Dried Oregano

A small cluster of fresh oregano.

In the words of my old boss at a greenhouse I used to work at, it was time for my oregano to get a haircut! I've been meaning to do this for weeks as my oregano has slowly been taking over the left corner of my raised bed. 

Normally, I abandon my oregano in favor of all the basil I have growing. Last fall, I had great intentions of harvesting and drying my oregano to replace what I had used. However, before I knew it, a hard freeze hit and killed off most of my plant before I ever got around to it, so I had to give in and buy some store bought dried oregano. I don't have anything against store bought herbs as I've used them for years, but recently, I've discovered just how much better herbs are if I dry them myself. 

Dried oregano

So, yesterday, I harvested, washed, and air dried a huge amount of oregano in preparation to place it in my dehydrator. For Mother's Day 2023, I asked for a dehydrator. Since then, I've pretty much only dried basil in it. After hunting in the instruction manual for the herbs section, I didn't find anything about oregano, so I made my way to the trusty internet. From, what I saw it looked like I should dry the oregano at around 95-125 degrees for 6-18 hours. After running it for about 6 hours at 95 degrees, I discovered that the oregano was no where near being close to dried, so I upped the temperature to 130 degrees and set the timer for 5 hours. This definitely did the trick, and I ended up with a great amount of freshly dried oregano. 

I've tried air drying, oven drying, and using a dehydrator to dry oregano, and I prefer the dehydrator over the other two ways. 

Air drying takes quite a bit of time. You bundle the oregano stems together and hang them somewhere with non-direct sunlight to dry it out. This can take time and takes up space in your home. Plus, you need to be cognizant of dust gathering on your stalks. 

Your oven can be a great, quick way to dry your oregano. However, living in Texas makes me never want to turn my oven on in the summer time! I do my best to avoid it in the hottest months. If you choose to dry it in the oven, set your oven to the lowest temperature you can get it to. Mine goes down to 190 degrees. Once you've washed and dried the oregano, lay out the leaves/ stalks on a baking tray and place in the oven. Check in 15 minute intervals until the leaves feel crisp and easily crumble. Once the leaves have cooled, pull them off of the stalk and crush. 

My Cosori dehydrator works like a charm without heating up my kitchen when I want to dry herbs from my garden. I have a big one with 6 trays, so I can fit a lot of oregano in it at once.  After the leaves felt brittle, and cooled, I pulled the leaves off of the stalk and will store them in a small mason jar. Sometimes, if I have an empty store bought bottle, I'll store the dried herbs in that too. 

Drying Methods: 

Air Dry: Hang in bundles upside down in a non-direct lighted area. Check after two weeks to see if the leaves are dry and brittle. This can take up to six weeks If the leaves are ready, pull them off the stem, crush, and store. 

Oven: Set oven to lowest setting. Lay out oregano on a baking tray. Place in oven and check in 15 minute intervals to see if leaves are dry and brittle. Once leaves are ready,  pull them off the stem, crush, and store. 

Dehydrator: Set temperature 95-125. This depends on how much patience you have. Oregano will dry from 6-18 hours depending on temperature. Once leaves are ready,  pull them off the stem, crush, and store. 

Dried herbs are great additions to your cooking and can also be used as gifts! I've gifted basil and rosemary to co-workers in past years, and everyone has immediately opened the jar and smelled the herbs they received. 

Peach Pie

Pie cooling on the countertop. 

 Growing up, my mom would always make a couple of her famous Reserve Grand Champion peach pies this time of the year. She would and still only uses Red Haven peaches from Michigan as that is what she swears by. Admittedly, it took me far, far too long to appreciate just how delightful her peach pie actually is! My dad was quite upset the day I made this discovery!

I've moved a long way from Michigan and don't have access to fresh Red Havens bought at the farmer's market. Instead, now a-days, I get my peaches from Costco and whip up some fresh peach pie for myself and the rest of my family. I do have to share, and my waistline appreciates this even if my tastebuds do not. 

As a teen, I would help my mother make the pie. I was always placed in charge of peeling and slicing the peaches. My mom hated to do it, and as an adult, I've begun to inherit this from her. As I was peeling and slicing, my mom would whip up the dough for the crust. She made it look so easy! Boy was I surprised at just how sticky and messy it can be when I went to make my very own pie in my brand new apartment. I was sweating and swearing and wondering how my mother made it look like such a walk in the park! With no rolling pin in sight, my boyfriend, now husband, suggested I use a liquor bottle sitting in our makeshift bar. It was the perfect solution and worked like a charm. 

