Sunrise in the Land of the Rising Sun

I was among the first people in the world to welcome Saturday, August 18, 2007.

Yesterday, I spent 12 hours - from 10 p.m. on Friday to 10 a.m. on Saturday - on Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan (the summit is 3776 meters above sea level). The Japanese have a saying about Mt. Fuji: "You're a fool if you don't climb it once, but you're a fool if you climb it more than once." I agree: it took us just under 7 hours to scale to the top!

Along the way, we experienced temperature extremes (I started the climb in shorts and a t-shirt and finished with lined pants and a sweatshirt), saw stars in a clouless sky (because we were above the clouds!), and enjoyed some of the most amazing udon soup I've ever tasted (at 3360 meters above sea level at 4 a.m.).

The trail was at times easy (it felt like an average hike through the woods) and at times treacherous (it required me to hold my flashlight in my mouth as used both hands to climb vertically on volcanic rock), but the view from the top made the long journey worthwhile. Pictures can't do justice to a sunrise above the clouds, but I've shared them here.

I carried a walking stick with me through the entire trek - mountain staffers stamped milestone brands into the stick at each rest station along the way, and a Buddhist priest blessed it with a "top of the mountain" brand when I reached the summit.

It took us another 5 hours to get back down the mountain, and it will take perhaps another 5 days to recover from the climb (my legs are soooore), but here's hoping the memories will last a lifetime!