Climbing Mount Fuji at Night: Ascend covers the ascend.
For 2 hours I was waiting in the cold at the summit, drinking green tea from the vending machines. Due to the cold, I could not sleep or stay at one place without moving - and that was even with proper jacket, I had seen people climbing up in short trousers, probably not waiting for the daylight but directly descending.
Eventually a hut opened, people streamed in and ate udon. At 4:15, the first light could be seen, people started to stare towards east. Some wrapped the body in tinfoil, curious how well that works. Looking downwards, I saw the clouds, this time not seen from a plane but the Fujisan. At 5:02, the sun finally came up, and the Japanese national anthem was played.
In many countries, climbing the highest mountain is just for professionals, or for expeditions. Mount Fuji in Japan has with it’s 3776m just the right height to be a bit of a challenge, but being doable for an average trained person. One starts with looking up reports from others and wonders: what should I take with me? Is my condition good enough to do it? Do I need maps and so on?
First things first: there will not be a clear winner, but let’s try to look at this from various angles. As a German living in Japan, I am tied into people and media in both countries, let’s try a comparison.
Infection numbers
Numbers of daily new infected people is considered one of the most interesting criteria. Being near to China, Japan had first infections quite early, but Germany was catching up in March. As of October, Germany has four times as many infections as Japan. In Germany, 6 times as many people are reported ‘currently sick’ as in Japan.
Background
Everybody knows about the Japanese “san”, which you attach when communicating with Japanese colleagues. So, when you also refer to non-Japanese colleagues in the same email, do you then also use ~san? If not, do you think they read the email as ‘he does not respect us equally’? Just asking to point out one of the small oddities about this piece of etiquette.
For those who do not know me, I am a German living in Japan, speaking to some level English and Japanese.
German/Japanese/English versions of this text are here: https://fluxcoil.net/ .
English: Interactions with technology in Japan
When I was little and asked my grandmother where in the world the technology was most advanced, she said: “In Japan!”. I have been living here for a few years now, and I am still fascinated by the culture of the country, the mentality of the people and especially how the Japanese deal with technology. This fascination has led me to question my own behaviour and culture.