Many years later, I have not necessarily perfected the art of making pie crust but, at least, gotten to the hang of it and swear words are no longer required! Oh. . . and. . . with the help of an estate sale, liquor bottles are not longer required to roll out the crust. I am the proud owner of a rolling pin. 

Peach Pie: 

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Chill Time: 30 minutes

Bake Time: 50-55 minutes

Ingredients

Crust:

-2 cups flour

-1 tsp salt

-2/3 cup of lard

5-7 Tbsp of ice water

Filling:

-4 cups sliced peaches (3-4 whole peaches)

-7/8 cup sugar

-4 Tbsp flour

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 2 Tbsp butter

Instructions

Crust

1. Preheat oven to 375. Place ice & water in a bowl and set to the side. 

2. Sift together flour and salt for the crust. 

3. Add in lard. Use a fork to mix in with flour. 

4. Begin adding ice water & using fork to mix together. After the 5th Tbsp, you will want to begin mixing with your hands. Add last 2Tbsp of water slowly as you may not need all of it. 

5. Divide dough into two balls and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Filling

While the crust is chilling, do the following: 

1. Peel and slice peaches. 

2. Mix in next 3 ingredients and stir well. 

3. Set aside

Assembly

1. Lightly dust flour on the cutting board and rolling pin. 

Step 4 in assembly.

2. Roll out bottom dough crust. It does not have to be perfectly round. Mine never is. Do make sure crust drapes over pie pan. 

3. Add filling and distribute evenly. 

4. Thinly slice butter and place around the top of the filling. 

5. Roll out top dough crust & place over filling. 

6. Starting with the bottom crust, roll the crust to seal it. 

7. Use finger to pinch edges together. I'm right handed, so I use my left pointer and thumb to pinch the dough, and insert my right index finger between the left fingers to create the ridges. 

8. Cut slits in the pie dough. 

9. Cover crust edge (tinfoil works great) and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover edges and continue baking for an additional 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden. 

**A few years ago, my mom gave me these silicone crust covers to use on my pies. Before these beauties came into my life, I would use thin strip of tin foil and try to get it from the countertop to the oven without it falling off. 

The Mountain that Wasn’t Meat to Be

Our last full day in Sapporo found Lynsey and I again getting on a train for a two-hour journey South. This time we ended up in the Niseko area with plans to hike a mountain. Neither one of us was committed to getting to the summit and had plans to turn around if the going got to tuff or the weather turned bad. We were prepared with layers, food, and extra water. Upon arriving at the JR station and checking in at the Tourism Information Center about buses to the mountain and extra information we might need about the hike, our plans changed.

The lady manning the desk didn’t speak English, so she called someone and had me speak to her. Upon informing the lady on the phone that we had plans the hike Mt. Yotei, I was met with an incredulous, “You’re going to hike it now? It takes five hours to get to the top! It’s more of a climbing mountain that a hiking trail.” As I stated earlier, Lynsey and I weren’t super set on climbing to the top or even very far up the mountain. So, we took the woman’s advice and decided to do a walk that would take us to the base of the mountain and a lake. We told each other that upon getting there, we might go up the mountain a little ways to see what it was like, but it would depend on how we felt.

We set out with our map and walked and walked and continued to walk. We didn’t realize just how far the base of the mountain was as our map had no scale. We were trying to follow the walking path that followed the river, but it was not well marked and we got a bit confused and one point. We backtracked and ended up following the highway. We stopped in a little restaurant to ask how much farther we had to go and exactly where we were on the map in relationship to the mountain and lake. The lady didn’t speak English but was able to tell us to continue going straight. So, we did.

Again we walked and walked. We came up to what we thought was the intersection we needed, but couldn’t see anywhere to turn left. Again, we were by a restaurant and thankfully one of the cooks spoke excellent English and was able to show us where we were on the map, what to look for, and how far we were from the turning point. So, we continued to walk and walk. Finally we came across our first hint that we were getting close when we passed huge sign telling us that the mountain, lake, parking, and restrooms where straight ahead.

