Big brother's in Japan!!

So I've REALLY slacked on blogging.....mainly because every time something fun happens I quickly upload the evidence to Instagram and everyone knows instantly!!  But once I found out my big brother was coming to town, I knew I had to hold off on the IG overload and keep some pictures for the blog.  :)  (My resolution for 2015 is to be much better about showing off our life here.)


Jeff's trip was only for a week so I knew we had to cram in as much as we could possibly stand.  First thing, pick up Jeff at Tokyo Station!!  We made a plan on where to meet once he landed in Narita and took the train to Tokyo Station, however, things don't always seem to go as planned.  I arrived in Tokyo with plenty of time to wait for his train to arrive so I stayed on the platform until his train pulled up and once the doors opened it was a mad dash to find him.  Now I figured it wouldn't be too difficult since he'd be one of the only 6ft. Americans on the train, but with multiple cars and then many exits to the station, it wasn't that easy.  I raced up and down the platform and then finally found him on the escalator!!  I'm thankful for the Japanese way of standing on the left of the escalator, allowing for walkers to go on the right because I took those steps two at time and found him close to the top!!  We were able to grab some food and make it to our Shinkansen (bullet train) back to Misawa.

{shinkansen selfie}

Now onto the main event....ski Japan!  As I've said before, the snow is unlike any snow I've ever been in and this week the country did not disappoint!  Our first stop...the Hakkoda mountains.  We headed up to the mountains early Saturday morning, with our good friends Brent and Allyson.

Just two weeks prior, this mountain was so green that I was worried we wouldn't have fun skiing, but what a difference a few weeks make!  We went straight to the lift, bought tickets and off we went!  This trip, the boys skied and Ally and I decided to snowshoe.  It was my first time and it was awesome!!

{up we go!}

{at least 50 people could fit in there}

At the top, we put on our gear and posed for a couple of pictures.  It was SO WINDY!

Then Allyson and I took our snowshoes to the top to check out the snow monsters while the boys went on their ski adventure. :)  Overlooking the city was amazing.  We really lucked out on how clear it was up there.

{chizu}

When we finally got out of the wind, the trail was so much fun!  

{nature calls!}

Down the steep parts we found it best to sit on the back of the snowshoes and just sled down!

When we made it to the bottom, Allyson and I hung out while Brent, Jeff & Jeff tackled the mountain.

Our trip to Hakkoda would not be complete without a night at Sukiyu.   We've been to this resort before and it has one of the top rated onsens in the country.  If you don't know already, an onsen is a traditional bath house.  Women and men are usually separate and you must take a shower before entering.  Then, you go into the hot spring naked, no bathing suits or anything.  Jeff was in for a treat. ;)

{sukiyu}

{in the onsen with our closest friends}

{our beds}

The next day, Allyson and I went for a second round of snowshoeing around the hotel while the guys went for another epic day in the snow.  We had so much snow our adventure was truly a workout!   We stumbled upon a waterfall on the backside of the resort and managed to do some yoga/crossfit moves along the way.  

One of the best parts of this trip was having okonomiyaki for dinner!!!!!!  This is a Japanese pancake.  All ingredients that you choose are put together with the batter you then pour over a hot grill at your table.  It's delicious!

The next couple of days, Jeff and I spent exploring Misawa and Hachinoe, our near by city.  We ate sushi, ramen, went grocery shopping and hung out on base.  We didn't have much time because we had more skiing to do!  Early the next morning we drove about 3 hours to Naqua Shirakami.  The snow was just as good and Jeff & Jeff even did some night skiing.

It was a long couple of days so Christmas dinner was spent at one of our favorite ramen shops.  This is not your typical Cup O' Noodles. 

The week went by TOO fast, but we had so much fun!!!!!!

Mt. Fuji

If you are stationed here in Japan it's a matter of WHEN you're climbing Mt. Fuji, not IF.   So not knowing really anything about it, we made plans this past spring to climb over the 4-day Fourth of July holiday.  And of course I roped Sara into coming all away around the world to join us!

{happy campers}

We spent the Friday night before at a little town at the base of the mountain.  It was awesome.  All the hotels overlooked the water.  We had dinner and were able to relax at the onsen before our 2-day excursion.

{view from our room in kawaguchiko}

{dinner}

{we take great selfies}

Saturday morning we got up and had a traditional Japanese breakfast before heading to the bus station.   No waffles or french toast here!

{we'll need all of this protein}

From Kawaguchiko, the bus ride is about 45 min to the 5th station where we began hiking.   There are souviner shops and a few places to get food or snacks before you go up or at the conclusion of your hike.   There were many people there just to visit the 5th Station and have a bite to eat with no intention of heading up the volcano!

{we're really doing this}

{5th Station}

Most of Saturday was rainy, but not as cold as we had anticipated.  The climb was also a lot more difficult than I think we expected, but it was definitely doable.  Thank goodness for those walking sticks!  You purchase them at the base and then collect stamps at huts along the way.

{close up of stamps}

The entire hike is around 12K feet...we're almost there!!

{only 3 more hours}

As we hiked, we were passed by runners....(people were actually running, not just in running gear).....who were making their way down....crazy!

{yes, he's running.  in shorts.}

{straight. up.}

{seriously!?}

And no one told us there would be actual rock climbing....

{this was no joke}

{snow!}

The weather did let up for us for the last part of our climb the first day.  We're above the clouds! 

{station 8}

{up there!  that's our hut!}

We arrived at our hut around 3:30pm...about 4 hours from when we started.   These huts are not individual to your party...we slept with about 150 other people. Cozy!   All 5 of us slept on a part of the bunk that was probably the size of a king size mattress...maybe.  People come in and get up at all hours so there's not much sleeping going on!  

First thing we do is set up our bunk.  You hang all of our stuff from hooks right above you.

After we had settled in and changed, we went out to the common area of the hut to sit around the small fire, relax and do some much needed yoga. 

{i'm so not flexible}

Then, it was time for dinner...what would it be!? 

{such anticipation}

{surprise!}

Just what you crave after a 4 hour hike...rice, fish and potato salad.  Although not desired, it was good!

{fish!}

We tried to go to bed really early because our plan was to start our accent to the top at 3am to catch the sunrise around 4am.  It wasn't easy to sleep because others were coming in late and some got up as early as 1am!  What were they doing!?   

As we started to gather our things and get ready to go we saw why people started climbing so early.....

{headlamps}

There were thousands of people climbing to the top for sunrise!  Some even climb all night!  After eating pop tarts for breakfast (I couldn't do the salmon they gave us) we put on our own headlamps and were on our way!!

We didn't need them very long because the sun started to come up shortly after we started.  

It's.

Amazing.

{paparazzi} 

These pictures DO NOT do it justice.  I can see why people make this climb.  

Thirty minutes after sunrise we finally made it to the top!  

{brent's a little too close to the edge for me} 

{the mentos made it!}

{overlooking the last hut}

Whew!!  We did it!!!!!!!  It pushed us for sure, but would recommend it to anyone.

Checked off the bucket list. 

Never again. :)