Mt Fuji

7/15 - Crazy Rabbits, Sake, and Sunset Views of Mt Fuji

An early start to the day with the hope of seeing as much as we could around Mt. Fuji. Getting there from Tokyo is both easy and complicated. It involved taking three different trains (and 3 ‘types’ of trains at that), and navigating stations for the transfers. But once we were doing it, it really wasn’t all that bad. It made more sense while we were doing it than when we were trying to plan to do it. The last leg of the ride from Otsuki to Mt. Fuji was also a gorgeous ride. I’d watch a film of footage looking out the window.

We went to the hotel in Kawaguchiko to drop off our luggage and then headed out. We walked to Yagizaki Park which had great views both over lake Kawaguchi and of Mt Fuji.

From here we continued our walk around the lake to reach the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway to take a cable car up Mt. Tenjo for great views of Mt. Fuji. One odd thing about Mt. Tenjo is the connection to the story of Kachi Kachi Yama, a Japanese folk tale. The story starts with an old man and woman who lived together. They planted seeds on the mountain and then discovered that a raccoon had eaten the seeds. They set a trap and caught the raccoon, but forgave him when he apologized for eating the seeds. This is where it gets weird. For some reason I don’t really understand, the raccoon ended up killing the wife. However, a rabbit, who was friends with the elderly couple, promised to avenge them. The rabbit accompanied the raccoon on a trip to the mountain to gather firewood, and on the way back, set fire to the wood in the raccoon’s backpack, burning his back. The next day they went to the river. I’m not sure why the raccoon would go with him after the fire… I think I’m missing parts of this story. The rabbit’s boat was made of wood and the raccoon’s boat was made of mud and sank, drowning the raccoon. So that’s the story. And through some connection to Mt. Tenjo, these characters are seen throughout, including statues of the rabbit starting the wood on fire.

From the top viewing area, we had a pretty cool view of Mt. Fuji. The clouds around the peak obscured the view some, but it was a nice view. From there we decided to hike back. The path down produced a ton of great views and lots of hydrangeas to walk through.

Upon reaching the bottom we went to grab some lunch. We stopped at Shabu Shabu, which basically means hot pot. Basically, they put a big pot of water on a burner in front of you and give you a bunch of veggies and noodles to throw in, let cook, then dip in soy or sesame sauce. This ended up being one of my favorite meals in Japan. Sam was less impressed, but to each their own I guess.

After lunch we wandered over to Ide Sake Brewery. Sam and I both ended up loving this tour. The namesake family (21st generation of them as brewers) led the tour and gave a very detailed explanation of how sake was made and what differentiated the types. We then got a quick tour of the brewery followed by a tasting session. I learned that there are types of sake that I quite like. Lovely.

Following the tour, we caught a bus to go to Oishi Park to watch the sunset over Mt. Fuji. Oishi Park is filled with flowers and walking paths the sit on the edge of lake Kawaguchi (opposite edge of where we were in the morning). The end result is that it creates a magnificent backdrop for an iconic mountain.

One thing that we did not account for on our sunset tour was the bus schedule. Apparently, it stops pretty early on and it left us stranded, so we started walking. The folly of our decision became apparent quite quickly as it got dark and we were still an hours walk away… We ended up going into a random hotel to get them to call us a cab.

The hotel we stayed at was a traditional Japanese ryokan. The rooms are covered in tatami mats, you sleep on thin futon beds rolled out on the floor, there are communal bathrooms and onsens to use, and this particular room had a view of Mt. Fuji as well. It was a neat place to stay.

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