Yotei Mountain was beautiful and very conical. As we were approaching it, Lynsey and I decided that we were pretty happy we weren’t attempting to climb it. It was very steep and we couldn’t see any trails despite us walking towards the trailhead. We visited the lake and were disappointed when we got to the bottom and discovered that there was almost no shoreline and nowhere for us to rest like we had thought. We hung out for less than five minutes before heading back. We did stop at a picnic table near the parking lot to eat a snack and drink more water. We decided we would look at the bus schedule back on the highway to take us back to the JR station. If it didn’t have any buses coming within a reasonable amount of time, we would stop by the restaurant with the English-speaking gentleman and ask him to call a taxi. Option number two ended up being the one we had to go with. I was very happy to see the taxi pull up.

We still had about two hours before our train left, so we visited another onsen. After two and a half weeks of more walking than I’ve done in years and over four hours of straight walking that morning, my feet were ecstatic to soak in the hot water. We topped our day in Niskeo off with some ice cream smoothies and hopped on the train back to Sapporo.

Morning came very early for us as we were hopping on a 6am train headed back to Tokyo. The first train was on a regular JR train that took just over 3 hours to get us from Sapporo to the Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto station. The second leg of our journey is about a 4½-hour journey on the Shinkansen line. The coolest part about this journey is that it takes us through the Seikan Tunnel to connect the island of Hokkaido to the mainland of Japan. It’s 23 km long and took us over twenty minutes to get through it. I love the train system in Japan and really hope that Texas can get the bullet train they keep talking about up and running!

Lakes & Volcanoes

After arriving at Sapporo station and some confusion about where the bus was located that we needed to take to our hostel, Lynsey & I decided to just take a taxi over to it. It was dinnertime and we still had to plan out exactly what we were going to do with our time on the island of Hokkaido. On the way to our guesthouse, Lynsey warned me that some of the reviews the hostel had not been stellar. It was definitely a different set up than anything I’ve ever experienced in a hostel. It wasn’t my favorite, but it definitely wasn’t the worst. We had booked ourselves in a female only dorm, but it had the male and female showers in our room. Like I said, a different set up. We decided that we would do as much as possible during the day to spend as little time there as possible and to be so tired that we would fall asleep quickly on the hard beds.

To get a game plan together, we went in search of dinner. We ended up at an Okonimiyaki restaurant. It was different from the set up in Hiroshima because individual tables had griddles, & the servers brought you the ingredients to cook your own. We ended up getting something that came pre-cooked that they slid onto our hot griddle. It was some type of stir-fried noodles with veggies that came in the shape of a pancake. It was good.

We decided at dinner that we were not going to hang around Sapporo as it didn’t seem like it held that many things that would truly interest us. Our first full day in Sapporo found us catching a two-hour train South to Lake Toya Onsen. There were volcanoes, lakes, and hiking. We thought it sounded right up our alley. Upon getting to the JR station, we hopped on a bus and found our way to the Tourist Information Center to get some maps and advice.

What was left of a bridge. 

There were plenty of different hiking and walking trails to choose from, so we went with the Konpira Memorial Trail and Nishiyama Course. The first allowed us to walk through an area that had been destroyed during a volcanic eruption. It allowed us to see bridges, buildings, roads, and the plan engineers have come up with to divert or slow down mudflow for future eruptions. It was really interesting to read the explanations of the types of dams, gates, and pathways they’ve created in order to control the outcome of the inevitable.

 

Crater on the mountain.

Walking around the residential and public buildings was also fascinating but sad to see. I’m not sure if many people were injured or killed as none of the signage stated this information, but I think they had enough advance warning that something was going to happen that not many people were still around. It was pretty amazing to see the power of the mudflow from the volcano. We passed a bridge that had been swept away and deposited between a public bathhouse and apartment building. The first floors of the buildings we passed were filled about halfway up with dirt. The city decided to let natural vegetation grow to see how the landscape developed after an eruption. They also left the building as a reminder to the power of Mother Nature.

After we finished with the Konpira Memorial Trail, the trail turned a little more challenging and took us through the lower part of the mountainside and by some craters that had formed during the 2000 eruption. Before the eruption there had been buildings on part of the mountainside. Some of them are now buried under new cones that were formed while the volcano was erupting.

