Mount Tsukuba

Yesterday was crazy, but fun. The weather was good, not too hot – but also a little too hazy, so that we were unable to see Fuji from the top of Mt. Tsukuba, which you can do on a clear day.

We all rode in a bus for about forty minutes from Tsukuba. On the bus ride, Mike schmoozed up a group of three ten year-old girls, telling them about his pets, Halloween costumes, and popular singers in the U.S. Then they gave him a bunch of stickers. And later, they saved him a seat in the cable car.

The hike was, well, up the mountain. We started from a little town at the base, passed through a shrine, and just kept on climbing. Which was, well, not so easy with children as young as seven. Adults and children were assigned to teams, indicated by the color of the bandana around your neck. Our group had kids from our school and kids from the Japanese schools, too. We were supposed to stay with our groups, but that lasted exactly twenty seconds. Ultimately, we just kept the kids between the first and the last teacher.

Here are the shots from the hike:

After the hike, we all went for an American-style BBQ, complete with s’mores. This was actually really fun, and great since after the hike up the mountain (and the cable car ride down), we were famished!

We came home, took showers, slept for a few hours, and then walked out for a great Italian meal.