Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan and due to its perfectly-shaped cone and snowy caps every winter and spring, this becomes the symbol of the country and attracts tourists from local to global. You may see it from Tokyo but it takes a luck to get a clear visibility from it. In order to see Mt. Fuji first hand, going to the Five Fuji Lakes will be a best choice.
Me and my friend, Carmelle, went on a day trip to one of the most widely accessible Five Fuji Lakes from Tokyo, the Lake Kawaguchiko.
How to get there:
- Train:
- Fuji Excursion Limited Express train from Shinjuku Station to Kawaguchiko. It takes 1 hour and 52 minutes, cost 4,060 yen for one-way.
- JR Limited Express train (Azusa/Kaiji) from Shinjuku Station to Otsuki, and transfer for Kawaguchiko via Fujikyu Railway. It takes 2 and a half hours, cost 3,290 yen to 4,060 yen for one-way.
- JR Chou Special Rapid Service with the same route from JR Limited Express train. It takes 10-20 minutes longer, only cost 2,460 for one-way.
- Bus:
- Highway buses from Shinjuku/Tokyo/Shibuya takes around 2 hours and cost 1,800 one way (just half a price from train)
As travelers in budget, we chose the highway bus departing from Shinjuku Express Bus Terminal to Kawaguchiko Station.
Day with Fujisan
We arrived at Kawaguchiko Station around 10 in the morning. Since we got more time before lunch, we decided to walk around Lake Kawaguchiko. This lake has a walking trail that goes to the northern shore, where it has a view of Mt. Fuji with the lake.
From the northern shore, we walked towards Kawaguchiko-ohashi bridge, which gives you another view with Mt. Fuji.
After a taking a lunch from a local fair at the Oike Park, we headed to the Mt. Fuji Station, which is the Fujikyu Railway’s closest station to Mt. Fuji. This station is only two stops from Kawaguchiko Station (cost around 260 yen). As we got out the station, we still couldn’t believe how big Mt. Fuji is. Not even my camera and phone doesn’t give any proper evidence on its size.
I noticed this road from the Google Street cause of its perspective as if this goes towards the mountain. Me and Carmelle never missed this chance to take our ‘crossing the street’ photo with Mt. Fuji.
And now for our last stop, from Mt. Fuji Station we headed to Shimoyoshida Station to see the famous Chureito Pagoda at Arakuyama Sengen Park (cost around 290 yen). The Chureito Pagoda is famed for its beautiful scenery of Mt. Fuji and is being visited by locals and foreign tourists. The cherry blossom at this park is also on its full bloom.
As expected, there was a long line to the photo spot of Chureito Pagoda. But still it wasn’t as bad cause while waiting you’ll be encountering cute and fluffy dogs along the way.
After almost hour of waiting, everything was being paid off. Seeing this view on person was truly magnificent (especially we arrived there an hour before the sunset).
As the sun sets, we bid goodbye to Mt. Fuji. This day might be tiring due to walks but we got to discovered new places, and got to observed the peaceful life around this neighborhood. Definitely a best place to relax from the busy metropolis.
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