Fuji-Q and Tokyo! (Days 139, 140)

The day after we climbed Fuji, we were all pretty exhausted. Stephen was getting a cold and Ed was feeling the after effects of altitude sickness, so they went on ahead to Tokyo while David and I went to Fuji-Q Highland! Fuji-Q Highland is a roller coaster theme park situated at the base of Mt. Fuji.

As I may have said in an earlier blog, I genuinely believe Japanese people enjoy waiting in lines. Americans dread standing in line, we cross our arms, impatiently tap our feet, and occasionally exchange looks of exasperation with our fellow prisoners as we fend off feelings of existential dread until finally it's our turn. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Japanese people take the opportunity to socialize, play games on their Gameboy 3DSes, Playstation Vitas, and smartphones, and generally enjoy being part of a group. It's a symptom of a collectivist society, individuals are more comfortable when part of a group. As one of my professors put it, Japanese kids almost always go to school even when they're sick, not because they're so dedicated to academia, but because they're more comfortable being part of the group than they are sitting in bed at home. Anyway, the extremely tangential point I'm getting to is that Japanese theme parks are a bit of a slog for Westerners since 5 hour long lines aren't at all strange.

We went on a weekday afternoon and still, the lines for all of the coasters were over an hour, with some being 3 or 4 hours. Consequently, we only rode about half of them before heading to Tokyo. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures, but I did take a few.

This ride had its own pizza parlor. Kinda weird.

I guess you can't tell from this angle, but this is the steepest rollercoaster in the world with a 135 degree drop. 

This is just fantastic advertising. 

Side note: This sign was near the "Ee Ja Nai Ka" (ええじゃないか) ride which was probably my favorite rollercoaster ever. I mean it was just a really awesome coaster, but it's kind of a weird name as Ee Ja Nai Ka is a phrase associated with a sort of spontaneously formed social movement that occurred at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and directly preceded the restoration of the Emperor (Meiji) as head of state. The phrase loosely translated means, "So what?" or "Who cares?" and was associated with growing resentment and defiance of the failing shogunate. It was sort of a hedonist, counterculture movement and was definitely more flower power than coup d'etat. I'm sure you're all very interested in 19th century social movements, but I suppose I'll move on anyway.

From Fuji we took a rapid express (much slower than Shinkansen) to Tokyo and by the time we checked into our hotel room it was well past dark so we pretty much just crashed.

Pretty early the next morning we got up and headed to Meiji Jingu, the spiritual shrine of the aforementioned Emperor. Emperor Meiji is arguably one of the most important people in Japan's history. During his reign the caste system was abolished, universal elementary education was established, and the country underwent industrial revolution. It's really unknown how much influence he had over these events though, as it's suspected that the men that put him in power and enacted these policies were acting autonomously i.e. not at the Emperor's direction.

Looking into the courtyard.

The main hub of the shrine is pictured in the center. Any closer than this and you couldn't take pictures.

The garden surrounding the shrine was at least as splendid as the shrine itself. Massive trees blanketed the entire grounds.

From Meiji-Jingu we just wanted to walk around Tokyo a bit and take it in, so we wandered around Shinjuku where our apartment was for awhile. One thing that sets the downtown apart from other major cities of the world is the vibrant signage and advertising all over everything.

It looks even crazier at night.

Godzilla stopped by, but he's gotta be on his best behavior since they made him tourism ambassador of Japan.

You may have noticed I edited most of these photos. It's hard to resist the urge to play around in Photoshop. This was taken just before sundown. The bridge is called the "Rainbow Bridge" but it's not all that colorful.

Did I mention Japan has a Gundam? There's a little 15 minute or so show that plays roughly every hour after the sun goes down. Really only its head and a couple other small parts move, but I honestly think that's pretty impressive considering it has to do it multiple times a night all year round.

Next time: Shibuya Crossing, Sky Tree, and other stuff!