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Published: October 14th 2006
Hakone and Fuji Five Lakes (Fujigoko)
This is going to be a bit of a Mt Fuji marathon, so if you find it boring, please trust me that the beautiful breathtaking mountain is one of the reasons why I love living in Japan. Understand that it is much more spectacular in real life but I hope some of the photos capture its grandeur!
It Could Have Been Worse Forgetting my money and camera was not a good start to our overnight road trip. Not to worry as worse things could have happened - I could have been killed by volcanic gasses, stranded on a road in an earthquake, witnessed the eruption of Mt Fuji or gobbled up by the gurgling of the hot spring bath!
An early bus ride to Shizuoka city to pick up yet another supercool Mazda rental car, GPS of course, and we were on our way. It was Amy’s parents and grandma’s first time to see Mt Fuji. I was just as excited for them to see it as I was for myself. Mt Fuji was sighted first by me - a prize was involved…what ever happened to that?
It is nearly impossible
to view Mt Fuji in summer and the surrounding months, but as the weather is cooling, it doesn’t tend to hide as much!
We took the Tomei toll expressway and arrived at our destination, Hakone, around lunchtime. We strolled along the cute main street, sampled some cakes, looked disgustedly at the vacuum sealed squid and fish and tried processed seafood squares, mistaken for cheese! Over yet another red bridge, we sat beside a river and enjoyed our picnic - pre-made yummy food from The Shizu. We accidentally left the chopsticks in the car which turned our lunch turn into finger food. This made for some interesting challenges since we had yaki soba, eggplant in sauce, and rice. Lucky in this case that Japanese rice is quite sticky! (However not so good trying to clean the glue like, sticky rice off the floor at kindy!)
The Smell of Rotten Eggs Next, after driving up and down some
very steep hills, we found the funicular at Gora. We rode up to Soun-zan (1153m) and then caught a cable car to Owakudani - home of the smelly volcanic hot springs. And boy, were they smelly! We could even smell the
We really forgot the chopsticks!
Amy successfully eating yaki sobasulfur or rotten eggs (literally) from the cable car before we even arrived! Owakudani is the area around a crater created in the last eruption of Mt Hakone 3000 years ago.
There were great views of Mt Fuji, Ashino Lake and even of Tokyo, from Owakudani. Amy, her dad and I climbed a little way up, to get closer to the hot springs - we could really see the gasses just pouring out of the rocks and mountain side. At the top, black eggs that have been boiled in the mud of the hot springs, were being sold by the half dozen. Consuming the eggs is said to increase longevity…but “if it puts it in a plastic bag etc., the pain becomes early”! (see photo of sign) I’m not sure why the shells turn black but they sure made a mess around the place and left horrible smells.
FYI Japanese Lesson: Kuro tamago = Black egg Room with a View Arriving at our accommodation for the night, Fujitomita Inn, we were very pleasantly surprised when we were shown to our rooms. Actually Amy and I were ecstatic! Both had perfect views of Mt Fuji - and it
was a cloudless night so the conical outline was clearly visible!!!
The owners of the Inn directed us to a nice Italian restaurant along the Yamanaka Lake. The setting was beautiful, a shinning lake surrounded by restaurants and high mountains. We decided to return the next morning to admire the lake in the daylight.
Did I mention we were 1000 metres above sea level, therefore making the temperature a lot cooler that what we were use to - Shizuoka is at sea level. Still wearing thongs, I was quite cold when we returned to the Inn. The Inn boasted a swimming pool (currently empty and moss green, but also two hot spring baths, and never having been in one before, Amy and I went in (separately). We followed onsen etiquette by stripping (completely), cleansing and rinsing, then soaking in the naturally hot and bubbling bath.
I was a bit frightened as there were creepy loud gurgles every couple of minutes and at one stage I thought I heard Mt Fuji erupting!
With all illnesses cured, I turned our futons to face the window in our room. We stared at the mountain lit by the moonlight until we
began to see red lava begin to spout from the crater!!!! Nah just kidding, but I did think about it several times and about how I would have no chance of survival if it happened! It is still dormant and the last time it erupted was 1707, so could happen again soon - "this active volcano may soon blow its top and its not a question of 'if', but 'when'" (random website)! Anyway enough dramatizing!
