I had Japanese class this morning so I had to rush down to the hotel restaurant to get an early breakfast before class at 9. We had another sunny and clear day today and I asked if I could sit next to the window to get a direct view of Mt. Fuji. I don’t think I could get sick of this view. It only made my breakfast taste better.

Our hotel included breakfast and dinner so we got back in time for our 6:30 reservation. On the way to the hotel restaurant, I noticed this poster in the elevator and jumped at the opportunity since it was going to be a clear night. The tour was $130 per person and the guide would take us to 3 different locations starting at 8:30 and dropping us off around midnight. I REALLY needed to catch up on sleep especially after a travel day, but the weather report said tonight was going to be clear. I didn’t want to risk the opportunity of a cloudy night tomorrow and risk missing out on a great photo opportunity.

Today was our travel day out of Kyoto and further into the more rural part of Japan. We had a 2 hour shinkansen ride and then an hour bus to Lake Kawaguchiko, an area to the foot of Mt. Fuji. I was anxious about whether we’d have good weather where we were staying so we could get a clear view.

As I had Japanese class this morning, I had a late start to the day but I didn’t want to prevent my schedule from interfering with Joanna’s family’s ability to see the rest of Kyoto on our last full day here.

In fall 2022 I decided I wanted to formally learn Japanese and not just try to scrounge up what I remember from watching hundreds of hours of anime when I was a teenager. I signed up for online classes at the U of M twice a week for the fall semester. It was pretty intense trying to balance everything but I managed with an A and what I learned that semester was really beneficial for us going to the more rural parts of Japan.