Our Revenge on Fuji aka How We Mooned Fuji

Date: January 27 & 28, 2008.
Where: Kawaguchi-ko, Yamanashi Prefecture
Who: Laura and Elz, of course.
Info: We swore we'd get our revenge. Memories of getting caught in the lightening storm while at the 7th station kept returning to us and we decided what we needed to do was see Fuji and get revenge. We couldn't leave Japan with sour/bitter thoughts about Fuji! So we made a plan - a decadent, relaxing weekend near Fuji, which would involve excellent food, an onsen with a view of the mountain and no climbing whatsoever.

Getting to Kawaguchi-ko was quite an adventure. Something like four trains and five hours later, we arrived. Here's the view from the crazy Fuji line train (above). My luck with train photo shots is not great...so here's my next shot (below). Yup. I somehow always get photos of power poles.

(Where are you Fuji-san?)

(Kawaguchi-ko Station)

After all that time on the train (at some stations we only had one minute transfer times!) we needed some lunch. The local specialty was a stew/udon/vegetable soup (I can't remember what it was called). It was delicious! It was so nice to have a soup full of vegetables and the broth was amazing. The noodles are apparently a specialty of the region and are super thick and handmade-tasting.

(I look a little disheveled in this photo - I feel asleep against the window on the train and ended up with a bad case of bedhead and a sunburn on my face. Way to go me)

We got a ride to our super nice hotel, where they served us frothy bitter matcha and sweet persimmon treats while we looked out the window at the frozen lake.


Our room was spacious and beautiful. Check out those lights! The view was pretty nice too (ok, minus the parking lot directly below)(below).

We relaxed a bit, went to the onsen and watched a bit of tv. We explored the hotel and found a rickety staircase up to the roof. There, we could see the whole lake and of course, Fuji-san. Ever wondered what Fuji looks like at dusk? Here's the answer...still recognizable even in the dark.

Our dinner was in a completely different part of the hotel. We followed our 'waitress' down hallways, up stairs and through sliding doors. Finally we came to our own private dining room. I knew we were in a posh place because there was a floor heater. No chilly feet here!


And so began the marathon of fancy food. Everything looked beautiful. Looked being the key word. Both Elspeth and I agree that some things that show up in these fancy meals (especially at the beginning) are not so delicious.

This sea snail thing (above) was so gross. It took all of my power not to spit it out.

There's always a sashimi plate. The shrimp and white fish were excellent. Then came the sashimi that looked like tuna. But it wasn't tuna. Take a guess at what you think it was....it's a local specialty. The only reason I tried one piece was that I told myself when I came to Japan I'd try everything at least once. This was the first and last time I will ever eat this....it makes me a bit queasy just thinking about it.

POST YOUR GUESSES IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. I have a prize for whoever gets it right....

(A close up of the mystery sashimi)

(Meat and veggies grilled on our own personal grills)

(The other half of that snail thing with a rapini topping)

(Strange puffed rice/seed things. Not much flavour but looked pretty)

(Soba [buckwheat noodles] with grated slimey potato. The noodles were good)

(Daikon radish flower with a shrimp dumpling-thing)

SHABU-SHABU (swish, swish!) = YUMMY

(If I remember correctly, some kind of seafood mixture, wrapped in a tofu product, then fried in panko)

(This was a first - miso soup with mushrooms served in a small teapot, which was heated at the table. The miso soup was good but I was so full at this point that I couldn't eat much of it.)

After dessert we rolled ourselves back to our room, where we watched TV (I think I fell asleep) until the fireworks started. That's right, there was a fireworks show over the lake. We could have watched them from our balcony but Elspeth wanted to go up on the roof. Me, being the wonderful friend I am (HA! Elz!) went with her. It was FREEZING and the fireworks were kind of boring. We both decided that if they had combined all of the fireworks into a 10 minute show, instead of having a 30 minute show of one firework going off at a time, it would have been much better.

At a lot of onsen hotels they change the men's and women's baths daily so that if you stay overnight, you can use both baths. We knew they did this to the indoor baths and I had a feeling they'd do it to the outdoor baths. The night before we'd tried the women's outdoor bath, which looked over the lake. When we checked that morning, we found this view...and we had the place to ourselves...

The steam made it hard to take pictures but I think you get the idea. Our very own view of Fuji-san, which we enjoyed while seating in the steaming, relaxing water. Take that Fuji. You give us lightening storms and rain, we'll just enjoy the view.

Breakfast at this hotel was AMAZING. It was light and tasty and full of delicious fish, umeboshi, onsen tamago and miso soup. I love Japanese breakfasts.

(This fish was SO GOOD)

(Tofu product/'skin' heated gently and then dipped in a citrus-y soy sauce)

We took our time at breakfast, watching the little ducks swim under the ice on the lake. It was nice.


Before checking out we took one more trip up the scary icy stairs of death to take some pictures. It was a bit overcast, but Fuji was visible (thank god). Check out the snow on it! And to think that some people climb it on New Year's Day. They are CRAZY.

(Take that Fuji!)

(One of our parent-friendly-game show hostess photo)

Our next stop - the Kacha-Kacha Ropeway (I've lost count of how many ropeways I've been on in this country!). Here, we got awesome views of Fuji and met some interesting characters.

(Look it's Tanuki and Rabbit - Is Rabbit trying to put out the fire in Tanuki's backpack...or did Rabbit set it on fire?!?!?! Silly Rabbit)

(This was some weird man-made frozen ice tree thing. The Japanese tourists were very taken with it... Elspeth and I were just confused)

(Poor Tanuki was sad...You would be too if your friend set your backpack on fire)

(Elspeth giving Tanuki some advice...)

(What's that, Rabbit? What do you see? Hikers stranded on the mountain?)

Just picture us somewhere up there but instead of snow, there was a lightening storm and it was ice-raining. Were we nuts? Yes, we were. I have no desire to try to climb it again. I much prefer admiring it from a relaxing onsen.


Back in town, we went to investigate the swan boats. The day before we'd seen people paddling them around the lake and it looked like fun. Unfortunately, due to the ice and it being a Monday, the swans were closed. Boo...

So, what do you do when it's freezing cold? Get ice cream of course! This was a selection of the local flavours - peach, grape and lavender. I thought the lavender would taste kind of like old-lady perfume but it was really yummy and more like a sorbet than an ice cream.

We decided to take a bus to Tokyo and then get a shinkansen home instead of spending 5 hours changing trains the way we came. We had a bit of time before our bus arrived so we lounged in the trendy station cafe (the cafe mocha was so delicious and not too sweet, which is rare in Japan) and checked out the gift shop (I found awesome cards with an elephant dancing in front of Fuji). The local train went by, decorated with Fuji faces (below).

The bus ride was a little squished but a lot less effort than a bunch of local trains. And we got to see some new scenery (yeah for highways!). We grabbed some udon at Tokyo station and then caught our HOT HOT SEXY train. I love the new N700. It is so beautiful. Seeing this pull into the station still gives me chills.

And to top off a great weekend, the train was EMPTY. I think there were about 6 other people in our car. It even had that new car/train smell.

While Elz and I will never forget getting caught in a storm during our Fuji climb (or sleeping on a bench all night!), this weekend made sure we won't leave Japan with only bitter thoughts of Fuji-san! I still can't get over the onsen's view. Amazing!