Recently, I went to Mt. Fuji. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I left Kyoto station at 10pm on a bus. However, I could not sleep well on the bus. I did not arrive at the 5th station of Mt. Fuji until about 9am. On the way there, we made several stops. Our hike up the mountain started around 10am. On the way up, it started raining a lot. My clothes were drenched by the time it stopped raining. Luckily, I had spare clothes wrapped in a plastic bag to prevent them from getting wet. There were about 18 of us in total, but we all did not arrive at the Yamagoya at the same time. If I remember correctly, I arrived at around 6pm. At the Yamagoya, I ate some curry and rice then got some rest. Sadly, I only slept about two hours at the Yamagoya. We then woke up around midnight and had to set out on the final leg of our hike to the summit of the mountain. We left so early in order to witness the sunrise at the top of the mountain. Even though I was severely sleep-deprived, I made it to the top with my friend, and were able to see the sunrise together. After sunrise, we made the trip down the mountain so that we could take our 10am bus back to Kyoto. Surprisingly, going down the mountain is worse than going up. If you ever get a chance, I would recommend climbing Mt. Fuji at least once in your life.
