5th Station of Mt Fuji in Autumn Season

Last weekend we went to Mt Fuji, we didn’t climb coz I know it would be so much agony. Our Japanese office mate who drove us to Mt. Fuji, prefer to stay at the fifth station where all the souvenir shops and restaurants are located. Our outfits weren’t prepared to climb a volcano anyways. We were 6 people in the group, 2 Japanese and 4 Filipinos.
We departed Tokyo 7 AM and as excited as we are, we didn’t sleep during the trip but kept on talking and looking at the changing appearance of city streets to sub-urbs then final to rural areas. We passed by the rainbow bridge, Fuji Q and other remarkable places, it made our trip more exciting. But other than that it was the usual 3 hours drive.

I took photos of moving stuff from Iphone but all of them appeared blurry so I decided to just save the camera’s battery to the real scenery of Mt. Fuji.

Before arriving in Mt Fuji, there was this part of the road with music/tone, they said those are groves that produce vibration when friction from the car tires hit the road. It is made that way and it was unbelievable. The road was constructed putting some groves patterned to some musical notes I am not sure what the song title was that but even if it was short, it still amazed me and wondered why they spent much to make that road for that purpose alone? Of course I am just commenting, it's not a negative comment I think. Japanese people are very creative so maybe they made it that way for art's sake. I cannot tell which area was that but it’s on the way to Mt Fuji.

I enjoyed the autumn leaves while we were passing those winding roads up to the fifth station. It is now middle of October and the color of the leaves are still yellow and some orange. I know it would have been better if it was November.






When we arrive at the fifth station, I was surprised at the different kinds of restaurants with structures adopted from different cultures, could be European, Latin American, Chinese and the like. It was cold though so we were like wet ducklings. We have to be there for around 30 – 60 minutes coz one of our Japanese friends was not wearing proper winter gear. He was shaking from the cold breeze and besides we were all hungry.
Anyways, I had high hopes about Mt. Fuji and I just saw it during spring season when I went to Fuji Q some time last year. It is not as pretty without ice on its mouth peak compared to Mt. Fuji during winter or spring. I like Mt. Mayon in Albay, Philippines better with its perfect cone. Mt. Fuji is by the way same fault line in Mt. Kanlaon in Negros so any volcanic activities of Fuji it will be the same as Mt. Kanlaon. Here are more foto's during that trip:



Note: Janet doing her Naruto moves on one statue in a souvenir shop. There are plenty of statues fronting the volcano.

Note: Here we are acting like navigators. It was fun!


Note: It was 12 noon and coz we planned to have BBQ in Lake Kawaguchi we just controlled our hunger and bought JPY 500 corn on cub not as good as the sweet corn in Busay but enough to supress our hunger.

Note: Inside souvenir stores, pretty expensive so I just bought 8 different views of Mt Fuji postcards at JPY110 each.


What I think about the place in general, it was so pretty and everything around it is pretty. It’s worth the driving hours.

It only happens in Japan

It's 8:40 am of Wednesday, just a usual morning for me, too late from my usual time of waking up and going to the office which is only 15 minutes away from my pad by bicycle. Obviously, I was 10 minutes late and to my surprise, I was one of the few people who arrived at the office. I wondered why. I usually arrive the latest in my department well next to my boss who maybe drunk the other day, again. So I thought maybe people are just really scared of the second flu outbreak. Flu is really scary in Japan by the way; citizens always cram and anxious everytime they hear of outbreaks like the recent H1N1 virus. Merely because millions of people are on the streets attending to their busy lives (work, school, businesses) and a huge risk of getting the disease just anywhere is a threat to their usual routine, pretty scary since in Japan - Bawal ang magkasakit (Diseases not allowed). This is one of the places on earth that you cannot survive without money so people has to work.
Anyways, I just heard from another officemate who arrived 2 hours late after our usual time in. He said there was an accident in the Tozai Line, a cart bumped to another maintennance cart which rarely happen to Japan since they are very careful observers of safety.

That photo you see is forwarded by a friend to me, as you see a group of men united to push back a train after an accident occur at the start of day operation. The train is Tozai Line; a Tokyo Metro Train that runs from Nakano to Nishi-Funabashi and some trips to Toyo-Katsutadai (a change to Keisei train to go to Narita Airport). It runs to 15-20 train stops and this sudden stop in operation can cause delay not only to the Tokyo Metro Train but the entire train system of Kanto area, this may include the JR Line and other privately owned trains like Toei trains and Keisei trains like a domino effect causing millions of yen in losses.

I know Japan is concern about the loss and anger from people who maybe late from their appointments at their works or schools but what inspired me from this event, people still have the passion to help get through it peacefully. Which I think only happens in Japan where people are prone to bottling up their emotions just for the sake of unity, order and peace. They seek action and at these time words of blames and regrets do not help.
For me this is a rare accident in Japan after living here for almost 4 years now. But it made me appreciate more that I am here in this country where I can develop myself into a better person. I can't help but compare from my beloved homeland. I hope one day, in my country people stop blaming and just give a hand and just do it and say yes to improvement.