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It's approximately a 2 hour bus ride from Tokyo to Mount Fuji. This week is a special holiday week and today is a special day, not quite sure what the importance is. This means extra traffic and people in the Fuji area. The countryside is very green and full of hills and mountains. We also passed a roller coaster park which has 2 rides in. The Guinness book of records. One is the highest at 79m high and the other has the most turns.
Unfortunately, the peak of Mount Fuji was covered in cloud the entire time and I could only get one picture where the peak could be vaguely seen as the clouds swirled. Went up to the 5th base station which was full of people preparing to make the final ascent to the peak. Mount Fuji is actually a dormant volcano. Japan is full of these. July and August are the only months where climbing to the summit is open to all people. The station is just over 2300m above sea level. The peak is 3776m high.
From Mount Fuji we drove to Lake Ashi. We went on the cable car to the top of Mount Komagotake which is 1327m above sea level and the cable length is about 1.8km. It was full of cloud so could not see much again. There is a golf course built on the slope of the mountain.
Then we went for a 25 minute cruise on the lake. Nothing spectacular there. Then we took a bus to the train station and caught the bullet train back to Tokyo. It was a 40 minute ride with 2 stops in between. It looks like a plane on the inside with tray tables, hooks for coats on the wall and reclining seats. There are 16 cars so the train is very long and I did not see the front. I was in coach 16. The ride is very smooth and silent. Apparently the average speed is 270km/h but it did not feel like it. It was dark outside and the only time you really felt anything was when the train in the opposite direction passed, there was a slight movement on the train.
It was an interesting day from before I even got to the bus station. I met a South African Indian working in the South African consulate in Delhi also going on the tour. We were on separate busses so I did not see him again. There were two other South African parties on the bus so I got to hear some local accents
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