There was a lot of great signage as we walked the trail that explained how the volcano happened, what formed as a result, what used to be in the vicinity, and how the region has prepared for future disasters. It was rather surreal to be walking along, read about a major highway that was there, and look around to see the pavement and light poles partially hidden by vegetation.

Cookie factory smokestack.

The Nishiyama Course took us to the summit of the Shinzan Mountain that was created during the 2000 volcanic eruptions. It was uplifted 246 feet by a hidden lava dome. I found this area particularly interesting as it was filled with craters, new mountains, fault lines, and partially buried or completely buried buildings. There had been a cookie factory in the area, but all that was left was a smokestack sticking out of the mountainside.

The last part of the trail took us by a kindergarten school that had been severely damaged. Luckily, no children or staff were present when the volcano erupted, but it was a little eerie to walk around and see a rusted out bus, playground equipment, and building with gaping holes in the sides and vegetation taking over.

To end our time in Lake Toya Onsen, we treated ourselves to a late lunch and a dip in an Onsen at a hotel. Since Lynsey had visited one with Danna, she knew the rules and filled me in. In some ways it was similar to Iceland as there was a dressing room and shower area where you had to wash before going in. However, this is where the similarities ended. They were gender based, had different pool options, and were completely nude. It was a little odd to be hanging out in the buff, but the hot water felt great on my sore feet and legs, so I quickly got over it.

Nikko

On July 4^th we made our way from the Fuji Five Lakes area back to Tokyo. In all, it was a rather uneventful day. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 12:30, but we were told to show up at 10:00 to see if there was room on that bus since that is when we wanted to leave originally. We woke up to some heavy rain. We scrounged around what we had and made a makeshift breakfast for ourselves since none of us wanted to venture outside. We booked a taxi and entertained ourselves in the hostel common rooms.

I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we were shocked by the bus system out of Kawaguchiko Station. Between the rain and random people buying a ticket as they got on, it was completely anarchy in comparison to what we’ve experienced on the train and subway system. We were told the previous day that we couldn’t book tickets for the 10am bus because there were only two seats left. We realized that this obviously was untrue when we were waiting to board the bus, and a large number of people were buying their tickets at that time from the driver. I tried to ask the English-speaking woman facilitating the line if we could get on before the people without their tickets since we already had ours. This was completely lost in translation because she kept telling me that there was already a line to get on the bus. I tried asking a different way but still got the same response. So, we waited in line and were able to get seats. None of us understood how they could tell us the previous day that there were not enough seats available when they clearly had not sold enough tickets to book the bus. In the end, it doesn’t matter because we were able to take the bus we wanted with only the one minor hiccup.

We arrived at the bus stop for Shinagawa Station, the station we had been to with Danna. We were able to find our way back to the main JR terminal with relative ease. A quick stop in a tourist information center reminded us the train line to take to drop us right by our hotel. We were about an hour early for check in, so we dropped our bags and went in search of the conveyor belt sushi spot that Danna had recommended. This place was apparently the one to invent the conveyor sushi idea. We had touch screens in front of us that allowed us to select the items that we wanted and they were sent out on the conveyor belt. There was also a secondary conveyor system that reminded me of the luggage conveyor belts at an airport. This also had the different sushi items on it covered by a plastic dish. We were informed that you did not touch the plastic, but grabbed the plate in the small opening and used it to open the plastic covering. None of us were brave enough to pull anything off of this conveyor system and instead, used the touch screen to order. I would have to say this was one of my least favorite places that we’ve eaten as I don’t like sushi, and the rest of the non-sushi menu was rather bland. Scott and Lynsey seemed to really enjoy their experience and food. Scott was fascinated by the conveyor belt system and said it might be the highlight of the trip for him. It was an interesting experience and unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced!

After lunch we were able to check in. Danna had given us permission to use her apartment to do some laundry. So, we headed there and followed her picture instructions to figure out the washer. She doesn’t have a dryer, but the bathroom has a heating system in it. Once we finished both loads of clothes, we set the dryer system for four hours and left.

