[Luff]

This past August of 2008, I took a two week trip to Tokyo, Japan. It was an amazing experience that I wish could last forever.
I went there to visit a friend of mine who is currently studying Japanese. After spending some time as a standard tourist, we decided to have a bigger adventure and climb Mount Fuji, although we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.
The day we joined the group of climbers at the base of the volcano, we expected to just take a hike, eat lunch and then return home. We wore shorts and sweaters, brought a single bottle of water and a bag of potato chips, thinking these would be enough to sustain us.
The first thing we had not accounted for was the fact we would be climbing at night. The idea was to climb at night so that we could see the sunrise at the summit. This sounded like a great idea, but we warned that we should turn back if we were not properly dressed with warm clothing, jokingly stating "Oh, we're from Sweden. we're used to a cold climate!"
It was all in good fun until we began to climb. We started to realize that maybe we should have listened to the tourguide. Climbing higher, our bodies became stiff with the cold, making it extremely difficult to keep climbing. We really were not prepared for this kind of cold. By the time we reached the top, we were shivering from head to toe and really questioning if we were going to get sick with hypothermia.
Everything changed the moment we saw the sun begin to rise. The first rays broke over the horizon, hit our faces and warmed our nearly frozen skin. In that moment I felt more alive than ever, and I realized what a seven hour climb up Mount Fuji really stood for. It was not just a tourist hike, it gave me a whole new perspective that I would have never understood if I had not done this feat first hand.
Before we ascended, we bought a few souvinirs, but the memories, the best things I brought back with me, were free.
Climbing down took about two hours. We took the bus back to Toyko and got home later that day. I looked and felt like a mess; sunburn, sore muscles and fatigue are tough the next day! We slept a long time, making up for the lack of sleep on the mountain, and complained about our aches and pains, but we have spent many hours more since then bragging about our adventure. It was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life, and I would do it again immediately if I could.. but I would definately wear warmer clothes!