Mountains, Tengu, and Grade Reports, OH MY!

Here's a long needed update as to the last days of my freedom before the term begins tomorrow.

Last Saturday was the trip out to Mt. Takao on the western-most outskirts of Tokyo. I met up with Stewart and Josh at Chofu to catch a rapid out to the base of the mountain. The further you get from the heart of Tokyo, the more of the "real" Japan you see. Even though the view was still mostly obscured by buildings and telephone poles, the mountainous area covered in a blanket of trees and the occasional hillside cemetary, was absolutely gorgeous. Gold, orange, red, and green leaves glowed in the rising sunlight.

Around 10 we got to the base of the mountain, stocked up on beverages and then began our ascent up the mountain.

Steep mountain is steep. The first two and a half kilometers up were nothing short of harsh. The steep incline was pretty wicked all things considered, and I found myself feeling dejected at the fact that small Japanese children were hauling up that mountain like no one's business, meanwhile I had to stop at every plateau and reassure Josh and Stewart that yes, I could complete the mountain. I just suck at this whole "holy crap, steep incline!" type climbing. Give me a vertical face any day...

We hit the halfway point around noonish and stopped to eat some of the fruit we packed. The entire way up, me and Josh kept making either 4chan references that went over Stewart's head or lamenting the fact that we were both away from our main squeezes and what a world, what a world, we're so angsty and lonely. Cleaning up with bananas, apples, and mikan in our belly, she trailblazed the last three kilometers of the trail to reach the temple right below the summit.

Fact: Mt. Takao is historically known for its folklore involving a community of Tengu, a sort of winged-dog-man spirit that are the guardians of mountains and the Yamabushi, warrior monks, who trained among them. At the temple were several shrines to Tengu as well as really awesome statues.

Finally, we reached the summit and let me say...there is nothing more breathtaking than being on the top of a mountain and looking down upon a city. Tokyo looked so far away, so tiny against the hilly geography of this volcanic island. At the look out point, you could see a stretch of mountain ranges, and in the far distance, past the mists of the morning, there was Mt. Fuji itself. Finding a plot, we ate our lunches, talked about how we didn't want to leave and then when rain started coming down we decided it would be best if we did, indeed, leave.

They say the descent is often the easiest, and I am sure that is true for most folks. However, my legs are out to end me in any way possible. On our way down, my knees continued to buckle nonstop to the point where I had to keep one hand on Josh at all times or I would end up rolling the five kilometers back down the mountain. Clearly, that was not an option. So we decided to take the lift down, only to discover that Stewart has agoraphobia. Scratch that plan, we'll take the cable-car.

Sure, after we wait an hour because the line was longer than a bunch of tween's waiting outside a theatre to watch their inspid Mormon-doctrine filled vampire romance angst fest. Then, we hit the tram and watched the trees and colors change as we came down the eastern face of the mountain as opposed to the western.

Back to the base, we head onto the train and ride home, separating at Fuchu so I could catch the local one stop over. Head home and promptly pass out due to my legs going "DEAAAAAAAAAAAATH! DEAAAAAAAATH TO YOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

Insert lazy Saturday spent with Debra watching Stargate: SG1 season 1 and lollin' at all the Macgyuver references thanks to Richard Dean Anderson.

Carter: What do you expect us to do so? MacGyuver a solution to this?
O'Neil (Richard Dean Anderson, Aka MacGuyver): ...>_>;

...yeah. We're nerds.

As for today, I am on campus. I got a gift from Yuma in the Matsuri-Dan of a custom mug with the logo and our sub-section name. I also signed up for classes and received my grade report:

Japanese II - C
History of Contemporary Japan - A
Readings in Japanese History - A

GPA: 3.0

HELLZ YEAH. Here's hoping to improve on the Japanese!