Despite not doing anything all afternoon, we were still hungry and decided to try a Japanese barbeque place near our hotel for dinner. I didn’t know what to expect going in, but it was not to have a tiny little grill at our table where we grilled our own meat! We ordered a vegetable salad, large rice, bacon, boneless short ribs, and boneless chuck roast. We were brought a wedge of cabbage and barbeque sauce as a complimentary appetizer. Next, they brought out the two beef dishes we ordered. Scott grilled up the first batch and the waiter showed us that we were supposed to add soy sauce to our little dish for the meat after it was finished. Everything was thinly sliced and tasted divine! We took turns grilling the meat. When the bacon arrived, I was surprised at the thick chunks we were given. I was thinking of American style thin sliced bacon when we ordered. The bacon was by far my least favorite and everyone else’s part of the meal. It was extremely salty and did not have the same level of flavor that the beef offered. I also loved the vegetable salad that we ordered. Normally, I hate salad, but this had some type of toasted sesame seed oil on it. In my opinion, it rivaled for first place with the beef.

After dinner, we turned in early because we were getting up fairly early to make our way to Nikko for more temples. We arrived in Nikko to discover that the temperature was quite cool in comparison to the other cities and places we had visited. We bought a bus pass and headed for Rinnoji Temple where extravagance awaited us. Rinnoji is a unique complex. It was founded in 766 CE (still not sure what the CE stands for) and over the centuries combined the religions of Buddhism and Shinto. It was known as Nikkosan. When the Shogunate (Samurai Government) ended in 1867, the new government decided to create a clear distinction between the two religions. Because Nikkosan had spent almost 1,000 years combining the two religions, they could not simply choose to be one religion or the other. So, the complex split into one temple and two shrines, which are still around today.

Shintoism believes that natural spirits are manifested in the environment. The three mountains, Mt. Nyoho, Mt. Nantai, and Mt. Taro, are worshiped as deities. Rinnoji Temple houses three Buddhas that are believed to be incarnations of these three surrounding mountains. The temple itself is a beautiful building and the Buddha statues are awe-inspiring. We could not take photos inside the temple.

We passed a couple of other buildings on our way to Nikko Toshogu Shrine. The first was Gomado, Hall for the Fire Ritual. At temples and shrines here, you will see all kinds of paper and small wooden boards where people have written their prayers and wishes. These are burned in order to transmit the prayers to the Buddhist deities. We also passed Gojunoto, a Five-Storied Pagoda. I learned that the center poles inside of pagodas suspended from the fourth floor and stop before the foundation. This acts as a counterweight during earthquakes.

 

After the Pagoda is the first gate into the Toshogu Shrine where Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu is buried. It is an enormous complex and was crawling with students while we were there. We got stopped for many short interviews while the students practiced their English and asked us for our name, country, favorite Japanese food, and signature.

One of my favorite buildings within the complex was the Shinkyu, or Sacred Stable. It was mostly undecorated, but it contained eight panels of monkeys that teach how to lead an ideal life. The second one was ‘See no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil.’

As I stated earlier, there were many gates in this complex and the second one we came across was Yomeimon Gate. It is an extravagant work of art with 508 carvings. It contains mythical creatures such as dragons and flying horses on the upper level and people on the lower level. Because it would invite bad luck if the gate were complete, one of the pillars on the backside was purposefully put in upside down, so it would be seen as incomplete.

The third gate contains a carving of a sleeping cat called Nemurineko. The cat protects the entrance to Tokugawa Ieyasu’s grave. This gate led to a series of steep stairs up the mountain to the gravesite. Each stone stair is carved from a single piece of rock. At the top of the stairs there was a torii made of stone. There is one final gate at the entrance to the grave called Inukimon Gate. It is made of bronze and was cast in 1650. Visitors are not allowed to go through this gate and are kept out of the gravesite with a stone fence. The grandeur of the shrine is truly a sight to behold.

After visiting the Shrine, we headed for lunch and stopped at the Shinkyo Bridge. It was a picturesque spot, but we did not spend a lot of time here. We made our way to Nikkozan Rinno-ji Temple Taiyu-in where Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa Shogun ruler and grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s grandson is buried. It was mentioned repeatedly that Iemitsu did not want to upstage his grandfather in his burial site, so everything is more muted and understated in his mausoleum. With this being said, it is still a grand and spectacular series of buildings.

