We launched our nomadic lives with a full month stay in Mexico City. Our trip to Tokyo is a different animal entirely at only five nights. As much as I’ve been curious to see Tokyo, I really didn’t have any big must-see specifics in the city itself. Since we’re mostly here as a gateway to Asia it’s kind of a stop over. A couple of weeks before coming I did a little digging and found a two day, overnight Mt. Fuji tour which would pick us up in Tokyo, visit some of the popular stops around Fuji and bring us back to Tokyo the next day. It was kind of expensive, but I really liked being able to just hit the easy button and avoid spending time doing the logistics myself.
Fiji
Our visit to Fuji started with an 8am hotel pickup from Minato City (the area where we’re staying in Tokyo). From there our first stop was about 2 hours away to the Arakura Sengen Shrine. It’s one of the most popular spots to photograph Fuji from, especially during cherry blossom season in the spring or in the fall. We’re kind of in between those now but it’s still an excellent viewing location, and the ancient pagoda is kind of a must see. We were very fortunate to have a clear view of Fuji here in the rainy season. Since our trip is short we didn’t really have the flexibility to adjust our visit by much. So I was quite pleased.
It’s a bit of a climb from the parking lot to the pagoda but it’s all paved steps to that point. The trail continues up from there to a few additional points if you’ve got the time and energy. We went up to the next two but then went back down to meet our driver and head off to our next stop. Oishi Park (Lake Kawaguchi).
Oishi Park (Lake Kawaguchi)
We went to a very popular spot to view Fuji. There were a number of different flowers in bloom at the moment. That, combined with the nice weather made for an excellent viewing opportunity.
Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine
After Oishi Park our next stop was to the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine where we were able to get an up-close look at a massive torii gate buried in a beautiful cedar forest. The shrine was originally established almost 2000 years ago and people still visit to worship today.
Our stay for the night was quite the experience. Chrissy is going to detail that part of our adventure.
Lake Ashi Sightseeing Cruise
Lake Ashi Sightseeing Cruise
The next morning after breakfast we took the Lake Ashi Sightseeing Cruise. The boats are decorated to look like old sailing ships but they are nothing of the kind. Still, the ride over the beautiful blue/green lake and Fuji views was a nice way to start the day.
Afterwards we went over to Owakudani Valley to see the active sulfur vents. We deviated a bit from the original plan and instead of spending much time up there we took the cable car down. I just wanted to go for a ride in the air, and seeing Fuji from up there on a clear day was pretty awesome. I think that the view of Fuji from Owakudani Valley was probably the most impressive. Somehow it seemed to loom even larger from there.
Odawara Castle
On our way back to Tokyo we visited Odawara Castle. A beautifully restored samurai era castle originally built in the 15th century. Visiting the castle grounds is free but if you want to visit the museum and climb up to the top for epic city views, it costs ¥500 (about $3.50).
Conclusion
The trip was a bit expensive like I said but we crammed a lot of experiences into a short time and had a native speaker to handle the driving and logistics. I think we could have done it on our own but if we had, it would have been hard to pull off so efficiently and in just two days.
We’re only in Tokyo for one more day and then we’re off to China. We’ll be back eventually to do a good long stay in Japan.
