We booked seats on the KEIO bus a
little in advance before we landed in Tokyo.
Being peak cherry
blossom time we avoided the weekend and booked for Monday first bus
available. We would have preferred to leave from Asakusa which is
nearer to our apt but we could only get a bus starting from Shinjuku.
It was a long but direct trip to Shinjuku station from Hirai station on our local train Chuo Sobu Line. direction Mitaka, platform 1, 14 stops, 6.06 to 6.45am,
From the Shinjuku metro
station New South Gate exit, we walked to
the express bus terminal.
Shinjuku expressway Bus Terminal is on 4th Floor in the building opposite the South Exit of Shinjuku Station. It's important to get these right, New
South Gate , not South Gate. if we get lost taking the wrong exit
there is a very good chance of missing the bus, these places are huge
and it's important to do our prep ahead of the trip. We always
consult the official website and also recent Google reviews from
users.
we waited at our gate till boarding was announced... our bus started off at the scheduled 7.15am
FUJISAN VIEW RIGHT FROM BUS WINDOW
When we were nearing our destination, we
were stunned to see the beautiful Fujisan looming magnificently on
the skyline. The Sky was blue and clear and the day appeared to be
glorious, we hoped the weather would not turn by the time we landed.
Thankfully the weather stayed clear throughout the day and we saw Fujisan from several viewpoints till it became dark and we boarded our bus back at 7:10 PM
Fujiyama roller coaster at Fuji-Q Highland amusement park... this was one of the stops for our bus, quite a few got down here. There is a resort hotel there as well. The park has 6 roller coasters, as well as two haunted attractions: the Haunted Hospital, the world's largest haunted attraction, and the Hopeless Fortress. Other attractions include Thomas Land, a children's area with a Thomas the Tank Engine theme, and attractions themed to Mobile Suit Gundam, Hamtaro and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
KEIO bus we had traveled on... we got off at the Kawaguchiko station. The bus station is right near the train station.
Our first destination was the rope way which is one kilometre from the bus station, we were a little confused how to walk, so decided to take the sightseeing bus, we could swipe our IC card Pasmo Passport and take the ride.
There was a long queue at the ropeway but it was moving quick
When the queue was moving along, there were ticket machines and counters near the last stairway; it was not too obvious but that's where we had to buy the tickets. Seeing others we tried our luck at the machine but there was no slot for credit card. Son got our ropeway tickets from a manned counter while I was standing in the queue not to lose our place.
Mount Tenjo Observation platform
And we were soon on the gondola, one of the best places in the area to catch a spectacular view of Mount Fuji is from Mount Tenjo, 220m up.
Using the hiking trail takes approximately 45 minutes. Of course much easier by the ropeway.
Fantastic views from the observation platform and they had some lovely photo op stuff as well... love bell, a shrine etc.
Lake Kawaguchi (河口湖, Kawaguchi-ko, literally 'Estuary Lake') is located in the town of Fujikawaguchiko in southern Yamanashi Prefecture near Mount Fuji, Japan.
Map here:
It is the second largest of the Fuji Five Lakes in terms of surface area, and is located at the lowest elevation. It is situated at an altitude of approximately 800 metres (2,625 ft). It also has the longest shoreline of any of the Fuji Five Lakes
Lake Kawaguchi is the most popular of the Fuji Five Lakes in terms of tourists, and has the most developed tourist infrastructure.
TENJO LOVE BELL
This is the Bell of Tenjo. Legend has it that our wish will come true if we ring the bell while looking at Mount Fuji through its heart-shaped silver frame.
Kachi-kachi Yama folk tale characters, Tanuki and Rabbit
Kachi-kachi Yama, a Japanese folktale in which a tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) is the villain who troubled an old farmer and his wife and their good friend Rabbit took revenge on the tanuki
Cherry blossom and Fujisan
Tanuki and rabbit
shrine dedicated to the rabbit from the tale
cherry blossom framing Fujisan
EMA, Wooden votive tablets with prayers/wishes
View of lower deck from the upper level...
We threw some small mud cups through this loop... to make our wishes come true!
Rabbit shrine and Fujisan
We had our packed veggie rice in the scenic surroundings
Meiji chocolate to round off the meal....
this is the way back from the ropeway... Rabbit pummeling the naughty Tanuki
below Tanuki has stolen wood strapped to his back, the rabbit is lighting fire to it to teach him a lesson
Lake Kawaguchiko symbol “Gensen"sculpture
This bronze statue is the last work of great master Seibo Kitamura
He visited here at 101-year-old and was touched by the scenery and the lake and he took wo years to complete this sculpture. It portrays the Positive and the Negative
There are several options in this region to enjoy the views of Fujisan, we were really spoiled for choices.
After the rope way, we walked over to the lake to take a cruise but the large boat was just leaving. We decided to skip it, thankfully we had not bought the combo ticket for cruise and rope way.
It had been 1000 yen for the round trip on the rope way.
The bus stop here...
