Two years ago – being in Japan – we wanted to see Mount Fuji, of course. Unfortunately on that day, the weather wasn’t very clear – in fact it was even drizzling a bit, so we couldn’t see Fuji-san at all.

Fast forward to today! We checked the weather, knew which route we wanted to take (there was a little navigational problem last time so we made two trips back then) and were ready to go. This trip included about all means of railway locomotion. Local trains, the Shinkansen, some old mountain train (that goes back and forth on the face of the mountain), a cable car and in the end even a ropeway (no railway, I know). It took almost four hours (and lots of money) to get to a spot from where we could see Fuji-san and these four hours are really long when the means of transportation are slow as hell.

Speaking of hell, that’s a nickname of our final destination: Hell Valley. But the correct name of the location is Ōwakudani (Great Boiling Valley). The name comes from the hot springs and sulfur vents there, which give the place a distinguishing smell. Those sulfur rich hot springs are used for the local specialty: Kuro Tamago – black eggs. Yes, these hard boiled eggs really have a black shell. And yes, we tried them. No big difference to regular eggs, but it is said that you live longer if you eat them, but it is not recommended to eat more than two, according to the legend (a legend we suspect has been brought up by the local black egg industry). Well, I still got two eggs left, so I guess this two-egg counter either resets tonight or I will have to suffer the consequences after tomorrows breakfast. And inspired by those black eggs, you can find a lot of other black themed snack (some of which magically found the way to Tokyo).

Oh and yes, we did see Mount Fuji. What a view! Once the ropeway got over a small hill and you could see Fuji-san for the first time, the whole cabin was up in awe and joy.