This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account of a reader from a WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.

Heading to Mt. Fuji

After quite a bit of hassle, we finally got into a taxi bound for Kawaguchiko. The driver was very friendly. Once he realized I spoke a little Japanese, he chatted with me the whole way.

We first drove along a long, winding, beautiful mountain road through Hakone, and then out onto a wide-open highway, where Mt. Fuji came fully into view. That afternoon, Mt. Fuji’s visibility rating was 9. Some clouds drifted by and occasionally covered the peak, which made for a unique scene in its own way.

At the tourist center in Hakone-Odawara Station, I asked the staff roughly how much a taxi from Hakone to Mt. Fuji would cost. The staff member said it would be so expensive that I definitely wouldn’t want to go that way. I said, what if I insisted? With a sigh, they reluctantly helped me look up the price. Little did I know that would turn out to be true—we really did end up taking a taxi to Kawaguchiko.

I asked the driver whether many people take a taxi from Hakone to Kawaguchiko, since it’s such a long ride. He said of course they do—some even take taxis from Osaka to Hakone, or from Kyoto to Tokyo. You get all kinds. As he spoke, he pointed out several out-of-town taxis speeding along the road.

My travel companion was in the back seat with our child, and as we passed the famous Lawson by Lake Kawaguchi, they somehow managed to snap a photo of it despite having done absolutely no trip planning. Sharp eye.

After about 1 hour and 15 minutes, we arrived at our hotel in the Asakawa Onsen area. The taxi fare was roughly between 20,000-25,000 yen. In An Utterly Delighted Spring Break Trip to Japan - Very Necessary Pre-Trip Preparation, I embarrassingly wrote the taxi fare with the wrong unit and added an extra 0, but WeChat wouldn’t let me edit it…

I previously wrote in An Utterly Delighted Spring Break Trip to Japan - Very Necessary Pre-Trip Preparation about how to check Mt. Fuji visibility and when to book hotels, so I won’t repeat that here.

Choosing a Hotel

Key point: let’s talk about how to choose a hotel in Kawaguchiko.

First of all, if you want to see Mt. Fuji, going to Fujisan Station won’t do it. Whether you stay there or not, you’ll want to head to Kawaguchiko Station. As everyone knows, a combined mountain-and-lake view is more beautiful than just a mountain view, which is why the hotels around Lake Kawaguchi are in the best location for viewing Mt. Fuji.

Among the many hotels around Kawaguchiko, the best-located area is around “Shuhokaku Kogetsu.” The lakeside hotels there offer both mountain and lake views, with almost no obstruction. If you search for this hotel on google map, you’ll see that there are no other hotels right beside it near the lake. Other than being a little dated, the hotel doesn’t really have any major drawbacks. If you can book it, go for it. As I mentioned before, we squeezed our Mt. Fuji trip into some flexible days after arriving in Japan, so of course there was no way to book it by then.

As a backup nearby, you could choose “Hoshinoya,” which is said to be very family friendly. But because it’s not right on the lake, buildings can end up in your photos when shooting downward. Similar options include “La Visa” and “千一景,” or you can just open google map and explore for yourself.

Another excellent area for Mt. Fuji views is the Asakawa Onsen district. The mountain view here is slightly blocked by another hill; see the photo below. Leading the pack is the highly rated Lakeside Hotel “Kukuna.” Nearby options include “Shinseiki Kawaguchiko,” “Fuji Ginkei,” and “Mizno Hotel.” There are many lakeside hotels in this area, and the closer you are to the Lake Kawaguchi Ohashi Bridge, the less obstruction you’ll have. Again, you can open google map and explore on your own.

Other internet-famous options like “钟山苑” and “湖南庄” are excellent hotels, but the scenery is much less impressive. You can only see part of the mountain, and you won’t get the full mountain-and-lake view. As a result, they’re also easier to book, and you may still find rooms even just one month or half a month in advance.

As for the “Fuji Ginkei” room I managed to book, the hotel itself isn’t as good as “Lakeside Hotel Kukuna,” so it’s a bit easier to book than those. That’s how I managed to score, at a high price, the last room available on a day when the visibility rating was 10.

