We were lost in Japan’s underground metro station for the fifth time that day. Japan may be living in 2050 in terms of technology, but their linguistic skills make moving around a nightmare. After a horrendous search for our train, we could finally relax when we found our platform. My mom and dad breathed a sigh of relief when we figured out we did not miss yet another train. The railway station was filled with pictures of Mount Fuji but the pictures did no justice to the real scenario. The breathtaking scenario of the active volcano can only be experienced through the eyes.
The day we landed on the soil of Fuji, we were greeted with heavy rainfall. We had to wander around the railway station for a while until the rainfall slowed down. I was not familiar with the anime culture when I visited Japan, so I was quite dumbfounded when I saw paintings on the outside walls of the trains. The only paintings I was able to recognise at that time was of Doraemon and Dragon Ball Z. What was written on that train was out of my league, unfortunately.
The thing that fascinated me the most was that you can find all kinds of vending machines in Japan. You can even get soup from a vending machine! And I ended up blowing most of my savings on different sodas.
We were able to get out of the station after an hour or two when the rain slightly reduced. Getting out of the station we were greeted with the magnificent view of Mount Fuji.
From the railway station we went to the hotel which was nearby. Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether I should call that place a hotel. It was more like a studio apartment. We had cooking utensils, a microwave oven and even a washing machine!
Our main target of hiking the Mount Fuji came to a halt as we came to know that the top of Mount Fuji was facing heavy rain clouds so hiking in that weather was extremely dangerous.
That didn’t break our spirits as the view of the mountain from anywhere in the city was so much more than what we had expected.
Without the hike we had time to wander the city, honestly, we just wanted to make our railway tickets to Fuji worth it. We took a city bus from the Centre and the bus took us to different places. The first stop was a breathtaking waterfall. It wasn’t as magnificent as Niagara Falls but it mesmerised us nonetheless.
The freshwater from the top rejuvenated the plants like the first day of Spring. The coolness of the weather due the rain and the hot blazing sun made the whole experience magnificent.
Our next destination was vintage. We saw the old vehicles used during medieval times, but I must admit, their medieval time vehicles were much more advanced than most vehicles available around the world. Those vehicles had a touch of the 1900s, the rusty red and brownish vintage colors. But the trains were painted in very vibrant colours. Honestly, I think the previous century Japanese people had poor eyesight, why else would they paint their trains with such colors?
By the time, we reached the Centre again and we were starving. I quickly browsed through the internet and found a ramen place. Risky? Yes, very. But hunger won over logic. The Japanese were foreign to the word halal food. We carefully selected our food, I believe, I never even checked my answer script the way I checked the menu that evening. Finally, we settled on noodles and soup. Surprisingly, the food was good and tasty.
We overslept the next morning and hastily grabbed some food from 7-Eleven. We rushed to the train station to avoid missing our train to Tokyo. The train finally came to the platform after a few minutes. I looked up from the paintings of Mount Fuji.
I swung my backpack over my shoulders and followed my parents to the train. We found a seat immediately and sat down. The door closed swiftly, and the train started to move with a jerk. It was more than an hour before we stepped down on the platform at Tokyo again. From the peaceful small town of Fuji, we were again back in the busy city of Tokyo.