During our trip to Japan, we went in search of a Japanese legend.
Here we go!
No not that one.
That’s the fella.
Towering over the horizon, a national icon recognisable from even the crudest of sketches.
In fact you’ll see it everywhere.
On walls.
On signs.
On drinks bottles.
But the fact of the matter is, that the real snow capped Fuji is extremely elusive.
You see there are two main problems.
The first being that for 90 days of every year, the snow completely disappears from
Mount Fuji.
And of course we arrived in August which is right in the middle of the snow drought.
But secondly and most worryingly, it’s estimated that you can only see Mount Fuji 25% of any
time of year.
And the weather can change dramatically within a matter of minutes.
So with no snow and little chance of visibility, is it even worth visiting?
This is our 5 day experience.
It all started so well.
From Tokyo we took the train to Lake Kawaguchiko.
The second largest of the Fuji 5 lakes and a stunning place in it’s own right.
And after all of our worries about visibility.
As the train pulled into the station, the shy mountain said hello.
A few months ago when we were doing all of our Japan research and we found out that Fuji
wasn’t going to have any snow on top.
We were both really really disappointed.
And you know, as soon as we saw Fuji this morning on the train, I completely forgot
about any of those thoughts.
It’s just incredible.
We rode our luck into day 2.
It’s another beautiful day here in Kawaguchiko.
We took an early train to nearby Shimioshida.
Home of the Chureito Pagoda and the most iconic view of Mount Fuji.
And just like that.
It was gone.
Unfortunately the shy mountain is starting to live up to his name.
Determined not to be beaten by the clouds, we jumped on bikes and hoped that the weather
would change.
We searched by land.
We searched by water in a pink swan.
But still only saw the tip.
It started to look like the only place you could see Mount Fuji was in the gift shop.
That doesn’t quite work.
Day three ended without a sighting.
And day four was even worse.
Expectations can be a tricky thing.
Because often they can make to break an experience.
We were in the strange situation of our expectations being completely fulfilled and then suddenly
that fulfilment just disappeared.
Good morning.
Today starts with a brisk walk to the bus station.
That’s where Fuji was.
Lake Yamanakoko is famous for it’s beautiful views of Mount Fuji.
But today it had the feel of a ghost town forgotten in the mist.
We came here to see a specific viewpoint with sunflowers in the foreground and Mount Fuji
in the background but not only is Mount Fuji hiding behind a thick layer of cloud, they’re
also chopping down all of the sunflowers.
Finding Mount Fuji is far from guaranteed, we were just pretty lucky at the start of
our trip.
My main advice is to give yourself as much time as possible.
Trying to attempt a day trip from Tokyo feels like you are setting yourself up for failure.
But even if you don’t see Fuji, try and focus on the things that are there rather
than the things that aren’t.
The 5 lakes area is beautiful no matter what the weather.
So savour what you have and don’t let unrealistic expectations ruin your trip.
It’s something I’m trying to get better at doing myself.
And then just as we were leaving, the shy mountain said goodbye.
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