Shinbashi Koichi Festival - party time for all age groups!

Do you know what I love about festivals in Japan? Everyone gets a little crazy! People dance, they drink, they dress up, they talk to overheated, red faced gaijin while  they wear long sleeves and beanies in 70% humidity and don't appear to even break a drop of sweat themselves.

We went to the Shinbashi Koichi festival on Friday night and there was something there for everyone. Despite it being stinking hot and forgetting my hand towel to wipe off the rivers of sweat pouring off my forehead, we had a fantastic time. The festival is on the last Thursday and Friday of July each year.

Some of the food stall around SL plaza, Shinbashi train station.

We grabbed a couple of cans of beer and watched the start of the Yukata Beauty contest which kicked off at 6:30pm. 

 

The winner walks away with ¥100,000 and a four-night trip to Hawaii. Not bad for looking pretty in a kimono and answering a few questions about yourself.

Next up we bought drinks from this guy offering free hugs.

Ate some delicious seafood and other assorted yakitori delights.

Laughed at drunk salarymen testing out motorbikes and cycling video games.

Wandered through the area where kids were enjoying themselves at the carnival games.

Had some delicious Kirin beers with frozen heads.

Watched some awesome silver foxes get stuck into the dancing.

Bon Odori is a Japanese style of dancing to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. The style of dancing and the music used for Bon Odori is unique to different regions. There is usually a wooden stage  called  a yagura, set up for the musicians and singers. Everyone else dances in a clockwise direction around the stage.  Taiko drumming and Bon Odori dancing takes place on both festival days.

u

We made friends with this crazy guy and his mates gave us boiled eggs and edamame and one of them bought Chris a beer while I was trying to learn the dance moves around the stage area.

The drummer and his protege were amazing too.

After a few hours of dancing, drinking, eating and drumming, the winners of the beauty contest were announced.

After one last photo with our new best friends, Chris finally dragged me away from the dancing and off home (via one last drink stop at Craft Beer market).

The Fuiji Climb

Sometimes my enthusiasm to engage in uniquely Japanese activities overrides my usual aversion to intense outdoor pursuits. Climbing Mt Fuji involves approximately 6 hours walking time up to the summit (not including rest breaks etc) and 3 hours to get back down. I naively thought doing a few stair climbs in my building and hitting the gym a bit more frequently than usual would prepare me for the Mt Fuji climb. Um, not so much.

Chris also briefly questioned my sanity as we packed up our ski jackets & thermals on a 34 degree day in Tokyo. My stirring rendition of 'Climb every mountain' only resulted in a grimace in response so I promised him there would be beers at the summit to cheer him up.

We did the climb with 45 people organized by Tokyo Snow Club. They provided us with 3 guides to climb up with us, oxygen cans, torches, water and snacks. The bus dropped us at Station 5 where we walked around to get used to the altitude, picked up some beers and snacks, got interviewed by Japanese TV and had the option to pick up souvenir walking stick from 1,500 yen.

I skipped the walking sticks but you could stop off at each station rest stop and have a stamp engraved into them for 300 yen a pop. Some of the sticks had bells attached. By the end of the hike I wanted to tell the owners of those sticks to shove those bells where the sun don't shine. Most irritating noise ever!!

From Station 5 we walked together as a giant group along the Yoshida trail to Station 6. We hung around there for an amazeballs sunset and to make sure we were all set with the altitude. Chris was a fan of the oxygen cans but I found it didn't really do a lot of me. Rest and snacks were more my life savers.

And then it was onto the real climbing. The trail is only listed as intermediate and you certainly see plenty of oldies and kids hiking up but it is not an easy climb. The altitude really takes your breath away and you need to scramble over rocks in a few of the steeper sections. We took it nice and slow and stopped plenty of times for snacks, water, toilet breaks and even attempted some sleep along the way. (You need lots of 100 yen coins for the toilets but being Japan, they have change machine in some of the rest stops).

The higher you climb the more crowded and colder it gets. Everyone is trying to get to the summit for sunrise and it bottlenecks to a slooooow crawl by early morning. Many people hike up to around Station 8 and then stay in a lodge to sleep for a few hours and start climbing again from 2am. We were advised against staying in the lodges as they charge around 8,000 yen and there are people constantly coming in and out so you don't get much sleep anyway.

