Do you have any tips on visiting Mt Fuji? The four of us would like to hire a van with driver for a day trip there from Tokyo. From what we've read, the whole area surrounding the mountain is a national park. Is it highly accessible for an elderly person who might not want to walk that much? We've been told it's a 2 hour drive from Tokyo.

Fuji-san has been referred to in previous threads but a few points:

- Visibility is very poor on most days and you might not be able to see any of the mountain even from close distance

- Some of the surrounding area is a national park but there are also industrial cities and a Japanese SDF/US Army shooting range nearby

- The mountainside stations with road access are nothing to write home about if the weather is foggy. Mediocre food and souvernirs. If you want to get the "real Fuji experience" it would mean a night climb on foot and arriving on the top by daybreak. It's a bit chilly up there as well...

So I'd just repeat my advice from two years ago and recommend to admire Fuji-san from any Tokyo highrise over a single malt or glass of claret.

Also, since it's not summer, you can't get beyond the 5th Station. You're better off taking the trip to Hakone & hoping the weather is clear that day.

Another benefit of Hakone: Hot Springs!

For someone with mobility issues (and lord knows I have them myself at the moment) best advice for a pleasant and active day out, and as good a chance as nearly anywhere of seeing Fuji San, is to go on the Hakone circuit. You get there by train, then transfer to another train (that goes through some marvellous scenery), then hop to another train that's pulled by cables up some very steep mountain sides (you can have a little wander around the town of Gora if you're up to it - some great hot springs there) Then it's an easy transfer to some aerial cable cars past big boiling valley (which is where you might first see Fuji), a change to some more modern aerial cable cars (going down this time) and a transfer to one of the open decked ships that ferry across lake Ashinoko - where you can also see Fuji (if she isn't hiding that day). From there it's a bus to the start of the circuit.

If it's just a day trip, get your concierge to tell you if there's a probability of Fuji being seen that day (if you're at the Park Hyatt, you should be able to see for yourself) if not, choose another time to try.

Hardly any walking required and lots of ground gets covered easily.

You'll need to get the Hakone Free Pass - there are two kinds:
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/freepass/hakone_01.html
and weekday pass: http://www.odakyu.jp/english/freepass/hakone_02.html

More info here: http://wikitravel.org/en/Hakone

This photo was taken by dsf and shows lake ashinoko on a not completely clear day: http://flickr.com/photos/dsf/266534019/ It was taken with his phone, and he says Mt Fuji looked a lot sharper than his picture suggests (it's actually about the furthest point from where you'd see Fuji on the circuit)


Don't forget to get a price from www.tokyoairporter.com and compare it to what you've been offered elsewhere (if you try and acuire a guide with car from the Japanese Tourist Board be prepared for some astoundingly high quotes - an elderly man who had trouble walking wanted to see Nikko with a guide & approached JTB - I sent him on the bullet train to Kyoto and got Mr Doi to escort him around the city in his car instead - turned out to be much, much cheaper!)

The first time I lived in Japan (arriving in August and settling down as a student in Tokyo), Mt. Fuji first became visible from the roof of my university's library in December, along with Mt. Tsukuba to the northeast and the foothills of the Japan Alps.

It is rarely visible in the summer, and iffy in the spring, due to humidity.

If you take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, you may be able to see Fuji from the north side of the train. If it's visible, it will be visible for quite a long while, perhaps 10 or 15 minutes.

The last time I took that route (in June 2006), I didn't see Mt. Fuji, even though I stopped off to visit clients who are based quite nearby. When I asked which direction Mt. Fuji was, they had to confer among themselves and finally agreed that when it was out, it was visible from a certain window. But the humid haze and air pollution prevented me from getting even a glimpse.

I've taken trips to Japan in April and May, but the most recent ones were confined either to the Tokyo area or the Kansai area, so I can't remember what viewing conditions are like at this time of the year.

I agree with the advice to take the Hakone trip. It's touristy, but you get to see a wide variety of scenery.

Otherwise, if it's mountains you want, take the train from Nagoya to Takayama, and after you've enjoyed the historical and artistic ambience of that city, take a bus over the Japan Alps to Norikuradake (above timberline) and Shin-Shimashima.

That reminds me, avoid the weekend if possible as that's when the area gets most crowded.

In creepy photo land...I have nearly the exact same picture as DSF (I'm on the other side of that tree, though).

Actually, if you want a (photo) tour of Hakone, my pictures are pretty much there. The weather turned out to be perfect two days in a row, so I have sunset pictures of Fuji-san and daytime ones!

