One of my favourite things about Tokyo, and something it definitely has over London, is the fact that you can be amongst the most incredible mountain scenery in less than two hours by train from the city centre. As you’ve seen in my previous posts I’ve already taken a few trips into the mountains around Tokyo and it’s been amazingly beautiful. But there are mountains, and then there’s Fuji. Japan’s most iconic sight, I was going to base myself in the region surrounding it for 5 days, to hike myself silly and hopefully get some great views of the famous mound. Despite having visited Japan twice before, I’ve never managed to get a good view of it, which remains a sore spot. Maybe third time’s the charm?

For the first few days I based myself in Hakone, a small town packed with onsen (natural hot baths) that makes an ideal base for tackling the many hiking routes in the area. I had such a good time here. Like, writing this 5 weeks after the fact, I can safely say that Hakone rates as one of the highlights of my entire trip. I hiked through forests past thundering waterfalls, over expansive valleys and along peaceful lakes.

Owing to its volcanic origins, the scenery here is unlike anything I’ve never seen. From Hakone I took a cable car to Owakudani station, plumes of sulphurous steam venting out of the ground. I took another cable car to the top of Mt. Komagatake, and from there I could see all of Lake Ashi, the mountains bordering it on the other side, the flat plain beyond them, and then the sea. I felt like I was looking down on an actual map of the world, it was wild. For these first few days, the weather was fairly cloudy, and my best view of Fuji was the swirling storm clouds surrounding it, thunder booming across the land between us. It was impressive, but not quite what I came for.

After Hakone I took a few buses to get myself to my next stop; Kawaguchiko. One of my dreams is to admire Fuji from an outdoor onsen. In my opinion, there couldn’t be anything more Japanese than that. So for one night I splurged to stay in a gorgeous 4* hotel with a rooftop onsen boasting views of Fujisan. The hotel was wonderful, check out the pictures below, and the onsen on the roof was great! However… Fuji decided to remain obscured that day. Curses.

In fact, the weather for the rest of my stay in the Fuji five lakes region only got worse. Thick cloud cover and persistent drizzle really dampened my spirits, literally. I enjoy hiking but not so much that I’d do it in the rain, so the only other thing I did while here was visit the Saiko Iyashi-no-Sato Nenba (a Traditional Japanese Village). It turned out to be quite charming and actually rather atmospheric in the rain, so that part I didn’t mind.

By this point I was thoroughly fed up of the clouds and rain, and the weather forecast didn’t indicate it was going to improve so actually I left town one day early. Obviously it’s pointless to be annoyed at the weather but I was frustrated to not see Fuji at all in 5 days – especially when I have friends who this year visited the area for just a few hours and got flawless views. Whatever. I’ll just have to come back. Again. And as I’ve been harping on about, the area is accessible from Tokyo. So, Fuji, I will see you. Eventually.