Just like his grandfather’s shrine, there are three huge gates that lead to Iemitsu’s burial site. We didn’t spend a lot of time gawking at everything here because we were trying to stay ahead of a large group of students. I’m not sure if the complex had cleared out because of lunch and the misty rain that started, or if it is not as busy as Toshogu Shrine, but when we arrived it seemed as if we had the place to ourselves. It was a rather enjoyable experience. All we could see at the final resting place of Iemitsu was Kokamon Gate.

We searched for an interesting cloth to add to our collection on our way back to the train station but unfortunately did not find any. On our long train ride back to Tokyo, Scott took care of us by figuring out how we could take the Shinkansen to Sapporo for the last leg of Lynsey’s and my journey I was quite shocked to learn that we would spend the majority of the day on two different Shinkansen lines. Scott asked, “Didn’t you do any research on this?” To which I responded with a simple ‘Nope’. When Lynsey asked if I wanted to go up to Sapporo, I was all about it, but didn’t look into how long it would take. I just assumed it would be similar to getting to Hiroshima. It’s a bit more work and slightly longer, but we are on our way. We said goodbye to Scott this morning and left him to entertain himself before he has to leave for the airport. I know he has plans to go back to the conveyor belt sushi place. I wish he could come on the last leg of the journey with us, but since he cannot, I hope he as boring and uneventful flights back!

Fuji Five Lakes Part 3

Our last full day in the Fuji Five Lakes area was spent taking it easy and seeing Danna off. We had plans in the morning to go to a Sake Brewery for a tasting and tour and attempted to go to breakfast at a restaurant recommended by the hostel before hand. For whatever reason, the restaurant was closed, so we went next door the Seven Eleven and grabbed something there.

From here we made our way to Ide Sake Brewery. We were the only ones in the tour and we learned everything from a brief history of Sake to how this particular brewery makes theirs. Making Sake is a long process and was started hundreds of years ago. It was first made in the temples by physically chewing the rice for 5-10 minutes or until they began to taste a sweetness from the rice. From here they spit it out into a bowl to begin the brewing process. Thankfully with today’s technology, the chewing and spitting is no longer necessary.

Today, they clean the rice in big batches with water from Fuji. The groundwater takes 80 years to filter down the mountain to the source they use. According to our guide, having good water is essential to the process. It is more important that the type of rice they use. After the rice is washed, it is steamed for a short period of time. The rice is then designated for a couple of different places. It is either mixed with Koji for one part of the fermentation process, mixed with yeast and water for the other part of fermentation, or used as mash in the Sake mixture.

The Koji rice is mixed for almost 48 hours straight before it is ready to be used. It is turned and mixed by hand every two hours. The yeast rice mix sits for two weeks before it is ready to be used. They are both used in a parallel fermentation mix, which makes it different from beer, wine, and whiskey. It sits in big tanks to ferment before being pressed and pasteurized. The rice that is left over is sold for cooking purposes. The Sake is moved into big steel containers in an air-conditioned controlled room. It’s kept at 10 degrees Celsius. The entire Sake making process takes place from November to March when it is cold. The pasteurization process can last up to two years. Other than the area where it is pasteurized, they do not control the temperature of the room. Because of this, they have different tricks they use to make sure the temperature stays at about 10 Celsius.

We were also given a tour of the grounds of the brewery owner’s home. The Ide Sake Brewery has been in the same family for over 100 years. The home the family lives in has been around since the late 1800s. We were not allowed to go into the home, but some sliding doors were opened so we could look inside. There were painted partition doors that were pointed out to us because they are over 200 years old. They came from the previous home that was built in the same location. The last spot we saw was the Zen Garden. It was a beautiful space with trees as old as the house. There was even a private shrine because the home was so old. Not many newer homes will have this. It was an amazing, relaxing space!

Cedar Ball

On our way back to the tasting room, our guide pointed out a hanging Cedar ball. The owner of the brewery makes it when the newest batch of Sake is finished. It starts out green. When we saw it, it was brown. When it turns red, the Sake that is pasteurizing is ready for bottling and distribution.

Sake classification

From here, we went into the tasting room and sampled two types of Sake and the Plum Wine. First we tried Ginjo Sake. I don’t recall what this means, but I thought it was pretty good. The second Sake was a Junmai and tasted drier than the first. This was Scott’s preference. I was surprised by how much better I liked the Sake than wine tastings that I’ve done previously. The last thing we tried was the Plum Wine. I was a bit nervous about this one because I was told that it could be sweet and sour. I abhor sour things, but the wine was actually pleasant and my favorite of the three we tried. I really enjoyed our Sake tour. Our guide was knowledgeable and friendly, which made our experience great.

