1 August – Woke at 5 am (its light then). I had not been sleeping well. The night before going to Mt Fuji 5^th station I had hardly slept at all! And then didn’t sleep much that night as well.

Sometimes when I am around the energy zones/power spots, my body goes into some sort of overdrive. Mt Shasta was like that, sometimes it’s time to leave, and it was time this morning. I got on an early bus from Kawaguchiko Station to Gotemba. Then, I caught another bus to Mishima Station. After that, I took a few more trains from there.

At the train station before Ito, I meet a fellow traveller. His name was Corby. It turns out we were staying at the same place – K’s House Historical Ryokan Hostel.  We walked to it, he helped me in that he dragged my ‘belt bag’ – which is difficult to do! We checked in and stored our bags. Check-in is not until 3 pm. We found the restaurant that was recommended to us. It is called Kappore, where we had a hearty lunch.

That afternoon, I sat by the fan at the hostel and wrote. The doors open out to the river. I could hear the sound of the cicadas. It is a wonderful hostel; there are Onsen baths, both public and private.

I walked to the beach. It was Orange Beach, just up the road. I put my feet in the water. People were swimming.

That evening after doing some washing, I met a few more people from my room. There was a free dinner at 7pm. The food was delicious with noodles, tempura, and toppings. It was the hostel’s fourth birthday. I felt very lucky and enjoyed the food with conversation, and so slept well that night.

Ito (伊東, Itō) is a famous hot spring resort town on the Izu Peninsula.  About ten km south of central Ito is Izu Kogen. It has many small museums and restaurants. You can also visit Mount Omuro and the beautiful Jogasaki Coast. 

I headed down on a bus for a day trip to the Jogasaki Coast. The jagged cliffs and stone formations that hug the coast make for a beautiful small hike.  I walked the Kadowakizaki Suspension Bridge and went to up to the observation deck on the Lighthouse. 

It was very hot waiting for a bus, if you weren’t in the shade.  I jumped on one to Mount Omuro.  The energy here was very powerful on this extinct volcano.  A gentle mountain with a crater of 300 meters in diameter and 70 meters in depth. Panoramic views at the top as I saw Mt Fuji peaking at me at one stage.  A chair lift transports people up and down, I enjoyed this ride and view swing. 

I did the loop round and there were many energy spots.  Sometimes I pretend I am taking photos. As sometimes, I am called to stand in a certain spot annoyingly for quite a long time. When I felt the ease, then I would move again. 

I met a few lovely folks from the Hostel. We went out for dinner that night to a cool local restaurant.  Smoking is still allowed in this place. I found it uncomfortable at times. However, the food and company made up for it.

4 August – I woke in Ito. I went down early for an Onsen Bath in the public one downstairs. It was so lovely.  I have never been as clean as I was in Japan!!!  Then I went for a walk to get some breakfast. I ate it by the water and said some words out over the Pacific.  I was packed up, bag was stored at Hostel. Then I hopped onto a train. Well, I say hopped, but it was a hard feat walking my bags down to the station without the handle.  I had booked the train’s reserved ticket when I arrived at Ito. Turning up was all that remained.

And the trains – I caught five. They were all booked to give me time to get to each station. At one station, I caught the Shinkansen again. It was incredible to see the bullet trains go racing past when they weren’t stopping… Whoosh! I left at about 11.30 am and got to Osaka airport at about 5 pm; my flight wasn’t until 11.45 pm.  I was early, but I was there! I had Sushi from a conveyer belt. I met a young traveller who had just flown in from China. He said it felt much calmer in Japan. We enjoyed watching the steamboat pull up with the order.

I had to pay for the baggage again. I tried to explain to them that my baggage had been wrecked. I also mentioned that the other flight had been rescheduled. It was an interesting time. I unpacked some of my bag. And curiously tried that thing of putting some of my clothes on, to make the weight less. But that was just silly really. Sometimes I have to make peace with not trying to be such a cheapskate. There was a really slow queue too, so took about 2 hours standing in lines. Flying with Air Asia X. The tickets are a good price, so you take the yin with the yang. There was a very cute Japanese baby in the queue too, so that helped time go faster. Arrived in KL at 5 am in morning.

