Fuji view excursion

Chureito Pagoda

Today we make an excursion by organised day-tour to the Chureito Pagoda and other points in the Mount Fuji area.  I had checked the weather forecast about 10 days in advance before selecting today’s date.  With long-range forecasts not being accurate and a cancellation deadline of one-week beforehand, there’s a lot dependent on luck.

I woke at 0540 and left the hotel at 0645 with the others by train to the “LOVE” sculpture in Shinjuku.  Getting there, we had about 30 mins spare before the 0800 departure.  Some lost sheep who never made it, delayed our departure by about 15 mins.

Our guide, Long, was Chinese and gave information in both English and Chinese.  It was a 2h drive to Shimoyoshida station where we began our walk to the Arakura Fuji Sengen shrine, which no one noticed.  Everyone just headed uphill by stairs to the Chureito Pagoda for its famous view.

The place was buzzing with visitors.  The trees that lined the stairs up were gorgeous in shades of green, yellow, orange and red.

Just behind the pagoda was a crowded platform where we could see Mount Fuji with the pagoda in the foreground.  We had to jostle for the best spot on the platform but figured that it would be even better on the hillslope just behind.

Other people had the same idea.  By this time, we had lost Jacqueline, so it was only Alice and I that were taking photos together of the scenery and of ourselves.

While the scenery was awesome, I couldn’t help think that it would have been better yesterday.  Yesterday was one of a few available dates that also coincided with a good forecast.

However, Alice received a message from a friend who was also on site coincidentally.  She had been here several times and today was her best ever sighting of Fuji.  That made me happy!  There are only about 100 days per year on which Fuji was visible.

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Kawaguchi Lakeside

We reported back to the bus at 1200 and continued to the shores of Kawaguchi Lake about 20 mins away.  This is the last day the tour calls here instead of Oshi Park, as the maple leaves are currently red.  I consider ourselves very lucky!

We had about an hour here to walk from the carpark to the maple-lined drain or canal and back, including the time to enjoy the scenery there.

That was quite sufficient for us to take plenty of photos together as old school friends, now living in far-flung corners of the world.

We even had time to go to the lake shore for a different view of Fuji.

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Gotemba Outlet

We reported back around 1315 to continue the excursion to Gotemba Outlet, the largest outlet mall in Japan.  The ride took an hour and we were very ready for lunch when we got there.

Unfortunately, many eateries had queues.  We opted for the food hall, thinking it would be easier.  First, we had to find a table, then join a queue, then wait for the food.

By the time we had been fed, there wasn’t much time for shopping, not that I cared for that.  I did explore the outdoor mall in full across the three discrete sites joined together by two long foot-bridges and an escalator.

It was pretty cold and I was very glad I had brought my jacket.  I hadn’t expected it to be an outdoor mall and had thought of wearing a bit less!

We reported back to the bus at 1630.  The road was gridlock for the first portion of the drive and it took 3h30 to arrive back near our starting point.

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Messing with my head

Our guide directed us to Shinjuku station which I knew had a direct line to our hotel.  However, we couldn’t find the correct entrance to the huge station.

Google’s suggestion for us to get back home involved transfers instead of a direct line.  That was really messing with my head as I knew for sure that Shinjuku was connected to our hotel station without a transfer!

Eventually we worked out that the station was so big that Google thought it would be faster to go somewhere else and connect rather than make our way to through the vast station to the right area where we could get back in a seamless manner.

We grabbed some food at the convenience store before heading back to the hotel around 2045.  While it was a 14h day door-to-door, we were on our butts for a large chunk of it.