After the tour, we parted ways with Danna and reserved our bus tickets back to Tokyo for the fourth. We probably could have headed back with Danna at this point in our trip, but I had wanted to give us plenty of time at Fuji in case we needed it because of the weather. The rest of our day was fairly relaxing and uneventful. We walked to a noodle spot recommended by our hostel for having good ‘Fuji’ style noodles. It was a tiny local little shop. All three of us decided to go the vegetarian option with our noodles, as the meat option was horse. The noodles were even thicker than Udon noodles, which I didn’t think was possible. They were delicious but really filling.

After lunch, we made our way back to our hostel to hang out and rest for a bit before making our way to Chureito Pagoda in hopes of seeing Fuji. We took a short train ride to the location with the Pagoda and followed the signs to the base of the hill. It advertised having 398 stairs to climb to the Pagoda. By about stair number 100, I was definitely feeling my legs. Surprisingly, I wasn’t very sore at all from hiking Mt. Fuji the previous day. However, these stairs reminded me that I had indeed done some intense hiking the previous day!

 

Unfortunately for us, this was the one-day where the clouds did not part in the late afternoon for viewing Fuji. There was a viewing platform behind the Pagoda that offered a beautiful view of the Pagoda with Mt. Fuji looming in the distance. We rested and waited on a bench in front of the Pagoda for a good amount of time, but we could see that the clouds were not going to be parting anytime soon. I wasn’t too disappointed at not getting to see Mt. Fuji because in my opinion, I’d already experienced the best of what Mt. Fuji has to offer.

We made our way back to our town and decided to stop at a Thai restaurant for dinner. All of us had had our fill of noodles by this point in the trip. The food was delicious! We made our way back to our hostel for the evening where we hung our in the common area before turning in. Scott took the futon mattress that Danna had slept on and made himself a double bed. According to him, he slept so much better than the first night! Danna did tell us that it was a hard mattress and weird pillow culture here. So far, I don’t disagree with her. Some of the pillows have a side that is filled with some type of rice or barley. I really don’t know how the Japanese find a comfortable position when sleeping on these beds. But maybe, they think that Americans are weird for sleeping on such soft mattresses and pillows without a hard si

Mt. Fuji

Starting point for the Yoshida Trail.

Before the hike.

Yesterday we climbed Mt. Fuji. We caught the 6:20 bus up to the 5^th station. It was recommended that we wait for about an hour to let our bodies adjust before beginning to hike. Our bus was full on the way up, but the mountain didn’t seem overly busy. We gave our bodies about 30 minutes before beginning the climb. Fuji is divided into stations and the maps give average times that it takes to get to each station. We knew going into it that we would not be able to summit. There was an avalanche during the winter, and they are still working to unblock the path. While we were on the mountain resting, a couple told us that some locals told them that you could summit if you went off the trail and around the avalanche. We decided that this was definitely not the right decision for us and turned around at 8.5 as was recommended and planned on by us.

As we were getting ready to enter the trailhead, we were called into the information office. The gentleman there was very nice but very concerned for our safety. He kept telling us to take our time. He was very adamant about this and warned about getting altitude sickness. Thankfully this didn’t happen to anyone, and after reassuring him that we would be okay, we went on our way. It took us just over an hour to get from Station 5 to 6. Here we had to pay a $10 conservation fee and were given a Fuji guide, survival kit, and wooden token that has Mt. Fuji on it.

Torii on the trail.

The hike from station 5 to 6 was relatively easy. Lodging and resting huts are set up along the mountain. They have toilets that you can use for a fee and warn about hiding out from bad weather in them. If you’re caught hiding in them, it’s quite a hefty fine. The hiking from station 6 to 7 wasn’t too terrible. The change in altitude is what I really noticed here. The trail up Fuji is quite nice and well maintained. They’ve clearly worked to make the trail a nice experience. They have large retaining walls built in certain locations, stairs in some spots, and chains to keep you within the trail.

At Station 7

Our view pretty much the entire ascent.

