27 April 2011
Posted by Jay

On my original Japan bucket list was climbing Mt. Fuji, lovingly referred to as Fuji-san by the Japanese people.  Fuji-san is 3776m (12,338ft) above sea level and is the highest mountain in Japan. Officially climbing season for Fuji-san is restricted to July and August as these are the only months where it is clear of snow and less windy.  Climbing Fuji-san during climbing season is very popular and can done by most people with some level of fitness (though I have heard that even smaller kids and older people complete the climb.  It is very popular to climb through the night and watch the sunrise from the top.  It is not supposed to be very relaxing on the way up as you are shuffling up the mountain with thousands of your closest friends and family.

Sadly I had planned on doing the climb in July when we were still planning on being in Japan, but alas it is not to be.  I figured since in 8 months I had never actually seen Fuji-san I would make a trek down to a nearby town that has some of the best viewing of the mountain.  The problem with Fuji-san is that he likes to hide in the clouds on many days of the year.  When I set out on my trip it is was a very clear sunny morning, but this would not last once I got to the viewing areas.

It was suggested by a friend to travel to Hakone which is a resort town known for its hot springs and viewing of Fuji-san.  It was a lot of fun traveling on different types of trains to get there and eventually taking a sky tram up to the top of a crater on Mount Hakone on my way to the viewing areas.  The crater is a very active volcanic area that spews lots of sulfur dioxide and steam.  There is a short walking path here where you can buy eggs hard boiled in the boiling sulfur-rich water.  The sulfur in the water turns the egg shells black, not too bad tasting though.

View out the back of ropeway

Ropeway car

Sulfur dioxide and crater

Boiling sulfur pool

Black egg

Luckily I have short hair otherwise it would be going sideways

This Japanese woman was not so comfortable when we started rocking with the wind

Once I got to the top of this mountain I realized that I was not going to see Fuji-san that day.  The clouds were very thick and the wind was gusting so hard it rocked our ropeway tram up and down. At the end of the ropeway is Lake Ashi, or sometimes called Lake Hakone.  Usually you can take a boat ride across the lake to the actual town of Hakone, but they had the boats shut down due to the high winds.

Boats for crossing Ashi, I think Captain Jack is hiding on it somewhere

Lake Ashi

I spent the next few hours hiking around Hakone and visited a neat museum and went up to a Fuji-san observatory, even though there was no chance of seeing him with the clouds.

Plaque showing where to look to see Fuji-san

Me looking in that direction, really it is there!

Observatory

Old road that lead from Tokyo to the rest of the country, trees were planted to show the way.

After exploring a bit, I stopped for a snack and was given some cherry blossom tea which was good but a little spicy.

Tea

I went into town and found a neat little restaurant with an English menu and had some steamed meat and vegetables. Overall a really nice day once you got past the not seeing Fuji-san part.

Kanpai!

Jay