 You can see the twinkle of the head lamps as people climb up for the sunrise.

Unfortunately we didn't allow enough time for the traffic jams to clear and we were about 400m from the summit as the sun rose.

 We heard later that it was actually clouded over at the summit at sunrise so it was probably good we were lagging behind.

Very happy to finally have a beer at the summit at 5am!

We didn't loiter too long at the top as the weather was blowing in and it was getting chilly bro!

 The crater at the top was worth checking out but we didn't bother hiking around to the post office. Sorry Mum, no postcard from the top of Mt Fuji this time.

Climbing back down sucked. I was exhausted and the loose gravel was causing havoc with my balance. I think I counted 5 times that I landed flat on my back. Even people with their walking sticks were stumbling right over. I attempted the half jog/half slide style for awhile and while it was quicker and felt a bit more stable underfoot it zapped my energy even faster than my stumbling walk. Eventually we made it back down and onto the bus & everyone slept all the way home.

(And kudos to the girl who completed the climb in her Doc Martens but I really wanted to shake some sense into the crazy ladies who changed back into their heels after the hike. Do you seriously need to wear high heels for the bus ride home after an overnight hike??)

Oh and when you pay the voluntary admission fee of 1,000 yen you get these fabulous portable toilets to use at the summit if you so require. No loos at the top.

Fortunately I didn't need to go at the summit, not sure I am willing to test out the human size kitty litter tray just yet.

Climbing Mt Fuji was amazing and we were very lucky having such clear weather, thanks to the typhoon that passed through a couple of days prior, but I would never do it again. Once is enough thank you very much. As the saying goes in Japan, “He who climbs Mt. Fuji is a wise man; he who climbs twice is a fool.”

Friday morning walk through Roppongi

A walk through Roppongi is never dull but last week's stroll to the train station was particularly entertaining. I was meeting my friend's parents in Shinjuku at 10am so I would have been walking along towards Roppongi station at about 9:30am last Friday morning.

I spotted passed out man No.1 in the doorway of a 7 11. He was lying in a loose fetal position, his legs were only slightly curled but his head was jammed quite tightly towards his middle. His back was up against the glass window but his arms were splayed with fingertips touching the black spongy doormat, dangerously close to the sliding door of the entrance. I watched as people approached the store, thinking that they may attempt to wake him or prop him up so his fingers were out of danger of being crushed, but no, they stepped over him and continued into the store.

Passed out man No.2 was at the bottom of the first set of stairs in the train station. He was sitting upright, knees up, with his head bent forward lolling towards his feet. He had two policemen and his friend attempting to rouse him. I observed his fly was open, giggled to myself and then continued towards the ticket gate.

This was when karma smacked me in the face for laughing at the poor unfortunates and I realized I had left my phone on the charger with my train pass in the cover. So, not wanting to be late for my friend's parents, I dashed back past the guy at the bottom of the stairs, past the 711 doorway guy and back home.

On my 2nd walk to the station, I heard a BBC English accented voice calling plaintively for my assistance. "Excuse me, excuse me! Do you speak Japanese?" a young, blonde guy called out to me, twisting his head and upper body around with some difficulty. He had a policeman holding him by each elbow. "They don't speak English, I don't know where they are taking me!"

I had to admit my Japanese was not much chop. I asked what he had done. He said he couldn't remember. I asked how long he had been in Tokyo and he said it had been his first night in the country. I tried to reassure him that they were probably only taking him to the police station at the top of the street. And they must have been called to escort him off the premises. "What premises?" he asked. As If I knew the answer to that! "I'm sure someone will speak English at the station," I attempted to reassure the confused, stumbling traveler.

And that's when I noticed the smirk on one of the policeman's faces. Ah ha! They did speak English.They knew exactly what the young drunkard was prattling on about. I smiled back at the policeman, waved goodbye to the Brit and continued on my way, confident he would be released after a warning.

Roppongi is a vicious beast. Always drawing new crowds in with flashing lights during the depths of the night and spitting them out again in the harsh glare of a new morning. Makes for pretty funny enteratinment for those of us who have become immune to her charms!