Trek to Mount Kōya
I woke up at 4:10 AM to the sound of my phone’s distinctive ringtone. It was Ume-chan, making sure we were all up and about.
About an hour later, Ume and Ueda arrived to pick me up and together, we headed for the train station. I was sleepy - we all were. None of us had gotten more than a couple of hours sleep the night before, due, perhaps, to the excitement and the business of preparing for this day.
We made our way towards our destination via Japan’s very efficient train network, finally arriving at Kudoyama station a few minutes past 8 AM. This is where our journey would begin. Our destination: Mount Kōya, Wakayama prefecture (Wikitravel link here).