富士山に登りました！｜I climbed Mt. Fuji!

💁‍♀️ “Konnichiwa!”

August is already over and now it is September.

I took a holiday for a week, but did you have a long holiday as well?

Please let me know where you went♪

During this summer holiday, I climbed Mt. Fuji with my husband!🗻

This is one of the things on “my bucket list (a list of what I want to do before I die)”.

Today, I’ll be writing my schedule and impressions about Mt. Fuji.

I suppose you know what Fujisan is if you have ever traveled in Japan or if you like Japan.

🙎‍♂️ “Fujisan is a Japanese beautiful mountain, right?”

🙆‍♀️ “That’s right! It is beautiful, and the highest mountain in Japan.”

What it has upon is “snow.” The highest place is cold and gets snow a lot.

Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan and it is 3,776m. Its peak is called Kengamine.

Kengamine has a monument that is a stone pillar, and climbers take pictures there.

Mt. Fuji is right between Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture.

If you want to see the beautiful Mt. Fuji in Japan, you’ll see it better either in Shizuoka or Yamanashi.

No, it is not always possible to climb Mt. Fuji.

Snow is piled up on the summit in the picture you saw above.

While snow is still on the summit, you cannot climb Mt. Fuji.

You can climb it from the beginning of July to the beginning of September.

The available season is different depending on the trails, so look it up for the dates.

Before climbing Mt. Fuji, it is essential to be prepared.

Even the official site says “STOP! Bullet Climbing!”

It is very dangerous to climb in a T-shirt and jeans or without planning.

Let’s climb Mt. Fuji with the full preparation.

There are 4 climbing trails for Mt. Fuji.

Yoshida Trail (Yellow): Popular for beginners.

Subashiri Trail (Red): There are many trees so you’ll be able to walk in the shade. But it’ll be dark and hard to walk at night.

Gotemba Trail (Green): The path is on a gentle incline but it is slippery when climbing down.

Fujinomiya Trail (Blue): The starting elevation is already pretty high so the distance to the summit is the shortest.

Each trail has its color in order not to get lost.

So you can check if you’re going the right way.

🗣️ “We climbed the Fujinomiya trail!”

You would get an altitude sickness, or get injured if you tried to go to the summit all at once.

Therefore, let’s go to the summit after taking a nap/break at a mountain hut.

After choosing your trail, it’s good to look up what kind of mountain hut they have for the trail.

The reservation usually starts in April.

Check the official site and make a reservation!

There are many mountain huts between the 5th station and the summit, but what I recommend is the one at the 8th station.

I also booked the one at the 8th station, took a nap there, and made it to the summit.

You might have climbing shoes or climbing wear if you have climbed or hiked before.

However, if you come to Japan only for travel, or do not have any climbing wear, you can rent them.

Also, you’ll sweat a lot, so don’t forget to bring other clothes to change.

Until the day before climbing Mt. Fuji, we were traveling in Yamanashi prefecture.

In the morning of the day we climb Mt. Fuji, we headed to the Fujinomiya trail (which we chose) in Shizuoka.

Let’s look at this schedule in details with pictures!

For climbing Mt. Fuji, you’ll have to submit the climbing itinerary report and do pre-registration.
I submitted the report on the app and registered online.
We’ve got wristbands after telling them that we already registered.

After getting wristbands, we donate some money to the “Fujisan Conservation Fund-raising Campaign.” We pay 1,000 yen for each so 2,000 yen in total.
This is not mandatory but I recommend you to pay it for the beautiful Mt. Fuji and climbers.

We got wooden keychains after the donation.

When you finish checking in at the reception, buy a ticket for the bus and ride on it.

The price was 1,320 yen for one adult, one way from the Mizugazuka Parking lot to the 5th station.

Other buses are departing from stations, so please check it out.

After arriving at the 5th station, we didn’t start climbing right after but took a short break.

Mt. Fuji is a very high mountain with less oxygen.

Your body would be surprised if you started exercising suddenly, so we had a break going to a restroom and having lunch.

The 5th station of Mt. Fuji is 2,400m.

It is already pretty high. The weather was a little cloudy.

There were more foreign people than Japanese people. I can tell that Mt. Fuji is very popular.

It was cloudy but we got to see clouds underneath after climbing a little higher.
It was very beautiful and they didn’t look real!
There are some plants because it is summer now. Some plants are rare to see and you can only see them on the high mountains.
However, Mt. Fuji is the area Japan protects, so you cannot bring any plants back with you.

After walking for 2 hours, we came to the New 7th station (2,780m).

But it is a long way to go to the mountain hut at the 8th station.

I got very exhausted, but arrived at the mountain hut at the 8th station.

Where we stay is the mountain hut called “Ikeda-kan.”

There is a health canter next to it, so you can see a doctor when feeling sick.

Our dinner was curry and rice!
A staff member calls people in the order of arrival, so we went to the room next door when they called us.
There are other people, so it’ll be good to say “Otsukaresama desu (You must be tired but good job!).”

After having dinner, they turn the lights off at 8, so we took a nap in the sleeping bag after around 7.

💡 If you mind about the sound and the brightness, it is good to prepare “ear plugs” and an “eye mask.”
　I usually cannot go to sleep without a pillow, so I should have brought a small pillow…

We wanted to see the sunrise at the summit, so woke up at 1 and departed at 1:30.

The night view we saw at the 8th station was very beautiful!

After climbing a little higher from the 8th station, you will see a pole with so many coins (money) stuck.

I don’t know what this is, but there is a rumor that this was a shrine gate a long time ago.

We arrived at the 9th station. The weather was good and we got to see the night sky. So took a picture of stars!

I took it pretty well than I expected.

We came to the 9.5th station at 3:30. We are at a higher place so just walking makes us tired.

But, almost there!

The sky is getting brighter a little bit.

This view is beautiful, but I want to see the sunrise at the summit!

The summit is there!

Right before the summit, there is a Torii (shrine gate.)

And there are already a lot of people at the summit.

We just barely got to see the sunrise at the summit!

It was very tough for me but my husband supported me a lot so I made it.

Thank you, love!

I just said “We arrived at the summit” but the actual summit of Mt. Fuji is the place called “Kengamine.”

We were too tired to go there, but if you are thinking of climbing Mt. Fuji, please go to the actual summit!

It is a shrine at the highest place in Japan.

When you arrive at the summit at 5, the shops are not open so please go to this shrine.

You can pray, get some Omamori (Amulets), and get a stamp pressed on your stick.

Right next to the Sengen-Taisha, there is the Mt. Fuji Summit Post Office. This is also the post office at the highest.

They are open from 6 in the morning to 2 afternoon.

They sell limited postcards and various items there. We bought some postcards and wrote some messages for our family.

Sending it from their mailbox of Mt. Fuji will give you a special stamp so it is recommended!

We had breakfast, sent cards (to our family), and started climbing down at 7.

The sun had already risen and it got bright.

Mt. Fuji was harder to climb down than climbing up.

I took a lot of break time and 6 hours to climb down Mt. Fuji.

It was very exhausting but definitely a good experience.

I got to complete one of the things on my bucket list!
It was my first time climbing Mt. Fuji and I don’t really like exercising, so I was a little worried about it, but I am glad I did it.

But it was really tough so I probably will not climb again. haha

Please let me know in the comment if you’ve climbed Mt. Fuji or if anyone wants to climb!