Leaving Miyajima

Today we leave Miyajima in preparation for the Mt. Fuji climb. As of yet, we have not seen Fuji-- it has always been too cloudy when we have gone near. The trail is supposedly well marked and the biggest danger in the climb is altitude sickness so we plan to take it slow and climb from the fifth station to the summit over a day and a half or so. Tonight we stay at the base and prepare and tommorrow we will take a bus from the base to the fifth station where we start our climb. We spend the day climbing from the fifth to eighth station where we will stay in a hut (read: shack) overnight and then begin our climb again the next morning (read: 2 a.m) so that we arrive at the summit for sunrise.


Yesterday we had a 4 train, 2 tram, 1 ferry boat day-- it was absolutely exhausting. In addition to all the travel we made a breif stop in Hiroshima to visit the peace park and bomb museum so all in all it was a very heavy day. It was also interesting to read history from the other side. Very rarely do you get to read history from the loser`s perspective. The Japanese take full responsibility for starting the Pacific War through their surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, but did you know that the A-bombs were dropped while the Japanese were attempting to negotiate peace? And with no prior warning? And amid protest from 69 of America`s leading scientists? What gets me the most is that they still dropped the bomb even while the Japanese were trying to negotiate for peace. Perhaps they needed a way to justify the Manhattan project and the 2 billion dollar expenditure and `ending` the war with the A-bomb was a good way to do it. It all still rings very true today. Okay I`ll stop depressing you. Shaun has run away to share our watermelon flavoured kit kat bars with other group members, so we`ll leave you here.

Cheers!

Sirina