Fuji Ginkei Hotel

The hotel lobby felt like something out of a small, lower-tier city hotel back in the 1990s, with rather dim lighting. We arrived a little after 1 p.m., and the lobby floor was full of open umbrellas. It wasn’t until we actually walked in that the front desk staff noticed someone had arrived and came out from the back.

You couldn’t get the room key until 3, so we checked in first and left our luggage. The front desk said dinner was at 6, and I figured we’d still have enough time. We planned to head first to the famous Arakurayama Sengen Shrine. Then I checked google map—wow, over an hour by bus, but only a little more than ten minutes by taxi. Taxi it was. I opened DiDi and found it didn’t work, so we had to ask the hotel to call a car for us again. This time, the wait was 10 minutes.

The Kawaguchiko area still feels pretty undeveloped, with narrow roads and not many cars.

The driver dropped us off at the bottom of the shrine, and we had to walk up ourselves. Note that there are many Sengen shrines in the Mt. Fuji area—the famous one is “Arakurayama Sengen Shrine,” so don’t go to the wrong place.

There was a roadside stall doing phenomenal business. We happened to be hungry, so we ordered some snacks and sat down for lunch. Everything tasted pretty good.

Seeing that we were pushing a stroller, the staff kindly helped us store it in a tent at the foot of the mountain. We followed their ins account and got a tote bag.

Visa

Mt. Fuji

That afternoon, the visibility rating was 10. The clouds around the mountain had cleared, and the view was amazing.

Our child munched on corn while hiking and climbed faster than we did. Once again, we were at the mercy of several hundred steps.

check-in

We finally reached the famous viewpoint. In fact, on the day we went to Kyoto, the cherry blossoms around Mt. Fuji were still in full bloom, and visibility was also especially good. But our previously booked itinerary wasn’t easy to change, so we had to let it go. This whole trip, we were chasing the last of the cherry blossoms, which was a little regretful.

Quite a few people were taking photos here, and it was fairly chaotic, so we basically had to squeeze in whenever there was an opening. Even though the crowds definitely took away from the experience, this angle really is fantastic and worth stopping for.

A shrine on the way back down the mountain.

We then walked downhill to the next popular photo spot, Hikawa Clock Shop.

As we walked along the country road, some local kids were playing nearby and ran over to chat with us.

Mount Fuji was visible the whole way.

We passed an elementary school with a dirt playground, which reminded me of my own childhood.

After walking less than 1 mile, we saw a group of people standing by the roadside holding up their phones, so we knew we had arrived. There were people

It was only a little after 4 pm, but barely any of the surrounding shops were still open. Life in this small town clearly moves at a very relaxed pace. After taking our photos, we didn’t see many taxis on the road, so we decided to take the bus back to the hotel. The bus headed in the same direction as the photo spot, straight toward Mount Fuji, and it felt like we were moving through a painting.

We transferred at Fujisan Station. The route information on google map was basically unrelated to what was written at the platform... so once again we had to identify the right bus by matching the times.

Fujisan Station has quite a few platforms, and we had to run around a bit before finding the right one.

After that, we transferred again at Kawaguchiko Station. Kawaguchiko Station is quite large, and because google map didn’t have complete information, we had no idea which line to take. After searching for quite a while, we finally found it. In the end, it took us more than an hour to get back to the hotel, but at least we made it back. Public transportation around Mount Fuji really isn’t very developed, and service is infrequent, so renting a car or hiring a car may be a better option.

There were still a few cherry trees along Lake Kawaguchi in full bloom.

When we got our room key at the hotel, my child and I were able to choose our own yukata, while my partner’s had already been placed in the room. I’m not really sure why they did it that way. Our room was on the 5th floor, and without the parking lot blocking the view, we could look down over the lake, so the scenery was even better.

Since we booked the last available room, we didn’t get to choose the room type. It was a Japanese-Western style room. My kid chose to sleep on the floor, while my partner and I took the beds.

Dinner

This was also an onsen hotel with a one-night stay including two meals, so dinner was at the hotel as well. The restaurant was on the 4th floor. Unlike the private dining rooms at the Hakone hotel, this property served everyone in the main dining hall. Shoes had to be removed before entering.

