Land of the Rising Sun, a journey to Japan

Konnichiwa, minasan!

Hello, everyone! This is Shannon Barnes, blogging from our hotel in Hakone.

We have had quite the day today! We started off in our hotel back in Tokyo, the Grand Prince, but left directly after breakfast on our three-hour (!!) bus ride to Mount Fuji. We were really lucky to be able to see it, because normally around this time of year the entire mountain is shrouded in clouds. It was clear today, and completely beautiful. The bus took us up to what's called the "Fifth Station," the highest point a car or bus can go, where we met our three guides for the day: Rugger, Mari, and Michi. The hike up to Sixth Station was ... intense. The path is unpaved and extremely uneven, so many people use something like short ski poles to keep their balance.

After Mount Fuji, we drove through a tunnel over to an area that has many hot springs. People boil eggs in the hot springs because the sulfur in the water turns the white part black! Once we'd had several of our delegates try the eggs (apparently better than regular hard-boiled eggs), we took a gondola back down the mountain. Seeing the peaks with the clouds in front of them was beautiful and absolutely amazing.

We then headed to our hotel, where we are now. The hotel is set up around an onsen, or natural hot springs, which form a sort of built-in hot tub. It's very relaxing after a long day hiking! Some of the delegates are also getting the opportunity to sleep on futon (mattresses) in a traditional Japanese tatami room.