At yesterday lunchtime, Japan time, 80 year old Yuichiro Miura stood on top of Mt. Everest. In doing so he set a new record for the oldest person to climb the world's highest mountain. "Climbed" though may be a bit a tad expansive as by all accounts he was hauled to the top by a small army of sherpas, and is now in the process of being lowered down the mountain by the same army.
Such mountaineering impurity doesn't matter a damn here in Japan where Miura-san is being hailed as a national hero. He is from Sapporo so his "Look at me, Ma!" moment made the front page and was covered in depth in the Hokkaido Shimbun. He was all over the evening television news last night (though even his remarkable exploits were overshadowed by the even more remarkable plunge in the value of the Japanese stock exchange), and this, I suspect, is merely a prelude to the frenzy that will accompany his return back to Japan.
But, I hear you ask, has he ever climbed Muroran-dake in winter and then stripped off to the waist? No he hasn't, but like all true lovers of the high places, he relishes the feel of the crisp, thin air against his manly skin. Though he could do with a little more chest hair to be truly termed a 'mountainy man'.
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