Starting after Station 7 is where the going got pretty tough. As Lynsey said, “This is as close as you can get to climbing without any actual equipment.” There were natural lava flow formations here that you had climb over. It was a bit daunting and I gave up the hiking poles in favor of using my hands. There were a few mad scrambles around and over rocks. It was at this point that I really started setting ‘make it to this next location’ goals for myself before stopping for a breather. There were quite a few lodging huts in between station 6 and 7. They made for nice stopping points to rest or eat a snack. The view from all of them was not good as clouds and mist surrounded us the whole climb up. We did get fairly lucky weather wise because it sprinkled but never outright rained really hard on us.

Almost there!

The closer we got to Stations 8 and 8.5 the colder it got. Danna was kind enough to let me borrow a winter jacket of hers and it came in handy up here. In the lower stations, I couldn’t make up my mind if I was hot or cold. While hiking, I would get really hot but start to get cold a couple of minutes into a break. The wind could be rather vicious at times. It was worse than the rain by far. Again, we got lucky because it would get gusty for a little bit and then die down.

Danna feeling triumphant for making it. 

Getting up to Station 8.5 was a wonderful feeling. It took us about 5 hours to get from Station 5 up to 8.5. It’s about 3.6 miles on the way up between these two station and 4.3 miles on the descent. I was bummed that we couldn’t go all the way to the summit as we were only about a 1.5 miles short. However my legs were happy that we didn’t have to go the extra distance for coming back down. I find it is much easier to climb up than it is to go down. I would rather climb up something two times in a row than go down it once.

Our stopping point on the trail.

During the climb down, the clouds parted and the sun came out for a little bit. It was rather surreal to be up above the clouds looking down at them. We couldn’t see very far around us as it was pretty steep, but we did get a good view of the switchbacks that were taking us down. From Station 8.5 to 8, you take the exact same trail down, but then it splits. The switchbacks continue until just above Station 6 where the trails meet up again.

At Station 6 we gave our survival kits back because none of us wanted to carry them around after we were off the mountain. The hike back from station 6 to 5 seemed way longer than any of us remembered. It wasn’t difficult in comparison to the rest of it, just long. Upon arriving at Station 5, it was crawling with people. It was like being in a completely different place from the morning when we left. There were dozens of tour buses full of people up there to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji. Just like the previous day, the clouds parted for a short period of time, and we were able to the top of the mountain.

 

We didn’t linger at Station 5 for very long. Our timing worked out pretty perfectly with the bus schedule. We only had to wait about 15 minutes and we were close enough to the front that we got a seat. I’m pretty sure I would have just waited the extra hour for the next bus in order to get a seat after 9ish hours of hiking. The four of us took the back row of the bus and made room for another couple we had seen on the mountainside to squeeze in with us. As Scott said, “We know you deserve a seat!”

We got back to our first hotel and asked them to call a taxi to take us to our next room. Lynsey and I had originally tried to book a Ryokan or traditional Japanese lodging. However, none of them made it through our price filters because they were either too much or already booked. So instead, we booked a traditional Japanese room with a ‘tatami’ floor. To say that Scott was less than impressed with this decision was a bit of an understatement. There are no traditional beds in these types of rooms, just thin futons, or mattresses, which are easily foldable. I have to admit that I was rather shocked by our room too. I thought we were at least getting a little cabin and not just a room in a hostel. Apparently I was rather confused while booking some of our accommodation here in Japan!

After dinner, Danna, Lynsey, and I attempted to find a nearby onsen that we got a discount to go to for staying at K’s House. We were armed with a map and a name. The only thing was that the name on the hotel’s sign that contained the onsen was only in Japanese, and we were armed with only an English name. We went back to our hostel to ask how to get there when we found out that the name was not in English. I was already really tired and could feel myself getting cranky. I parted ways with Danna and Lynsey and just went up to our room to have a shower and go to sleep. I think everyone was so tired from our day on Mt. Fuji that it really didn’t matter that we were sleeping on the futons. To be quite honest the thin mattresses on the floor are not that much harder than the regular mattresses we’ve been sleeping on this entire trip. Scott definitely disagrees with me on this matter.

All in all, it was a great day to visit Mt. Fuji and hike up it. We had fairly great weather, and we did get to see the top of the mountain after we had descended. We all made it up and down safely without any injuries.