We again got on to the
sightseeing bus which was headed to Oishi Park.
It was an awesome
ride along Lake Kawaguchi, Fujisan towering over the glittering blue
Lake and cherry blossom trees laden with colourful blooms swaying in
the breeze all along the border of the lake. We took the bus all the way to Oishi Park
Kawaguchiko Station ～ Pleasure Cruiser・Ropeway Entrance ～ Kawaguchiko Natural Living Center (Oishi Park)
The Kawaguchiko Sightseeing Bus Red-Line departs from Kawaguchiko Station Platform 1 and stops at stop 22, which is the final destination for the Kawaguchiko Natural Living Center and Oishi Park. Taking a bus costs 480 yen and takes approximately 27-30 minutes.
OISHI PARK
Oishi Park on the north shore of Kawaguchi-ko is a park with a superb view of lake and Mt.Fuji . Various flowers bloom on the promenade along the lakeside according to the season
Oishi Park is such a beautiful place, so well landscaped, with plenty of
flowers, tulips were in full bloom of course with cherry blossoms. The
lavender bushes were still not flowering. Fujisan was looking over the lake in all its glory!! We lingered around
enjoying the beautiful ambience
Monument of Fuji / Mini Fuji
Mini-Fuji Monument was made by collecting stones from “Fuji" which exists in 252 places of the 47 prefectures, There are a lot of mountains named “Fuji" in Japan. Mini-Fuji shows all “Fuji" together with real Mt.Fuji.
tried to get the lavender
soft serve ice cream but there was a big line. We decided to skip it
and took the bus back to the train station.
Arakurayama Sengen Park (新倉山浅間公園)
Arakura Sengen Shrine is a ten minute walk from Shimo-Yoshida Station along the Fujikyu Railway Line (10 minutes, 310 yen from Kawaguchiko).
Shimoyoshida Honcho Street has an iconic Fuji view as well.
Gekkouji Station
We wanted to take
the local train to Arakura shrine and Chureito Pagoda. We were
supposed to go to Shimo-Yoshida Station.
Son asked one of the train staff for Chureito Pagoda and they told
us to get on the train which was just leaving. Son was watching the
blue dot in the google map on his phone to see our location, the
train reversed direction and started going away from our target. He
kept monitoring and when it again was a little near our target, we
got down at the Gekkouji station.
It was a cute little
town, we walked through
Gekkouji Temple
Shimoyoshida Honcho Street
we reached the street where we get to see Fujisan. To be frank, the street is pretty busy with traffic and the view of Fujisan is much better from everywhere else we had been, we could have easily skipped this. It is hyped a lot in travel books but not worth it
Then we walked to the
Arakura shrine. Nice sights on the way
tea with geishas, anyone?
ARAKURA SHRINE PARK
The Cherry Blossom Trees were in full bloom. There were hordes of local families, it was a festive atmosphere. We absolutely loved the beauty all round.
The Chureito Pagoda (忠霊塔, Chūreitō) is a five storied pagoda on the mountainside overlooking Fujiyoshida City and Mount Fuji off in the distance.
The pagoda is part of the Arakura Sengen Shrine and was built as a peace memorial in 1963 nearly 400 steps up the mountain from the shrine's main buildings.
The location offers spectacular views of Mount Fuji in combination with the pagoda, especially during the cherry blossom season in mid April when there are hundreds of trees in bloom and during the autumn color season which usually takes place in the first half of November
The Torii gate framing Fuji-san... shinto shrines worship nature, here the deity is Fuji-san
We did not go up to the Pagoda and decided to return, it was a short walk to Shinyoshida station with guidance from the local traffic cops.
We took a train and came back to Kawaguchi Station.
Thomasland train... we had come by this train to Kawaguchi station
Fujikyu 6000 series special "Naruto X Boruto" Train
This is from the anime world.... Googled and found out the boy is Boruto, spectacled girl is Sarada
More anime characters with our Boruto
Naruto Uzumaki is the titular protagonist of the manga Naruto, created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a ninja from the fictional Hidden Leaf Village. As a boy, Naruto is ridiculed and ostracized...
Thomas train!! Note the seat cushions
Thomas on the door too...
On our way in we had seen
huge crowds in front of Lawson taking a picture of Fuji behind it.
That street seem to be the main drag with some attractive souvenir
shops. it was past 6pm, Just a little late and all the shops were
closed.
we had a chocobar from the 7 Eleven there, saw this lovely
statue of a folk tale. [Farm animals, a donkey, dog, cat and a cock have become old and been chased out of their homes, they form a group, Stand on top of each other and scare away thieves and live in their home ever after]
Then we walked back to the
station. Fuji-san was still visible behind the station building as darkness descended!!
There was a bit of a confusion as our return bus did not have the same name. We verified from the staff there showing our ticket on our phone and got on to our 7:10 pm bus which drove us back to Shinjuku Station... 2 hours
From there it was a straight ride to our Hirai Station on local train.
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