Preparations are underway to assemble our hiking gear. Packs, shells, jackets, layered clothing, gloves, convertible pants, headwear, headlight, boots, socks, gaiters, bladders, food.
We printed the necessary paperwork for our trip and assembled it into the folder marked "Japan."
The other document is my checklist. Some of you know how detailed that checklist is.
The two jars of peanut butter are for my mom. Only this time the peanut butter goes in the check-in luggage! We are not going to make the same mistake my mother made when she returned to Japan last December. Thanks, TSA, for the follow-up.
And get this...REI sells these chopsticks by Snow Peak and my mom wants some for herself and for her sisters. Last Christmas, I gave a pair to my wife for Christmas, and my mom was very impressed with the design. She wanted a pair to take home with her, but REI didn't have any in stock after the holidays.
Now this gets interesting. The chopsticks are made of stainless steel and recycled birch wood from old baseball bats of players in the Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball) league. They weigh only one ounce. When extended they are 8.5 inches in length and when compact, they are 4.5 inches. Snow Peak is headquartered in Niigata, Japan, so you would figure you could get these in Japan, right?
Wrong!
My mom cannot find these anywhere in Japan! Go figure!
So, while we are over in Japan, I want to stop by a camping goods store to see if I can locate the elusive Snow Peak Compact Chopsticks.
Okay, back to the rest of the story...
The paper sack is filled with gifts for the family.
The yellow shaving kit just happened to be there.
The extra shoes are for us to take on our trip.
Oh, and the newspaper? They have a section where people travel afar and then they send in their photo of them displaying the paper in the photo. What people will do to get their picture in the paper. Pretty neat.
We have only two days set aside to scale Japan's most revered mountain which is 12,388 feet in elevation.
The Fuji-san hike will be like approximately "half" of a Mt. Whitney dayhike only with 1,000 feet of elevation change per mile! We are calling it the Fuji-san Snow Peak Compact Hike. Yikes! Yes, the Japanese are well-known for making things compact, but tough. Just hope our knees hold up on the descent.
We have no idea what the trail conditions are like. I got some reports but nothing current.
We do know there will be at least 2,000 other people on the mountain. That makes us appreciate the quota system used for Mt. Whitney.
We do know this...none of my family members will be escorting us on the hike like they said they would earlier this year. Guess my mom told them that we are crazy "gaijin." My wife and I will be on our own. Good, we like it that way. Now, only if the weather cooperates. It is the rainy season now in Japan. Lightning and rain.
This will be my wife's first international trip. She will be seeing my mother's relatives for the very first time, except for Kimiko, who she met in July 2007. All of our Japanese relatives are anxious to meet us. This is my first trip to Japan in 35 years. The "kids" I remember back then now have their own families.
And one more thing...
We are going to...
Have fun.
