It was so bad infact that we could not even see Mt.Fuji!

The rain was beating down, and in seconds I was completely soaked through (despite having waterproof clothes!) and freezing cold. Even standing upright was difficult due to the poewrful winds.

But nevertheless, we set out with the mission of reaching the summit of Fuji-san in mind.

At the 5th station we were warned by the mountain staff that we should not go, as it could be 'fatally dangerous', and by the early morning 4 people already had to be carried down with hypothermia.
Stupidly we decided to climb anyway, and after reaching the 7th station we were extremely disappointed to discover that the mountain hut we had paid for was not even open! 

I understand that the weather was dangerous, but to have nowhere to stay in a typhoon and have to climb to the top and back in one day, or to climb back down could be fatal.

Why the mountain hut company didn't email us to say 'sorry but we won't be opening today' - I do not know. I found this extremely poor customer service and was pretty susprised.
Other climbers had come from various parts of Japan, and even travelled across the world to climb Mt.Fuji - only to reach their mountain hut and find that it was closed. People were very upset about it (including us) and I can see why.

No apology, no refund, nothing!
(Update - we have now received an email from the mountain hut company saying that they will refund us. We haven't received the money yet, but knowing that they do intend to refund us is positive!)

To top this off, the following day we checked out of our apartment, still feeling in good spirits as we planned our return to Fuji-san in two weeks time. But this was soon to be shattered as we recieved an email from the night bus company saying 'your bus has been cancelled'.

No apology, no refund, nothing!

I was pretty upset by this point, as I simply wouldn't expect this treatment here. With the hotels fully booked, and the fact that it was late evening and we live in Nara, how were we supposed to get home!?
I called the bus company and they were extremely rude. Essentially telling me that it's 'tough'.

Wow.....I was shocked.

No alternative was proposed and we now had nowhere to stay and no way to get home.

We eventually decided to take the Shinkansen back home, despite it's insane cost, we were left without a choice, as I was due to work the following day!

As expected, the Shinkansen was heavily delayed, and stopped for long period of time. 
We eventually arrived at Kyoto station at 2.30am, after a horrific journey which was hours delayed.

Needless to say - trains were not running to Nara.

So now what to do?

We looked for a hotel, but of course - they were all fully booked!

Many local Japanese were so angry that they just sat down and slept in the station. 
We felt like doing the same, but with work the following day, I did not want to let my students down.

After walking around for 35 minutes, we found a capsule hotel which was open and had available places to sleep!!!
Hoorah!
Finally some good news.

Staying in a capsule hotel was something I have always wanted to do, so this was a great experience!
We finally got to bed around 3.30am, and despite a minor altercation with an extremely selfish person who's phone alarm was going off every ten minutes for over an hour (!!!!), this was a positive experience.

We got the train back home, and I arrived back at the house with 3 minutes left until my first lesson.

Wow.......what a birthday!!!!
Haha.....

All in all I am left with mixed feelings about it all. 
Understanding how serious the weather was, I feel that it was out of people's hands to provide buses for us and to man the mountain huts. But on the other hand, I feel the treatment was appalling, and for a country with incredible customer service I was pretty shocked.

Still.....this is only one bad experience amongst a year of incredible ones!!!

And what's more......

We have planned to return to Kawaguchiko in two weeks time!

Fuji-san and I have unfinished business :-)

Have a lovely week everyone!
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I am a highly experienced professional English teacher, Yoga Instructor, Tai Chi teacher, Nutrition Consultant and Personal Trainer from London, UK. I recently left London to work and travel around Japan on a Working Holiday Visa with my best friend and longtime girlfriend Ashley (who is also a teacher on Cafetalk : https://cafetalk.com/tutors/profile/?id=54542&lang=en ). We love sharing adventures travelling, teaching, exploring and understanding new cultures. We hope to speak with you soon!

If you would like to follow my travels on instagram, and see where we are in the world you can do so here:

Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions, or if you would like to schedule a lesson at a time in which my schedule is not open. I will always do my best to accomodate every student