The restaurant had huge windows, and the mountain-and-lake view felt incredibly close, which was really stunning.

The menu, however, was only in Japanese.

My child had a set meal, plus udon.

The buttery mushroom abalone was absolutely delicious. The abalone was especially tender, and the mushrooms were incredibly flavorful after soaking up the sauce. This kind of mushroom was a bit like the Bachu mushrooms we have in Xinjiang. The dish was also very aromatic. Later that night, when we went out for a soak, we could still smell it in the hallway on the 5th floor.

The shabu was also very good, and you could tell at a glance that the meat quality was excellent.

Dessert was also plentiful and beautifully presented.

Although the hotel’s front-desk service and rooms were clearly not as good as the hotel we stayed at in Hakone, I have to say the dinner here was noticeably better than Hakone Bettei. Bettei’s dinner was at the level of “pretty good,” while dinner here was genuinely “very good.” The restaurant service was also quite good, and one staff member with a foreign appearance spoke decent English.

There was no private onsen in the room, and my child said they still wanted to soak in the hot spring, so after dinner we went to check out the public bath.

The public bath was divided into men’s and women’s sections, each with two levels. Downstairs there was a locker room, an indoor hot spring bath, and washing areas. Upstairs was an outdoor rooftop onsen. There were also conical hats hanging by the entrance, which was a fun touch.

At night, you could only make out the faint outline of the mountains.

The hallway by the public bath was also quite pretty.

This little door on the other side of the hallway led to another building. I went in and walked around for a bit, and it felt so creepy and spooky that I got scared and hurried right back.

After finishing my little exploration, I went back to the room and the kid’s bed had already been made. We changed into yukata and went to soak in the hot spring. I had read online that the hot springs in Kawaguchiko are actually pretty mediocre, with basically no special benefits, but for the kid it was all pretty much the same.

The next morning, I opened the curtains and wow—absolutely gorgeous!

A mischievous cloud drifted over and covered the mountaintop again, then floated away a little while later.

We went downstairs for breakfast.

Everything was already set out for us.

Breakfast was good too. Even the grilled fish—something I usually don’t quite know how to appreciate—was a tiny bit better than the ones I’d had before.

This noodle dish kind of had that broad-noodle vibe. The hotel gave us Japanese chili oil, and I assumed it wouldn’t be very spicy, but even a little bit added a lot of flavor. So good.

The hotel’s check-out time was 10 am. We planned to check out first, leave our luggage at the hotel, and go out for a bit before heading back to Tokyo around noon.

The mischievous cloud was gone by then.

I couldn’t bear to leave this beautiful view, so while my partner packed up our luggage, I took the kid for one more stroll through the public bath area.

After check-out, we took the bus to the ropeway. The bus stop was very close to the hotel—just a short walk away.

The ropeway was also close to the hotel, just two or three bus stops away. Even before it opened for the day, people were already lining up. The day before, when we took a taxi to Arakurayama Sengen Shrine, the line had stretched all the way down the hillside.

Luckily, the line moved pretty quickly. The ropeway was not included in the sightseeing pass, so we had to buy separate tickets.

Because we got there early, there were very few people at the top. But it was extremely windy. Even in mid-April, we were all wearing coats and didn’t feel overdressed at all.

The lake view was beautiful too.

As soon as you get up the mountain, there’s a gift shop. That’s where you buy tickets for the “Scenic Swing” partway up the mountain, and then you climb up farther to join the line for the swing. You can’t buy tickets at the swing itself, so make sure to get them at the gift shop first.

There were quite a few people waiting for the swing, and only one group of up to 2 guests could go at a time. Each group got to swing for 3 minutes. The kid said they didn’t want to go, so I asked whether my partner and I could take turns, but the staff said no. So I went first and my partner took photos for me, then about a minute later my partner got on.

Then the clouds came back and blocked Mount Fuji again.

After the swing, we looked at the map we got from the ticket counter and saw that there was another shrine farther up, so we kept climbing for a bit.

There was another observation deck here too.

And this was basically it. There was absolutely no one there besides us. Honestly, this stretch didn’t really feel worth the climb.