Arigatou – Thankyou Japan!

‘Quest the ideal: Devote yourself to seeking the most beautiful truth. When you find this beautiful Truth in the universe, become that beauty, incarnate that truth, and remember Fuji-san’ Robert Coon

31 July – Today was the day I intended to go to 5^th station Mt Fuji. The Malaysian women from my room and I jumped onto the 6.40 am bus up.  The buses left from station next to the Hostel.  We got there all good. I thought there would be a long queue, but there wasn’t. Up we went!  All trees pretty much all the way.  It was a very clear morning, we were lucky, as this doesn’t always happen!  We went our different ways when we got to the 5^th Station. As she was a pilgrim and going to climb the mountain.  I decided to walk up some and ended up walking to the 6^th station.

It was interesting walking past all the weary walkers whom were walking back down. After they had walked up to see the sunrise at 4.45 am and then down again. And they were going the opposite direction back to 5^th station. It was amazing to see so many people climbing it now.  It seemed as if the pilgrims were exhausted but had great spirit from being on the mountain. I must admit, I felt amazing after being on it. When I went to Haleakala Crater in Hawaii, I felt changed, and similar to this.

On the way walking, there are some rocks. They form what felt like to me, a gateway. There was a mountain guide there with whom I had a good conversation. He was part of the mountain staff directing people the right way. It was almost like he was waiting for me to arrive. He showed me the Rhododendron. He told me that climbing Fuji is like a death. Then you come through like a baby. A re-birth I guess. It was interesting, I felt the energy shift from the 5^th, after going through this rock way. There was much energy, almost like we had moved dimension from the material plane. I did some LL whilst touching the rocks next to this lovely old guide. He seemed to get it. I told it was spirits here. He nodded. I didn’t want to hold him up too long. He shook my hand and hoped I would see him on the way back down. It took longer than expected to come back down. He wasn’t there anymore, he was like one of the angels met on the journey and I was thankful for.

I walked up to 6^th. There was a spot on the way to work on the ease. There was another spot on the way back down. This one was near the top of sixth in a clearing of trees, before the tunnel. Felt I had to be there for a long time, with toning and LL. Large groups kept coming through, as many people climbing up now! I was exhausted, it was hot and it was intense. It eased, and took about an hour I guess. I did some toning at 6^th station. Just on the way back down, I placed an Aroha stone in between some large rocks. It joined Fuji-san there.

There were horses back at 5^th station – for carrying peeps down who were having difficulty. So nice to connect and speak LL to them, a love of horses is growing immensely in me. They looked pretty tired and like they work hard.

From a Mt Fuji brochure, it says about the 5th station (Go-gome)… ‘The 5th station marks the boundary between the mortal and the sacred world. At an elevation of approx 2300m, one can make the full lap around Fuji’s mountainside on the “Ochuddo” hiking trail. On which lies the Komitake Shrine where interesting tales of mountain tengu (goblins) are told. From the 5th station to the summit, there is a field of high altitude flora. These vibrant plants are brilliantly mixed against the rough red slope.” It starts to get steeper on the 6th.

There is a Shrine near 5^th Station – I went to view this too, and the mountain had cleared again! Just for a few moments and a few more photos (It had clouded over a little bit earlier). I sat down for a short while. I had had lots of sit downs too on the way up and down. I felt great admiration for all the peeps going up and down! I had lots of smiles and smiling eyes of recognition and acknowledgment.

And I was really admiring the different outdoor Mt Fuji looks; so many bright colors with funky tights/hats/legwarmers.  Japanese people have given me a new lease of life of finding clothes that are fun! Even the older people you see on the streets of Japan have finesse in what they wear. The woman dress graceful and feminine but funky at the same time.  It was interesting to see how many older people were climbing up. There were also many groups of children, although I’m not sure how far up they go.  I had conversations with many people on their way.

I jumped on bus around 1 pm or so, it rained and stopped when we got to the bus station. I was very tired, and headed back to Koes guest house. Relaxed and went to the Lake for the final dinner. The next day I caught early buses to Gotemba and then to Ito.

Arigatou Fuji-San!