Fuji, among others [journal]

I think my pen is running out of ink. I did bring a backup pen. Either that or the climate is affecting the ink. My sister remarked that something with me is changing. I think it's my state of mind. Something about this whole militarist-without-a-cause thing. (This pen, albeit black, works a lot better).

There's these buildings that say 火災 on the company name. In Chinese, that'd mean "fire," as in the emergency type of fire, but apparently means "home insurance" in Japanese.

We managed to get a clear view of Mt. Fuji, which was really lucky of us. But it's a long weekend for the Japanese and coming back down from the mountain area was very slow and madly packed. We couldn't make it to the hotel for dinnertime so we ate at a highway rest station restaurant (they have these things every 2 hours or so) at almost 21:30. It was fast and pretty delicious. Then we had to hop onto the bus again and finally got to the hotel at 23:25.

Yesterday we walked through a park where people were setting up to watch fireworks. Instead of sitting down to keep their spot, they use tape to mark out a rectangle on the grass or bench for themselves and then label it with their family name. Then they're free to walk off for whatever. If only we were all just as nice in Canada.

Dumpy [journal]

The operative for the hotel today is dumpy. Well, maybe that's too mean. But it's like as old as a concrete building, which it is.

No other females in the family could go soak in the hot springs so I went [in the nude -
you have to] with the girls in the room next door and their mom. Now there's hardly any feeling in my legs and feet and for a moment right after I came back I was a little dizzy like being lightly drunk, but not. And for a bit I could hear my heart thumping a lot harder like being lightly drunk, but not.

Earlier we saw lots of older schoolchildren carry a thin case about six or seven feet long, and a shorter but cylindrical one. Apparently it's their traditional archery equipment.

Samurai swords are cheap here (I've seen the short ones go for only ¥4000) -- but I've said before, they're so overdone. Even so, it was so difficult to resist the allure of the pointy object whenever I saw one. I really don't want one, but I do wish I could have or to polish one so it is just as sharp as one. That will definitely do.

Every day I'm feeling more and more tired. I don't know if my feet can handle Hong Kong. And I feel more desperate and anxious about next year by the day. I want to be ready to fight at a moment's notice, but I hardly have anything sharp enough or designed for the job, or both.