Mount Fuji

We booked a day trip to Mount Fuji and Hakone area so were up and out early to get our coach. It was also good to get out of the heat of the city , and into the countryside where it was still hit but less intense! I ended up sitting next to a lady from the Philippines on the coach, who within two minutes of meeting her took a selfie of me and her for her 'making of memories!!' She was very sweet though and after each stop we made seemed to get back in the bus with more and more bags of souvenirs.

Mount Fuji is an active volcano (last erupted in 18th century) and is the tallest mountain in Japan. The mountain is located about 100 km southwest of Tokyo and is visible from Tokyo on clear days. We did get a good glimpse of it as we made our way out of the city. The summit is covered in snow for about five months of the year so visiting at this time we clearly weren't going to see that iconic image which we are familiar with. We were taken up to the 5th station, as far as vehicles can go where we able to spend some time looking up towards the summit and various other views from different points. I don't think we quite saw the full summit, there was some cloud swirling around the top, but we had a good clear view of most of it. Our guide Angie, told us that it's known as the 'shy' mountain,there is a good chance that you might not see it all, depending on the varying weather factors.

After this we had some lunch in an nearby restaurant - Chris and Carys had a chicken hotpot, a dish which apparently Sumo wrestlers have although clearly their portions are much bigger! Then we went on to Hakone, and area which is known for it's 'onsens' or hot springs. As you would come to expect from Japan, onsens have certain etiquette, the main one being no swimming costumes or clothing of any type is allowed to be worn. We'd decided a good while back that we'd give any onsens a miss!

As it is a hot springs area, the smell of sulphur lingered in the air. We took a cable car journey up a couple of mountains ,and then finished off with a trip across Lake Hakone , which interestingly never freezes , regardless of temperatures in the winter, due to the hot springs. The boat was, randomly, styled as a 17th century pirate ship. Why...? I'm not sure, although having watched the Netflix series of Shogun recently I'd like to think it was a nod to the European explorers of the time.