The Ghost of Mt Fuji

It is raining lightly this morning and our driver/guide has phoned to say that he will be about 10 minutes late due to a traffic accident causing delays. The temperature is a lot cooler than yesterday and we are heading to the 5th Station on My Fuji, which is the highest you can go in a vehicle. So, we rug up, pack our wet weather gear and meet up with our driver at 8.15 am, for a couple of hour drive to Mt Fuji. 

As our journey continues, the weather does not improve and the higher we climb, the thicker the mist seems. Arriving at the 5th Station, at 2305 m above sea level your can feel the air is a lot thinner. 


From the 5th Station, you must walk to get to the summit up the windy trail


There are busloads of other tourists who have also come to admire the mist.


Somewhere up there is Mt Fuji

Luckily there was a coffee shop/ tourist centee where we could seek some warmth and have a hot cup of coffee.


The bad weather was good for the store/cafe



Our guide is a bit disappointed that we won't get to see Mt Fuji, but we did buy a cake that looked like Mt Fuji to have with our coffee.


At least we have evidence we were here

However, we have 2 other chances to see Mt Fuji (unlikely as that may seem), from the base of the mountain at Lake Kawaguchico. Here we have 2 options, all included in our program. Firstly, there is a gondola ride (Kachi Kachi Ropeway) up to a lookout overlooking the lake with Mt Fuji in the background.


Kachi Kachi Ropeway




Mt Fuji is out there somewhere

Failing in our second attempt to see Mt Fuji, there is always the 30 min boat ride on the lake to get that special photo with the lake in the foreground.


Our boat arrives and we climb on board

The boat does a 30 minute loop around the lake to maximise the view of Mt Fuji from a few different angles.





We head out onto the lake leaving the village behind


Once again, Mt Fuji eludes us

It is time for lunch and our guide recommends a little restaurant overlooking the lake, famous for it's local noodle dishes. We had a nice noodle soup, and stomachs filled, it was back in the car to continue on to our other part of this tour, Oshino Hakkai.

Oshino is where the cool clear waters off Mt Fuji come to the surface and it is famous for the purity of the water there.


The centre of attraction is a clear pool that is 8m deep and crystal clear, you can clearly see the bottom and the colourful fish swimming around in the pool.


There are a number of old traditional buildings in the town that have been preserved including a watermill.



 



There is a large tourist store 


You can sample the water


The clear pool is the centrepiece of the "lake"


And of course, there is an attractive Japanese garden

The rain is only very light now, but it is still very overcast. Anyway, it is time to make the long trk back to our hotel which is about a 2 hour drive.

Peak hour traffic is not too bad and we find ourselves back in Shibuya by 5.45pm. We freshen up and go out searching for a place to have dinner. We eventually succumb to a restaurant/ wine bar in the shopping complex adjoining the hotel where we had a good (hard to describe the cuisine), but modern trendy and you could buy a bottle of Aussie shiraz, so we were happy.

Tomorrow is our last day in Japan before flying home tomorrow evening. We have nothing organised so will most likely explore Shibuya.



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