About You/Load of the SHUGYO

Mount Fuji and Hakone

04.03.2010

Now that the big city has been explored, we decided to get a breath of fresh air by taking a bus tour out of Tokyo to Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park This is home to, in case you couldn't tell from the name, Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji is the most sacred mountain in Japan, possibly the world, and is one of the most photographed views in Japan.

On the drive out, we saw some beatiful scenery,

as well as a few more spots of home.

We stopped for lunch at a very fancy hotel, unfortunately none of us caught the name. We caught a glimpse of Fuji-Q,

which is one of the craziest roller coasters anywhere. Trevor thinks it would have been fun if we could have gone into the Fuji-Q amusement park, because it was featured on season 9 of The Amazing Race, but we did not have enough time because we had to get on our bus and get to Mount Fuji.

For those of you that don't know, Mount Fuji is located about 3 hours west of Tokyo by bus, but it is well worth the wait.
Buses up to Mount Fuji stop at the 5th station, which is the highest vehicles go on the mountain before you have to start hiking. Our bus stopped a little lower on the mountain for a photo-op because station 5 was quite foggy.

After photos were taken the bus drove us the rest of the way up and we got to experience the true, touristy nature, of Japan's most sacred mountain. It was quite busy, considering the hiking season for Fuji is July-August.
Because of the tour, and the fact thatyou are SUPPOSED to only climb during the hiking season, we did not go very high on the mountain. Of course, some 200,000 people climb the mountain every year, so it wouldn't have been too much fun being surrounded by people when climbing.
5th Station Amenities

5th Station Amenities

We finally had to say sayonara to Mount Fuji as our bus tour continued to Hakone where we saw the picturesque beauty of Japan's most visited national park.

We arrived back in Tokyo safe and sound after an eventful day of sighseeing. Tomorrow we head out to Hiroshima.