Fuji Watch We kept our curtains open, so we would be awakened by the first light of the sun shining on Mt Fuji. I had no problem waking up early enough. I think I slept in twenty minute blocks as if on guard. I was on Fuji watch. I really found it difficult to sleep as all I had to do was open my eyes and I could stare at Mt Fuji in the darkness from the comfort and warmth of my futon - so that’s what I did most of the night and early morning. The time when I was asleep, all I dreamt about was Mt Fuji - figure that out?? Amy’s dreams were also about Mt Fuji, freeeeaky!
It’s Great Boiling Valley
Looking down at the volcanic steams in the sulphur mining gorge from the cable car. a Beautiful Day
We did wake to the sunrise at about 5:30am (and also to Amy’s mum telling us it was light - the only time I’m happy to be woken up). At first, the sky behind Mt Fuji was white and we were a little disappointed as we thought it was clouds….but after a bit of patience, wrapped in our quilts and glued to the window, we watched the imaginary clouds begin to disappear! Within minutes the sky magically turned blue while Fuji changed colours to suit the new sky. We could even see the exact trail (Kawaguchiko) we hiked up and down when we
climbed Mt Fuji in July.
The Cloud Eater Breakfast was great! We had a full on western style breakfast (by choice - still don’t think I could stomach, miso soup, fish and rice that early). After breakfast Amy and I went back up to our room to look at Fuji for a bit longer…and to take posed photos! While gazing at the clouds suspended around the crater, we noticed that small nearby clouds were being sucked into the crater! I’m not sure how but once the clouds were sucked in, they circled the crater.
Yamanakako FYI Japanese Lesson: -ko = lake Still in awe of Mt Fuji, we forgot our phone and Amy’s inhaler at the Inn!
We backtracked a little so we could visit Yamanakako - it was beautiful, a very touristy resort looking area with Mt Fuji as an excellent backdrop. We took some photos then tried to cooperate with the GPS which was playing up - I’m sure we could have fixed the problem instantly if it was in English!
Japanese GPS whiz, Amy, fixed the problem, and we were off to the next lake - Kawaguchiko.
Kawaguchiko More beautiful views of Mt Fuji from this lake and funny whale shaped pedal boats. This is the largest of the lakes and the most popular among tourists. We stopped at a café for a drink, admiring Mt Fuji from our table!
Saiko On the way to Saiko, we made a brief stop at the Narousa Ice Caves. They were formed by the lava flow. Hunched over, almost crawling, we made our way inside the cold wet cave. There were stalagmites and stalactites of ice and it was freezing but very cool! 😉
We stopped for
lunch at a cute cottage restaurant by Saiko and sat outside overlooking the aqua lake.
Shojiko This is the smallest of all the lakes and had a great camping spot - keeping that in mind for when Amy and I go camping - waking up to Mt Fuji again will be wonderful!
Motosuko We decided to drive the whole way around this lake but once we were three quarters the way round, we came across a road closure, so had to drive all the way back around! At least we could admire the same great views of Fuji again. Now that the clouds had totally disappeared from the crater, we could clearly see that there was some snow on the very top.
She Moves in Mysterious Ways At times when driving, we would 'lose' the mountain and then we would turn a corner, blink, and suddenly it would be right in front of us again, as if popping out of nowhere!
Evening approaching, we were lucky again to view the changing colours of the sky with Mt Fuji in the foreground. I was still driving (and had forgotten my camera) so Amy and her
parents took some great pictures which capture this.
Arriving in Shizuoka city at around 7pm, we could still see a faint Mt Fuji outline amid the darkness. Leaving our hire car in the city, we caught the bus back home and discussed how lucky we were to have had such rare clear weather!
If you have managed to read this far...thanks! And, yes, I do have an obsession with Mt Fuji! People travel miles to see (and climb) Japan’s most famous mountain and I can definitely understand why the Japanese worship Fujisan as a sacred mountain!
Photos are thanks to Amy and her parents!
R.I.P. Fuji (that’s our turtle 😞 - the smaller one ironically) (A confession - well, just about dead anyway - hasn't eaten for more than a month and barely moves, maybe he's in a coma or hibernating???)
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RIP Fuji
Oh no - what did you do with him? burial? How is Sushi coping?