Oh, what a trip it has been. It's been nearly a month since I arrived in Japan and I have no complaints. Well, I have complaints, but they are nothing in the face of how amazing my experience has been.
This article will focus on Mt. Fuji, or rather, everything but Mt. Fuji, because apparently it likes to hide.
Seriously. I went all the way up to it and didn't see it. Too cloudy.
As part of the program, I attended International Camp at a hotel near Mt. Fuji with almost every English speaking student at TIU. Two hours in a bus and we made it to a huge, traditional Japanese inn in the middle of nowhere. We had to take of our shoes and wear slippers inside. You can probably imagine that with hundreds of students, there weren't enough slippers -- so some of us washed our shoes. We headed straight up to the dining room for lunch.
We got to eat Oyakodon! "Oya" means adult and "ko" means child. "Don" means a bowl dish, so... adult and child bowl. Really just chicken, eggs and some onions over rice. It's delicious.
After that we headed to the gym for Sports Day. Now, I hate sports. With a fiery passion. I am uncoordinated and very grumpy about purposeless competition. On the other hand, I am in Japan. I'm supposed to try everything with a positive attitude. So I participated a lot. I reconfirmed that I am in fact crappy at sports. Apparently I can run fast, but only when barefoot and only for short distances and dang did my thighs hurt after the fact.
Fortunately, the hotel had an onsen.
If you've never been to an onsen, you're missing out. It's a public bath. Usually the hot water is drawn from one of Japan's many volcanic hot springs. It smells sweet and the minerals soften your skin. Heaven in the form of a body of water, as far as I'm concerned.
You should know, however, that you must go naked. No clothes. No bathing suits. No nothing. No tattoos, either. Apparently tattoos are associated with being in the Japanese mafia. If you can bandage them it's usually fine. It was in my case.
I don't have a problem getting naked in front of other people, so I was one of the first folks in the bath. Others hesitated, but I was impressed by the number of girls who attended. Cultures and countries from all around the world were being represented by the students, but everyone settled into the practice of onsen with ease. We were separated by gender, but that isn't always the case. Pay attention to the signs around you.
I have never been so relaxed.
Outdoor pool full of the hottest water. A zen, Japanese style garden to gaze over from within the pool. Trees and a starry sky above you. I'm sorry, but it absolutely does not get better than that. The girls' heads and backs sticking out of the water as they leaned out and looked at the garden were picture perfect, but I of course didn't bring my camera anywhere near the place. I sat with my friends and we talked about all kinds of things as surely as if we were wearing clothes.
I don't know what a men's onsen is like and I can't comment, but I can tell you that the boys were screaming obscenities at each other from the other side of the separation gate.
When we climbed out of the onsen, it was dinner time. Literally dinner time. Like, dinner was at 5:25 and it was 5:25. We jammed our bodies into clothes and ran out to the campsite area where the barbecue would be held. I had heard we were having a barbecue, but it didn't occur to me until I sat down that I was about to have the meal of a lifetime.
Yakiniku. The barbecue is inside your table. You throw the food on raw and pull it off when it's done. There was an incredible amount of raw meat at our table. If you're a meat eater like me, you would have been over the moon. Slices upon slices of pork and beef. Corn, eggplant, cabbage, lettuce, pumpkin, onions, peppers and more. Seriously, try barbecued pumpkin. It is so good. We also got rice and cantaloupe for dessert. It was the best. My eyebrows may have been slightly singed due to my excitement, but that is beside the point.
We played a round of jeopardy (which was frankly boring and tiring, given my loopy post-onsen brain)...and then it was back to the onsen for another evening dip. Seriously, I never wanted to leave.
The next morning we ate buffet style breakfast and headed out for one last stop before returning home: Motosuko Lake. It is one of many lakes surrounding the Fuji area. We were allowed to walk around and sight see for a little while. It wasn't enough time. The water was stunning and the environment had plenty to explore. The lake was as still as a mirror and the air was mountainous and fresh...
...but Mt. Fuji couldn't been seen in the slightest.
I think I sound more disappointed than I actually am. Between the amazing dinner and the onsen, I had the time of my life. I'm sure I'll see Fuji before I leave. No harm done if I don't. I have more onsen to look forward to.
