Our forth blog,
For our fourth blog we visit Mount Fuji. As we visit Japan regularly, to see Mount Fuji close up has been on our Japan tick list for years. We have saw it from a distance passing on the train and car but it’s just not the same.
So, this year we made an exception and the time based on our busy itinerary to visit Mount Fuji up close. We had two options to relocate from our base in Tokyo and book a hotel and stay the night there or travel there and back to Tokyo in one day. We chose the latter. In the end we were pleased we did as it turned out to be a bit of an awkward trek and would have struggled humping cases there and back!
Plus, another decision was so we could be a bit more flexible re the weather as pointless going if cloudy!
So, it was a very early start leaving our hotel by 7:00am, grab our breakfast, coffee from the 7 eleven and lunch just in case we would struggle to find somewhere or time, which paid off.
The schedule to get there was two trains from Tokyo central. The first train on the JR Chuo Line Special Rapid, departing at 8:07am arrived in Hachioji Station at 9:02am which was busy. Then we had to switch to a non-JR train the Fuji Kaiyu, which departed at 9:07am, we were on this train for an hour and it was absolutely packed.
But halfway through the journey this train split!! And only three carriages continued on the line to Mt.Fuji Station. It was crazy, as we were on the wrong end of the train along with a million others so had to get off and run on the platform about for four carriages and jump on the forward train. The unfortunate thing was a lady lost her young daughter and the forward train departed and the little girl was on the train to head back!!
We got off the train at Shimoyoshida Station, one stop before the end of the line at Mt.Fuji Station. This station was a very small and old, just not really up for the number of visitors…
Not far from the station is the famous Chureito Pagoda, high up in the hillside with millions of steps (good job we are fit!), the view was spectacular so worth the climb! It was a bit hectic with other sightseers hustling bustling to get that perfect shot and selfies! But we managed.
The Chureito Pagoda is five stories on the mountainside overlooking Fujiyoshida City and or course Mount Fuji in the distance. The pagoda is part of the Arakura Sengen Shrine which was built in 1963 with 400 steps leading up to the shrine.
So back down the hill we went. Short walk to the station and waited about 10 mins for the next train one stop to Kawaguchi-ko Station. Again, the place was absolutely manic, and we had to pay a surcharge as our JR passes did not cover the last part of the journey when the train split. We had previously researched the best viewing spots as the Mount Fuji has 5 lakes surrounding it. We knew we could not get round them all so our plan was to go to Kawaguchiko Lake. This meant getting a bus from the station which was manic. We decided just to start walking but eventually got the bus the rest of the way. We were not disappointed as the views were spectacular especially as we had hit it right or lucky as it was a gorgeous warm sunny day. We’ll, let the pics do the talking.
Mount Fuji is the country’s most iconic landmark and is 3776 meters high! Standing between the Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. The nearly perfect shaped volcano has been worshiped as a sacred mountain and is extremely popular among artists and people throughout the centuries. Fuji is an active volcano, last erupting in 1707…after draining our batteries with all the pictures taken it was time to head back.
Getting back to Tokyo central was a reversal of getting there arriving back about 7:00pm, so a long tiring day. But a few beers and a nice meal soon recharged our batteries!
This day we walked just over 7 miles.
Also, we now have a website which is solely dedicated to our travels in Japan. Please visit www.japanguiding.com to read all our articles about the locations we have visited in Japan.
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