Blogs from Fuji Five Lakes, Yamanashi, Japan, Asia

Mount Fuji! From our first glimpse out the train window it was with us all day. Gorgeous, majestic, atmospheric. Admiration for the mountain appears in Japan's earliest recorded literature, and it's easy to see why. I recommend staying overnight at Lake Kawaguchiko if possible, so you can view Mount Fuji both early and late. Our first stop was the hike to Chureito Pagoda, most beautiful in the spring over top the cherry blossoms or in the autumn for the foliage. The pagoda is part of the Arakura Sengen Shrine and was built as a peace memorial in 1963, so it's not quite historical but does provide beautiful photographs (if you can find space for yourself among the crowds). After this little hike we grabbed a tempura lunch in town at Idaten - recommended - and made ... read more

Due to a school festival, I ended up with a six day weekend on the last weekend in October. Since Rani normally has Mon-Tues off, she took Sat-Sun off and we got a four-night trip, Friday night through Tuesday afternoon, to do some exploring in this great country. This means we could go a little bit further than normal; it also meant that we were going to see the beginning of some fall colors at higher elevations. Clearly, this meant that we should take a four-day trip to the Fuji Five Lakes area, so we did! Of course, we came in during typhoon rains, since it's typhoon season here. That was unfortunate, but the worst of it was Friday when we arrived anyway, and it was too late to be a night where we were actually ... read more

Between Christmas and New Year, my family along with Mario and I went to Fujigoko (Fuji Five Lakes) region for 3 days. Mt Fuji was hiding more than I would have liked, but it was a great trip nonetheless. We went to Fuji-Q Highland Roller Coaster Park and mum went on the scariest record breaking Eejanaika coaster! So brave, even if her eyes were closed the whole way haha! We also went ice skating and Mario showed off some talent! On our second day went to Fuji Safari Park. The whole drive there, we couldn't see more than a few metres in front of us due to thick fog, but literally one minute before we arrived, we turned a corner and the fog magically disappeared!! The drive through the park was especially scary and almost had ... read more