"Life is either a great adventure or nothing.": Hot Lava conquers Fuji-san and has some fun Tokyo-style!

Ahhh, Tokyo. Land of the rising sun. The New York City of Asia. Our primary goal, to hike Mt Fuji before the end of the climbing season. However, on arrival, 1st order of business, food. Thankfully for me the Japanese are a fun, festive type and VERY into theme restaurants. We were able to find our way to the Vampire Cafe. If you know me at all, then you know I love anything that has to do with vampires (and this was WAY before that Twilight crap made it "cool" to glitter like diamonds...don't even get me started on that).

The place was complete with red drapes walls, menus and tables made of coffins, vampire themed food and a very tall, red-eyed Japanese man dressed as Dracula (or as they say, Dracula-son). I enjoyed the "three pieces of weapon" for dinner which turned out to be meat on a dagger. I'm still not sure what the 3 pieces of weapon were??

We spent the rest of our time in Tokyo taking in the sights...the Imperial Palace, Jingu Bridge, Senso Temple, Asakusa Temple, Tokyo Tower (saw it, didn't go to the top...Mt Fuji's good enough for me), Shibuya Crossing, Meiji Shrine, a plethora of festivals and dinner at the New York Grill (very fancy restaurant on the 54th floor of the Park Hyatt hotel where Bill Murray filmed Lost in Translation). One of my favorite, yet heart stopping, spots was the Tsukiji Fish Market. The largest fish market in the world selling 2245 tons of fish daily, worth over $15.5 million. Scene of utter chaos and confusion. I'll try and set the stage for you...People (mostly stupid tourists) running around like ants among the fish stalls, trying not to get run over by the fish mobiles driven erratically by the workers who I'm pretty sure were trying to run us (stupid tourists) down, and every type of seafood you can imagine plus the one's you can't. There's a spot where they herd the stupid tourists into to watch the super secret squirrel auctions of tuna. There you watch the auctioneers in action, walking from tuna to tuna, flashlight in hand, rubbing the tuna meat between their fingers, sniffing the produce before finally choosing just the right tuna.

Bells ringing, sellers screaming and the buyers making strange hand gestures such as "the claw". I seriously doubt Jim Carrey knew he was purchasing high quality tuna in Liar Liar. Rumor has it a single tuna has fetched up to 20 million yen (I don't think it was Jim's). Advice for other stupid tourists desiring a trip to the fish market...don't wear flip flops. You will either slip in fish guts and split your head open, or have your toes crushed by said crazed fish cart drivers.

Yanaka cemetery, burial site of many famous Japanese that I have never heard of.

Meiji Shrine

Dinner at the top of the Park Hyatt. Yes, we're in t-shirts and flip flops.

Senso Temple

Imperial palace, complete with swans.

Fuji-san. Mt Fuji to you western folk. The highest mountain in Japan, standing 3,776m (12,388ft again for you westerners). Fuji-san is one of Japan's three holy mountains. Scaling the mountain is still considered a sacred right of passage for many Japanese. Thank goodness we climbed we when we did, apparently women were forbidden from ascending until the late 1800's, early 1900's. Women have come a long way in Japan.

Now, not only can women climb Fuji-san, but we get our own section in the front of the bus and a whole cart on the train during rush hour to prevent horny business men from feeling us up on their way to Wallstreet. We took an evening bus to the 5th station of Mt Fuji to begin our night-long hike to the top. Layering is key. I also recommend the walking stick. Not only is it helpful for the rather slippery descent but it's also "part of the experience". You will not fully appreciate the hike if you don't spend $50 on a stick that you then have to pay to have put on the plane with you. TOTALLY worth it...I'm pretty sure my stick is gloriously perched in the corner of my bathroom right now.

The weary hikers finish in all their glory...check out the stick.

The top of Fuji-san, tip of the crater.

Danielle and I, sunrise at the top of Mt Fuji

Here's more advise, free of charge. Do NOT mistake the Kawaguchiko station for the Kawaguchiko 5th station. After a night long hike, followed by an excrutiatingly-painful-on-the-knees descent down slippery ash gravel, no sleep for more than 24 hours, and stinking to high heaven we reached the 5th station. I had responsibly reserved us a night at a local "hostel" who offered free shuttle rides from the Kawaguchiko station to the hostel. I called, we waited, I called again, we waited, I called a third time, we waited...2 hours, resting outside the information center on the cement, dying. Turns out third times a charm. They were waiting for us at the Kawaguchiko station, we were at the Kawaguchiko 5th station a mere 1 hr bus ride away. Who knew? Lesson learned. We did finally make it to the hostel, got a nice hot shower and found yummy food and sake. Not sake, but sake. Yet another lesson. When you order sake, you could be served any type of alcohol beverage. The name for sake, is sake. The name for any other type of alcohol is also sake. So when you order a sake and a beer, you get beer, cause that's sake. But if you really want sake, you must order multiple different sakes in the hope that eventually you will get the actual sake (again third times a charm). After many beers and awamori, I finally got sake, in a box.

Some other random pics from Tokyo. And more importantly engrish signs...enjoy.

Yosakuri Festival...not sure what it was all about. I'm thinking Japanese So You Think You Can Dance.

The remote control to the greatest Japanese toilet. Located in the Park Hyatt Hotel, it comes with not only a bidet and cleansing option but also a dryer for your ass.

Apparently no fire and/or pitching of tents on Imperial Palace grounds. I kind of figured that goes without saying.

No smoking while walking. It's much more dangerous that just plain smoking.

Unknown festival with cute kids playing drums and old men in shades dancing.

Women only train cart 0734-0900 daily. No groping pervs allowed!

My favorite udon joint. I heart this place!

Samba festival, which I found to just be just an excuse for men to dress in drag and women to dance in the streets naked.

I believe this to be a statue of tanuki, a raccoon dog depicted with large testicles on which to fly. I was thinking maybe I could rub it's belly for luck.

Boat cruise. Please watch your step.

My favorite sign to date! This sign should be posted on all bathrooms world wide. I still can't figure out why people can't pee straight (pun intended).

My new friend. Met him (looks like little boy legs) at the Tokyo Opera Hall art gallery. Very strange place. I think drugs were responsible for it's creation.

And last but certainly not least, Shibuya crossing...