Fuji-san

When we think about Japan, one of the first things that pops into our heads is Mount Fuji. After a couple of days in Yokohama, we headed to Kawaguchi on April 4th. I have heard from some of my Japanese friends that they have yet to see Fuji in its entirety because it is usually covered in clouds. It is so unpredictable...one minute you can get a clear view, yet minutes later the clouds can roll in. On our way to Kawaguchi we were all a bit disappointed as the mountain was COMPLETLEY covered. I had no idea which direction it was because that is how covered it was. After spending a day at Fujikyu Highland, we finally caught a glimpse of the mountain and prayed it would look just as good the next day.

**at the tourist station**

**just so you know where to find the toilet**

**different kinds of cloud cover**

**bus art**

The man at the tourist station was so kind and his English was amazing. He helped us find a place to stay....a cheap place I might add! A lot of the places in the area were about $90-100 PER person A night. Eventually he found us a place that was $80 total...that was more like it! The hotel was nothing to write home about....we often joked about the sweet wallpaper, carpet AND how FREEZING cold it was, but it was all worth is because the view from our rooms was spectacular!!!

**this is the view from our room on DAY 1 -- not so promising :(**

**view from our hotel room the morning of DAY 2**

**what a site to wake up to -- a definite highlight of our trip thus far :)**

Here are some of my favourite shots:

The second day we decided to take a bus tour around a couple of the lakes (Lake Saiko and Kawaguchi) that surround the mountain. You can pay 1000 yen ($10) for a 90 minute retro bus tour. You can get off where-ever you like, but if you do that you have to wait 1 hour for the bus to come back and pick you up. We stayed on the bus for the whole time and towards the end we got off at a place that was within walking distance from our hotel.

The tour was great and the area reminded us a lot of the Okanagan. It was nice to see a place that resembled home --- the more rural side of Japan...away from all the hustle & bustle.

**old skool camera on an old skool bus**

Once we got off we walked around a bit. Here are some photos including one of an old Japanese style home:

**they like their boats to look like animals?!?!?**

**a statue of Anpanman -- a famous Japanese cartoon character**

**we saw tons of people fishing in these lakes**

**swan paddle boats -- the Hopson cabin needs one of these for sure!!**

After walking around for a bit we decided to take a tram up one of the mountains to get a better view of the surrounding area.

And that was our time spent in Kawaguchi. Mt. Fuji is such an amazing thing to see in real life. We come from a place where mountains are a dime a dozen, but I think why I loved it so much was because it is a gorgeous looking mountain that just dominates everything around it. Like I said before....going up one of the best roller-coasters in the world and having a picturesque Fuji-san in the background AND then waking up to it on a perfectly clear day was an unbelievable experience for everyone :)