After a ten hour flight that was delayed on the runway, we finally landed at Tokyo’s Narita airport. It was very important (to Gareth) that we got straight to the Rugby World Cup Fanzone in central Tokyo to watch Wales’ first match against Georgia. Fortunately Claire reminded him that we would need to pick up our Japan Rail passes and our Japan pocket WiFi in order to get there.
Despite missing the first half and most of Wales’ tries, it was a good game and the atmosphere was helped by most of the Japanese in attendance seeming to have some sort of Georgian ancestry. As it finished at about 5 in the morning Canada time we were completely shattered and when we got to our hotel we were very grateful to the very nice man that had waited up to let us in.
The next morning, we woke up pretty early, due to the jet lag, so had plenty of time to prepare ourselves for the day ahead. We got the train to Mt. Fuji station, which is in a town called Fujiyoshida, where we were staying for two nights. We dropped our bags off at the hostel and took advantage of the 2 day passes we had accidentally bought to take the train down to Kawaguchi-ko lake. After having a lunch of Ramen, we were able to imagine what Mount Fuji might look like, if it wasn’t hidden in clouds (it’s known as the shy mountain for a reason) and to enjoy our first shrines.
Back at our hostel we looked up recommendations for good places to eat nearby and as it happened we found one that came highly recommended just up the road. Sakigake was a very typical Japanese restaurant in an old building, with floor seating and a bar area that overlooked the kitchen. We had some fantastic shrimp tempura and fried aubergine with rice and ginger. We also were given some Edemame beans as a starter, which we soon found out was common practise across Japan.
The following day, we woke up almost as early as the day before and rushed to the roof to look for Fujisan (as it is known in Japan), but still only clouds. We heard that early morning is the best time to see views. After and early breakfast we hired bikes from our hostel and headed out for a trip around Kawaguchi-ko and some of the other lakes that make up the Fuji Five Lakes region. This proved to be a fantastic way to spend a day.
The 20km bike ride around Kawaguchi-ko is touted by many of the bike hires near the train station, and our hostel had seemed slightly surprised that we were intending a longer cycle, warning us of large hills to get to the other lakes. However, after an uphill slog from the far shore of Kawaguchi-ko lake to the next lake along, Sai-ko we were rewarded with the beautiful countryside of a more rural, serene Japan (along with some super downhill sections!)
We had heard that 3rd lake of the group, Shoji-ko was another good place to capture the Mount Fuji view we were hoping for, and we were very fortunate that just as we made round to the far side of Shoji-ko, the peak of Fuji broke out of the clouds. We shared the moment with four cyclists from China (who were cycling across Japan from Toyko on mountain bikes and therefore put our morning ride completely to shame). We declined an offer to join their trip, instead electing to reward ourselves with a coffee whilst we planned our route back.
We chose a slight detour on the way back to take us past a couple of interesting lava caves; the Wind Cave and the Ice Cave. Ice and melt waters from the seasonal snow cap of Fuji enter these caves and keep them at below 5C, making them ideal natural fridges. Through Japans history they were used to store grains and silk worm larvae among other things (to increase the number of silk harvests for exports to the west). Today they were being used to cool down two very hot cyclists!
After lunch we cycled back to Kawaguchi-ko Lake and up the opposite shoreline. We stopped off to climb a lot of stairs to a viewpoint without a view, and then headed to some flower gardens on the banks of the river which included a floral representation of Mount Fuji (with the real deal now being fully shrouded in clouds again!).
A combination of residual jet lag and a bike ride in the sun had tired us both out so we headed back to the hostel for a bit of downtime. We valiantly made it to 6pm before heading out for a quick dinner before bed. This time opting for a Ramen place, which was second closest to our hostel over going back to Sakigake. This turned out to be the wrong choice, as we ended up receiving the wrong meals. In our jetlag affected state we could well have pointed to the wrong side of the menu…. We ended up getting sesame seeds and sweetcorn Ramen rather than pork and spring onions (it really doesn’t compare!). Slightly disappointing, but as we were tired and hungry, we gobbled it down without complaining (to the staff anyway)! A short trip back up the road and we were straight off to bed,
The next morning was our last near Mount Fuji, we were really hoping the maybe the cloud would stay away for long enough for us to get a good view of Fujisan. When our confused body clocks woke us at 6am Claire went straight to the window see what she could see. A minute later we were up on the hostel roof terrace to get a better view of the clear morning and the whole of Japan’s most famous icon. It was a very special experience, knowing that we were very lucky to have caught this view in the short time that we were there.
By the time we’d had breakfast and were heading of on the train to Kyoto, much of the mountain was hidden behind a white shroud as it had been on the day before. Thank you Fujisan for popping out to say hello!
Claire and Gareth go travelling! 