
The next day we went to the river and had a Japanese style BBQ. Rather than grill just hamburgers and bring things like salads like we do in the States, in Japan they grill really thin slices of really good cuts of beef, pork and chicken, along with peppers, onions, squash and other veggies. You can eat is straight off the grill with your chopsticks, or dip it in sauce. So we just sat around and grazed for 3 hours and played in the river until it was time to go.
Right now, since I am on my vacation, Ai and I are planning on taking a trip somewhere up north or to the mountains. We're not really sure where yet, since she's still a poor student, and I'm only on my first pay cheque still, it's going to be cheap. Camping or something would be fun, but we don't know anyone that has tents or sleeping bags or anything, so maybe a ski resort. They usually have cheap deals for the summer when they want business.
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