On the way down, we passed the little observation courtyard again. The kid wanted a photo by this signboard, which looked hilariously out of place with Mount Fuji in the background.

The line for the swing hadn’t really gotten any longer.

But when we got back to the gift shop—wow—it was already packed. Before going up the mountain, I had promised the kid I’d buy this chocolate that came in a ropeway-car-shaped box, and it was actually pretty tasty.

We also picked up a few small things at the gift shop. Next to it was a small snack stand selling food like dango skewers and ice cream. After that, we headed back down the mountain.

There was a rabbit shrine on the mountain, and there were rabbits on the ropeway cars too.

We took the bus back the same way to the hotel to pick up our luggage, and wanted the hotel to help call a taxi to Kawaguchiko Station. The hotel told us it would take half an hour for a taxi to arrive, and we were completely stunned.

The hotel did have its own shuttle, but it ran very infrequently. The last morning shuttle to Kawaguchiko Station was a little after 10, and it needed to be reserved in advance. We had figured we could just take a taxi then, but it turned out getting a taxi was that difficult too.

Right after that, the hotel staff mentioned that there happened to be another white family also heading to the station, and they could drop all of us off together at Kawaguchiko Station. The front desk staff repeatedly emphasized that this was a special service, and I quickly thanked them over and over.

When we arrived at Kawaguchiko Station, we happened to catch sight of a Fujikyuko Line train painted with Thomas.

Key point: there are several ways to travel between Kawaguchiko and Tokyo, and tickets for all of them can be purchased either at Kawaguchiko Station or at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station.

1) Take the “Fuji Excursion” train. This is rail service, so you do not have to worry about traffic, and it is the fastest option. However, service is very limited. For example, on the day we traveled, the earliest train from Kawaguchiko back to Tokyo was at 3 pm. During peak season, tickets are also relatively hard to get, so it is best to buy them several days in advance. Official booking site: https://www.eki-net.com/zh-CHS/jreast-train-reservation/Top/Index

2) Take the highway bus, i.e. the coach bus. There are more departures, tickets are easier to buy, and fares are cheaper. Buses can go to Shinjuku, Shibuya, or Tokyo Station. The downside is that rush-hour traffic can cause delays, and the bus itself is not as comfortable as rail transit. Official booking site: https://highway-buses.jp/chs/course/kawaguchiko.php

3) Take the Fujikyuko Line and then transfer to JR. The downside is that you need to make a transfer, so you have to plan the timing carefully, and the ticketing process is a bit more complicated. It is also best to buy the JR segment in advance. Some Fujikyuko Line trains are limited express, and there is also a sightseeing train. Reservation site: https://express-reserve.fujikyu.co.jp/cn/customer. I had originally bought option 3), but later decided to just buy bus tickets because the transfer window was short and I was worried we would miss it. I bought the tickets while riding the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway down, and there was still decent availability.

This time I did not want to wander around like a headless fly trying to find the platform again, so I simply waited in line at the tourist center to ask where to catch the bus. We were told it was at Platform 1.

Inside the station there is a gift shop and a self-service restaurant. We had lunch there. The black fried chicken was quite good. It was not freshly fried, so it was not especially crispy, but it was tender with a pleasantly bouncy texture. The seasoning was slightly too salty. Our kid loved it and ordered a second serving after finishing the first.

We also ordered two bowls of noodles, and both were pretty tasty. For a station restaurant, it was quite good overall.

After eating, we still had a few minutes before boarding, so I hurried off by myself to check in at the famous Lawson store. It is near the station, just a short walk away. Visibility that afternoon was a 7, and the clouds were starting to build up a bit.

By the time I got back, boarding had already started, and all the luggage had been placed in the storage compartment underneath the bus. The bus was quite clean, though the seats were not very large and even felt a little cramped. The seating layout was 2+2. The bus was very full: our kid sat with my partner in one row, and I sat in the row ahead. The ride was under 2 hours. Since we departed around midday, traffic was smooth and we did not hit any congestion. Our kid slept the whole way, and we took the chance to nap a little too.

Next up was 4 days of eating, घूमting, and shopping in Tokyo.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader from our WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. The account features original, high-quality articles, and if you are interested, feel free to follow it.

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