Mt. Fuji: a Day Trip

October 2019

On our way to Yokohama from Kyoto, our tour stopped at Mt. Fuji (3,776.24 metres or 12,389.2 ft). There was nothing to see for a while till a snow topped mountain popped out of no where. That’s when I realized what made Mt. Fuji even more attractive and distinguished, aside from the fact that it is shaped perfectly,  was the fact that there was no other high mountain in surrounding area.

There are 4 trails to reach the peak of Mt. Fuji.  Most popular is Yoshida Trail, and we drove up from the city of Fujikamaguchiko to get to the trail head.  Fujikamaguchiko town was not all that picturesque as seen in the picture above, but, still, people (including me) did not stop taking pictures. For Japanese people, Mt. Fuji is more than just a mountain – a sacred place, and we could kind of see how that notion might have come about. It is considered an active volcanic mountain although the last eruption was in 1707.

The last landing zone where cars can go is classified as “5th Station”, and that’s where the trail heads are. People start climbing to the peak (10th station) from these stations. Fuji Subaru line 5th Station is where the Yoshida Trail starts, and there was a big eating/shopping area next to the big parking lot. Each year more than 300,000 people climb to the top. We were not there to climb up, thus, we just looked around and took more pictures.

This is the map that was at the Station, but it was hard to decipher. The map below might make a better sense.

We then drove to Lake Kawaguchi, one of 5 lakes around Mt. Fuji. A lone tree proved that it was, indeed, an autumn day in Japan. Apparently, the weather had been too warm for the leaves to change colors at the usual time. The little village on the shore of the lake had restaurants and shops, and we had our lunch at one of the restaurants.

Kawaguchi Lake is for viewing Mt. Fuji from the water.

There is no doubt that it is a picture perfect mountain from any angle.

Just in case you missed an angle, they took us up to a small hill on a ropeway (about $9) to see Mt. Fuji a bit up close.

We had seen it from a bullet train to Tokyo from Osaka (“quick! where’s your camera!”), but it was good to see it in more leisurely fashion. It was unlikely that we would have made a special trip for it, thus, it was a nice bonus we got from our tour.

Those who are ambitious, here’s more information about hiking in Mt. Fuji.

trip route: LAX -> Shanghai -> Suzhou -> Wuxi -> Hangzhou -> Shanghai (Zhujiajiao) -> Osaka -> Nara-> Kyoto -> Mt. Fuji -> Yokohama -> Tokyo -> Seoul -> Beijing -> LAX