As I See It

I was having way too much sake that night. At a noisy izakaya (居酒屋) on a Tokyo backstreet, my friend Yuji and I kept refilling each other’s cups. After we graduated from college, Yuji moved back to Japan and I to Toronto. Clinking cups with him that night took us back to the days when we used to do silly things together. An adventure beckons I quaffed another shot of the potent junmai-shu sake (純米酒) and blurted out: “You and I, let’s climb Mount Fuji tomorrow.” It was the alcohol talking. Yuji, his face as red as a ripe tomato, hit back with the two most dangerous words in the English language: “Why not?” That’s how it all started, 15 years ago – on a dare. Hours later and still nursing our hangover, we boarded the earliest bus from Tokyo to Kawaguchi-ko (河口湖), the most popular starting point for the climb. Mount Fuji is divided into ten “stations” from base to summit, and there at the fifth station base camp we found hordes of climbers warming up for t...