Sacred Mountain 1 of 3: complete!

Aug. 8-Aug. 12

Sun. John took us to Takaoka to go to Aeon Mall. We walked around and explored but I didn't buy too much. I did get a very cheap book in English (not even 500yen!), a chair, and donuts from Mr. Donuts. After that we went to Yamada Denki and I bought a shiny new camera as a birthday present to myself. It was on sale and it is working really well so far!

During the week we had the Toyama Orientation. The first two days were pretty boring but filled with some pretty good information. Wed. however was amazing. All of us went to Tateyama (Mt. Tate), one of Japan's three sacred mountains (sanreizan). The other two are Mt. Fuji and Mt. Haku. If I can get off the wait list for the Fuji trip then I will definitely try to get to Mt. Haku so I can climb all three of them!

This was taken from the bus as we were driving to the start of the trail.'

At Tateyama we had the choice between staying in the onsen (hot springs) or climbing the mountain. As much as I love onsen I really wanted to explore the beautiful mountain. Everything was gorgeous and the hike was really intense. There were parts with snow and by the end of it you were going up a rocky slope that didn't really have much of a path and using both hands and feet to get up there. Also, you were just as likely to get passed by old people and young children as you were to pass them. The climb only took a few hours but was rather difficult. Luckily I purchased hiking shoes from a nice old man right on Himi's main street (only 5000yen!). He was very concerned that I was looking at the shoes for men (who wants pink hiking shoes??) and thought that they would be too wide so he cut out an extra layer to add to the sole of shoe which made them perfect. I was worried that they would blister because they weren't broken in but I didn't want to destroy my running shoes. However, they did great and certainly helped with the climb. It's probably the most useful $50 I've spent yet!

This was basically the beginning of the trail to Tateyama.

This was still very near the bottom. Gradually I start to put on more layers as we went farther up.

At the top there was a shrine and if you paid 500yen you could go up to the actual shrine and have a monk chant a prayer and perform a little ritual where you drank some sake, this was very warming on top of the cold windy peak. From what I understood the chant was about protection and health and the monk said to be careful on our way down and avoid injuries. Also, he told us to be careful of the typhoon that is apparently on it's way to Japan. That was the first I had heard about it but looking outside today it is very windy and cloudy. When we got back we made it just in time to take a quick shower and run to Manyou's and get some well deserved sushi from Masa.

This morning I woke up at 5AM for no apparent reason but it was just in time to catch the sunrise and using my excellent new camera I took some great pictures to share with you.

Tonight, unless it gets cancelled on account of the typhoon, is our first enkai with the BOE. These are drinking parties that all Japanese businesses and groups have, though you don't necessarily have to drink. They are an important part of work culture as they give the group an opportunity to relax around each other and be more open. From all the JET orientation meetings we've gone to we have heard that these are important to attend and go a long way in helping us bond with our coworkers. I will let you know how that goes.

One final note: my bike is broken again. After the brake incident they gave me a different bike to use and although they fixed that bike they gave it to Katie when she got here instead of making me switch again. Now on this bike I've been using the front tire has slowly been losing air but one morning I tried to ride it and it was completely flat and won't stay pumped up at all. Week two and I've already needed two bikes to get fixed...

I'm going to include the rest of my photos in another post because they are too big for just one.