On day two, we awoke to the sunlight shining through the windows of our Ryokan room and rose to meet a delicious breakfast served at 7:00AM.Today, we were to face the most grueling ascent of the trip, up 900 meters.  To give you a feeling for the climb, here’s an elevation profile (Copyright Sora Suga 2007).  We were at the beginning of the climb, on the Tokyo side.After breakfast, I discovered my tire had gone flat so I filled a new one with air. Then we motored up the mountain, setting waypoints at each train station.  It reminded me a little of Switzerland, a little bit of Canada, and a little bit of Big Sur, California.Halfway up the mountain, we met a fellow riding a city bike with a basket on the front and back.  He had a pump, a baseball cap, and sandals.  The bike he was riding is referred to in Japan as a “Mamachari, or “Mother’s Bicycle”.  After speaking to him for a while about how long the climb was, he revealed that he was a monk named Tsuneo Ogawa, bicycling to Kyoto from Kawasaki (right outside of Tokyo).  He lit up a menthol cigarette and played with google maps on my iPhone to review our shared route.  We exchanged contact information and rode up the mountain.   Here’s a picture with him: We climbed for a total of three hours and finally found ourselves descending onto Lake Ashi, which sits near the top of Hakone pass.  Again, we stumbled across a fantastic Italian restaurant boasting a modern design aesthetic and Ferrari paraphernalia. Here, Callum waits for a table and checks the markets.The wait was well worth it.More Espresso, naturally.We stocked up at a convenie.Then we took some photos of a Japanese thing.And finally reached the absolute crest of the day, entering into Shizuoka prefecture at 900 meters.Then we descended….. And at the bottom saw a vending machine only witnessed in Japan.  Below this image, there were gigantic cartons of Sake.We wheeled past Mishima, towards Fuji, entering an industrial zone of Shizuoka prefecture.  Below is an aluminum recycling plant.Continuing on the road, it grew dark.  We were heading towards fuji, and Shizuoka was 40km away.  We parked our bikes at the Fuji train station and wondered where we could stay in Fuji.  Then, out of the blue, Sora, from e-wadachi.comcalled my phone.  I had contacted him before the trip began to discuss the route and thank him for creating the GPX tracks, and we had discussed possibly meeting up around this time.  He was heading back to Yokohama, and he was free for the night, so we decided to meet up in Shizuoka and stay there for the night. So we hopped on a Shinkansen and sped over to Shizuoka in 12 minutes.  The blurriness of the photo is not actually indicative of how much Japanese bullet trains shake. We checked into a Ryokan, met Sora at the train station, and wandered into an underground bar I had researched called “FreakyShow.”  It was known to have live music, but alas, not on Fridays.  So from there, we went to an Izakaya and ordered a massive dinner. My personal favorite of the evening was the fish pictured in the middle of the table.  I ravaged the fish with my chopsticks, and then Sora ate the rest.  “The skin is most delicious,” he said with expertise.  The monk we met earlier, Ogawa-san, called us and lauged and yelled happily that he was in Mishima, and had descended from Hakone.  Everyone was doing great. Then we found a Japanese style bar in Shizuoka’s thriving and somewhat dodgy nightlife district, and discussed the joys of cycling and life.  Thanks again Sora!From here, Callum and I retired to our beds, saving our strength for the next 100km day of wheeling.