Tokyo Trip Day 3: Mt. Fuji 5th Station

It was another early day for us as we slept early the previous night. We did not go out for dinner last night as we were still full from the food at the Herb Festival. But after onsen we felt like having something warm to fill our stomachs. Luckily there were vending machines inside the hotel so we bought curry ramen cup noodles and some fizzy yogurt drinks.

After our morning onsen and light breakfast inside our hotel room, we took the free hotel shuttle to Kawaguchiko Station. My original plan for today was to take the red/green retro bus around Lake Kawaguchi and Lake Saiko area. I wanted to visit the Wind Cave and Ice Cave. However, Mom seemed like she really wanted to go to Mt. Fuji instead. So seeing that it was just only 8.30am, I decided that we take the bus up to Mt. Fuji 5th Station and decide again later where to go in the afternoon. On hindsight, I feel lucky that we didn't visit Wind Cave/ Ice Cave as it would require a journey into the creepy Aokigahara forest!

The round-trip bus tickets going up to Mt. Fuji 5th Station cost 2100 yen per pax. The bus takes the Subaru Line, a beautiful toll road meandering uphill amongst tall pine trees and at halfway, looks down upon a glorious sea of clouds.

Here we are at Mt. Fuji 5th Station! The elevation is 2300 meters above sea level. It was soooo cold up there, I thought I was at Genting Highlands. And I was only wearing shorts. Brrrr! The lodges here are actually shops selling souvenir items such as snacks, chocolates and also hiking items such as hiking sticks, waterproof jackets, hats etc. There are also restaurants but we did not eat there.

A mountain of Fuji-san toilet paper

We came to Komitake Shrine which was behind the shops. While taking photos, suddenly we realised that the main object which we came to see, was just right behind us!! The peak of Mt. Fuji!

I think I heard a description before saying that Mt. Fuji is like a very shy woman. It is always shrouded behind clouds and you are only able to see it if she wants to let you see it. We were so excited taking dozens of pictures of it and within moments, voila! It was covered by the thick mist again.

We spent some time walking around the area, and even walked a bit on the hiking trail. Mom was super excited because she likes hiking mountains. 

We took the bus downhill around noon. We wasted some time and energy walking around as we missed to take the retro bus directly from Kawaguchiko Station. At town, we stopped at a ramen shop and went in as we saw that there were many customers. We ordered ramen, fried rice and a pint of beer. It was delicious. Then we went to a fruit stall nearby and bought 2 crates of big peaches, cherries and plum and carried them on the bus back to our hotel.

Next, we visited the Kawaguchiko Music Forest. That's another story to tell.