Even though we were outside of climbing season, we decided to spend a few days in one of the small towns at the base of Fuji-San (Mt Fuji). Kawaguchiko is a small town next to a lake, so we decided to relax and see what we could see before heading back Tokyo. We didn’t have very good luck with the weather and didn’t even get to see the mountain, which was shrouded in fog the entire time we were there. We did get a chance to walk around the lake, …

After spending a week in two big, modern cities, we went to see some of the history of Japan. To do that, we went to another huge city, but this one was different. Kyoto is one of the only major cities to have been spared massive damage during the war; it was also the capital of Japan for about a thousand years. This means the city has an enormous number of old, in tact, and very impressive buildings. The amount of temples and shrines is overwhelming.
Speaking of very old …

Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo was the quietest airport we have ever been in, eerily so. We guessed that we were among the few people actually staying in Japan instead of transiting across the Pacific, but still. There was no line for our baggage, immigration, or customs. We traded in our JR Passes immediately and zoomed into Tokyo, navigated the metro system with ease and made it to our hostel without any complications.
We had planned two days in Tokyo at both the beginning and of our …