A happy new year

Jan1st Sunrise & Fujisan watching at Mt.Mitsutoge.

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Fujisan at dawn. Bigger picture

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Fujisan at sunrise. Bigger picture

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Fujisan in the clear view. Bigger picture

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Fujisan with a ubiquitous disturbing element

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O-Bento Fujisan

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The sunrise moment.

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The fellows. Bigger picture

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At Mitsutoge station. The woman inside the office is not wearing uniform. She takes the ticket and chats with some locals. Tokyo’s modern employee management system (called slavery) hasn’t reached here yet. Good.

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A statue at the station. It says “Welcome to Mitsutoge” on the bottom. Welcomed by a sign of curse.

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On the way to Mt.Mitsutoge. You cannot rely on those ropes too much.

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Ojizo-san. He is my uncle. I gave him 10-yen(otoshi-dama). I am so nice.

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Saying hello to the other relatives.

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A huge dog at the mountain hut, called Jump. He(maybe) was so nice to me when I was together with other hikers. The next day when I was alone, he barked at me frantically. Unfair.

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Misty Fujisan at Dec31. A bad feeling crept up.

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Kotatsu room. A TV set(Akebono VS. Bob) and tons of mican(orange) will complete the picture.

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Dinner at the hut. A special year-end soba was added. Some members didn’t eat the fish head and shrimp tail. They don’t know what they have missed.

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Waking up at 6:00am, everybody is waiting for the moment.

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After watching the sunrise, free amazake was served to everybody at the hut. Yipee!

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My share of amazake

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Peter with amazake (and also with genuine sake). Bigger picture

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Natto breakfast with mochi soup (o-zouni). How far we have come from the days at Mt.Hotaka-dake(refugee camp).

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Not a good manner at mountains

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Someone put a kagami-mochi on this rock. Many thanks to the zoom-in feature of my digital camera. My fear of heights has been cured a bit after I started hikings, but will never go away..

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On the way back. Miniature shrine.

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Tanuki-ropeway. Which is less embarassing to ride, this or swan boat?