Gosh - it is almost exactlY the same! And it shows that even on an amazingly clear crisp day Fuji can miraculously still veil herself at any given moment.
Oh, those pictures of the sculpture park bring memories... I was struck by those koi carp too, I'd never seen such tame ones, and they were as big as chickens!

Some fabulous shots on page 3 ^ (which practically sums up the round trip experience) - those views of Mount Fuji were as good as you can hope for when on the 'Free Pass' circuit - I'm sure it was even better being there.

Thank you! Sadly, there's no "blush" smiley, so I'll just have to use this one:

Guess I'll post up my picture of Fuji-san as I passed it on the Shinkansen..

Fuji-San as seen from Nozomi on way back to Tokyo

Sanosuke!

The best view I've ever gotten of Fuji was actually a few weeks ago from out the window of an early-morning ANA flight from Osaka to Tokyo. The very nice flight attendant who I had talked with briefly earlier in the flight came and told me about 35 minutes into the flight that we were almost directly above Fuji-san. The view was absolutely stunning; my camera was unfortunately securely packed away in my rollaboard and I wasn't able to get a picture.

I did write about the experience, though: http://blog.japanforgaijin.com/2007/...om-35000-feet/

Resurrecting an old thread...

A friend and I are planning to visit Mount Fuji July 11-12 this year. We'll be staying in Tokyo during that time. We are thinking about renting a car and driving there in the morning of July 11, climbing the mountain that day, staying in a mountain hut overnight, seeing the summit the at sunrise, then climbing down and driving back.

I like driving, so I wanted to rent a car instead of take a bus. Are there any particular roads in the area that might be fun to drive? Winding mountain roads perhaps? Other things we can reach only by car? Anything I'm forgetting?

Well - maybe - reading street and traffic signs in Japanese, reading road maps in Japanese, paying high tolls in Japanese (yen), buying $12.00/gallon gasoline - in Japanese, finding aforesaid gasoline - in Japanese.

You don't say whether you have ever been to Japan or speak/read any Japanese. For first-time visitors, I really recommend trains and other local transportation. JMHO - others don't share it.

JR

This article may be of interest to you:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0080113bs.html

I love Japan's trains and other public transport... but I think that a car opens up a bunch of possibilities around Mt. Fuji and Yamanashi.

Most people who rely on public transport from Tokyo to Fuji make a return trip to Hakone or Lake Kawaguchi. It's a fun trip and I have nothing against it.

But if you rent a car from Hakone and drive around the North of Mt. Fuji, you can see much more "nature" in the less developed areas around Lake Motosu, for example. (Motosu is the lake on the back of the 5000yen note). There are some walking trails into the hills to the North of Mt. Fuji that you can't easily reach without a car. The views of Mt. Fuji from those hills are spectacular.

You can also take roads that go deep into the "terrifying" forested areas around the foot of Mt. Fuji (the "Aokigahara") and then up into the "highlands" - a plateau of golf courses and dairy farms.

If you want to extend the road trip to other parts of Yamanashi, I suggest driving to the North of Yamanashi - up to the Yatsugatake mountain range. Up there you can enjoy some fabulous walks, see the "Iron Road" that the warlord Takeda Shingen built to enable his army to get around the province, enjoy some ice cream in Kiyosato. Frankly, the panoramas from the "skyline" toll roads up above Kiyosato are more impressive than those you can enjoy immediately around Mt. Fuji.

And if you really enjoy the driving, you could continue from Yatsugatake into Nagano prefecture.... see Lake Suwa... visit more onsen... end up in Matsumoto. (And yes, you would probably end up paying some hefty expressway tolls if you wanted to get there quickly).

In addition to the grand views, there are also a couple of scenic valleys in Yamanashi - You could see one (The Ashigawa valley) if you drive from Lake Shoji to Ichikawa Daimon. Alternatively, from Lake Motosu, you can take a road down towards Shimobe Onsen which is very picturesque. There's also one very famous valley called "Shousenkyo" to the North of Kofu. (But this one gets very crowded in the holidays).

Of those valleys, I think only Shousenkyo is readily accessible by public transportation.

So -- All in all, I think that there's every reason to rent a car if you want to explore the Fuji Five Lakes region and other areas of Yamanashi such as the Yatsugatake mountain range.

OTOH, if you just want to visit Hakone and then go to the fifth station of Mt. Fuji and climb the mountain, you can do all that by public transport.