May 18, 2009 - Hakone

Sorry for not updating earlier. This whirlwind tour of Japan has kept me very busy. I'm flying out this afternoon, Susanne is already gone, so I find myself with a little spare time. Last Monday, we took another bullet train from Osaka to Hakone-Yumoto (actually it was two trains). Hakone is a resort-type area near Mount Fuji, very popular as a week-end escape for Tokyo-ites. Another local train brought us to a little town where we splurged by staying at the Fujiya Hotel, known as the first western-style hotel in Japan (back in the 19th...

Oct 28, 2007 - Mount Fuji and Hakone

Thankfully the weather forecast was right. The weather had cleared up and it was shaping up to be a fantastic day, warm with a clear sky. We headed off to Mount Fuji on the coach and found out that it was about 2.5 hours to get there so we took the option to organise the return to Tokyo by Shinkansen (Bullet Train). When Mount Fuji finally came into sight the view was fantastic. The guide said that it was the perfect day to go up the mountain, that the weather is very rarely this good. We headed up to the 5th station of Mt. Fuji which is at...

Apr 9, 2007 - Mt. Fuji and Me

Hi Everybody! Guess what? Now I can say that I have been to Mt. Fuji cause..... guess what... I have!!!!!! Yes, so now we are at our 3rd stop, Mt. Fuji! We arrived here late last night at a place called K's House which is a hostel which I have really enjoyed because you get to meet new people from so many different countries. Today we went for a bike ride around Lake Kawaguchiko. It was so beautiful because all the cherry trees (Sakura) were in bloom. We took many pictures of Mt. Fuji and the cherry trees but you may not be able to see...

Jan 14, 2007 - Drive to Mt. Fuji

On this day we decided to take the car out towards Mt. Fuji. This is the big cone-shaped mountain that you see in every movie about Japan. It's only about 40 miles west of us, but it took at least 1 1/2 hours to get there. We went via Route 413, which is narrow, twisty, and crosses several ridges. This was the biggest workout our little Colt has gotten so far. This area really reminds me of the NC mountains, and Jess said the road reminded her of the Blue Ridge Parkway. When we got to Mt. Fuji, we had lunch along the shore of Lake Yamanaka...

Nov 15, 2006 - Fuji-san

Today I made the pilgramage to Fuji-san. There's a lot of places to view the mountain from, but almost everyone I asked said that the Fuji go-ko (Fuji five lakes) region offered the most spectacular views. As I approached on the train, I felt absolutely in awe of this tremendous thing in front of me. There are of course taller mountains in America, and I'm sure I've even seen a few of them, but Fuji-san rises up from this massive plain, with nothing else around it. It's probably the tallest thing for a thousand miles in every direction. So...

Aug 4, 2006 - Fuji-san

I woke up early on Friday and left Tokyo to climb Mt. Fuji and then travel around western Japan for a week or so. I only took my smaller backpack, but it still felt like a lot of gear, although there was no real way around it, as I had to be prepared for cold and possibly rainy weather at the top of the mountain. I made it to Fuji-Yoshida, a town at the base of the hill, without incident on the Japan Rail. I was leaving from there because it's the trailhead for the oldest route up, starting centuries ago when people ascended on a...

May 16, 2006 - Hakone Day Trip

Although back in Tokyo still had one day left on my rail pass, so decided to make use of it on a day trip down to Hakone. A place known for it's views of Mount Fuji. Setting off around 9 took the shinkansen down to Odawara. From there we had to get a private train out to Hakone. Arriving in Hakone we then had to grab something called a 'Toy Train'. Basically an old style train wich was adept at climbing up mountains. This took us on winding 50 minute trip up the steep sides of some japanese hills until eventually dropping us off half way up...

Apr 18, 2006 - Mount Fuji, Japan - Day trip 1

Mt Fuji, Japan 18th April Today we had decided we would take the Bullet Train or Shinkansen in Japanese to Mt Fuji which would take about 6/7 hours, to get to on 3 trains. Annie and Phil had kindly paid for all of us to have a bullet train pass for the whole week so we really wanted to make use of the trains as much as possible. We set off early that morning and excitedly boarded our first bullet train towards Mt Fuji. The futuristic Bullet Train pulled into the station only a few minutes before it was due to leave. We found our seats and...

Oct 21, 2005 - Mt Fuji - Luxury and Mist

B: We arrived at Mt Fuji after a long train journey involving several changes. The weather was awful and visibility was poor. We hadn't yet organised accomodation so we sat in the nearest cafe and had a drink. The town of Fuji-Yoshida was small, quiet and completely devoid of character. We had recently spent several nights sleeping on the floor (traditional Japanese tatami-style accomodation) which meant we had't been sleeping the best. We contemplated the local youth hostel which was the cheapest place to stay but decided that we needed...

Jul 31, 2005 - Mount Fuji

Today we set out to climb Japan`s natural icon, Mount Fuji. It is the highest mountain in Japan, and the peak reaches 3776m. We made this another day trip from Kyoto, since it is so much nicer to do day trips than to move all of our stuff around the country. Unfortunately, since it was almost 3 hours away by train, we didn`t have enough time to reach the peak, but we had a great day all the same. Climbing Mount Fuji is very popular in Japan, and Ryan and I were quite excited when we learned that we are in Japan during the short 2-month...

Apr 6, 2005 - Mt. Fuji/Hakone

We left Tokyo this morning bound for Japan's most famous site, Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji is still considered an active volcano, but it's not seen as a threat for the most part. Nonetheless, tourists are still not allowed access to the summit, instead there are several lookout up the side of the mountain, and at this time of the year, much of Fuji is still covered with snow, so even the last lookout point is inaccessible. We're no sure why we even drove up the mountain at all, since the highest lookout we could reach didn't offer nearly as good a...

Mar 16, 2005 - Kamakura - Japan

50 mintues train to Kita-Kamakura the stop before Kamakura which is a gem of a town overflowing with history, once being Japan`s Captial. Straight away it seemed quaint, with extremely leafy residential streets, and soulful craft shops. To top this off, the weather is the best it has been, with glorious sunshine and a cool gentle breeze. Checking the map on the side road it seemed we were to head off one way to reach the first of the Buddhist Zen temples, but we ended up standing gormlessly in someone`s garden...whoops! Second time lucky...