| © Nippon Beauty Colour Inc |
This postcard shows the classic shot of the
dormant volcano, Mt. Fuji: snow capped with a clear blue sky, paddy fields in front and a bullet train racing past.
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The top attraction on our list of places to visit from Tokyo was Japan's highest mountain: Mount
Fuji. Although it is one of the world's most famous mountains which many people have seen a picture of, it is actually
notoriously difficult to see in real life as it spends most of its time hidden in the clouds. However, on a clear day its supposed
to be possible to see it from Tokyo over 60 miles away.
We wanted to maximise our chances of seeing this elusive mountain so, as soon as we arrived in Tokyo, we
discussed our plans with a very helpful bell boy. He checked the weather forecast for the next few days for us and suggested the
best day for us to make the pilgrimage to view what most Japanese consider to be a sacred mountain.
|  Instead of getting off at
Odawara, we couldn't resist continuing on until our train passed by Mt Fuji. We were rewarded with this, which is unfortunately our
best shot of this elusive mountain, as we approached Fuji city.
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We had already tried to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji as we shot past it on our bullet train journey into
Tokyo but, as usual, it had been smothered in clouds. When the weather forecast was favourable, we could have just headed back on
the bullet train to view this elusive mountain. However, following a recommendation in our Lonely Planet guide book, we decided to
spend the day in the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park where there were supposed to be a number of (potentially) scenic
views of Mt. Fuji.
There is a circular route around the National Park which utilises a variety of different modes of
transport. This circuit starts from the town of Odawara - just 2 stops out of Tokyo. Unfortunately our JR Pass couldn't be
used for this circuit and we had to buy a day pass which covered the whole route. Although this pass saved us over ¥1000 each
compared with buying individual tickets, it was still very expensive at ¥4130 each (about £21).
|  Mount Fuji at
full zoom shows that it still has a little snow at the top even at the end of May.
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The first part of the circuit was on a single track mountain train that zigzagged up to the town of
Gora. There was supposed to be a famous shop selling gyoza (Japanese dumplings) here but, although we searched all
over this small town, we never found it.
The route continued up a steep funicular railway to Mount Soun-zan where we transferred to a
cablecar (which the Japanese call a ropeway). This cablecar makes two stops on its 2½ mile route over the volcanic
mountain range. The first stop was at the tamed volcano, Owakudani. As the cablecar approached it, we could see and smell
sulphurous steam venting from the side of the volcano. These vents are man-made to prevent the build up of pressure inside the
volcano in an effort to avert future eruptions. They have also piped water into the volcano to produce an artificial hot
spring where they boil eggs for sale to tourists.
| © Microsoft Encarta World Atlas |
| Mount Fuji and Lake Ashino-ko on a clear
day |
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There was supposed to be a scenic view of Mt. Fuji from Owakudani but unfortunately the clouds had
reconvened around it and were now being assisted by the steam venting from the nearby volcano to completely block our view. We
continued our journey on the cablecar which was also supposed to have given us panoramic views of Mt. Fuji but it remained covered
in clouds. The cable car eventually descended to its terminus on the shores of the scenic Lake Ashino-ko.
The next leg of our journey was quite a surprise. We knew that we were going to be ferried along the
length of Lake Ashino-ko but we weren't expecting it to be on board a pirate ship! There were three or four of these galleons,
complete with fibre glass pirates manning the deck, taking people to the other end of the lake. Our last chance at a scenic view of
Mt. Fuji was supposed to be from this ferry but its cloud cover didn't break.
|  The torii gate
for the Hakone-jinja shrine ‘floating’ on Ashino-ko Lake.
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After walking along a stretch of the old Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo) highway which was lined with 360 year old
cedar trees, we waited for a bus to take us back to Odawara. We had just missed one so we had to wait half an hour. This was lucky,
as just before the next bus arrived, Lina noticed that the clouds had thinned and Mount Fuji was just visible above the lake.
Epilogue: After using the weather forecast to try to increase our chances of actually seeing Mt.
Fuji, the following day (which had been forecast to be overcast) turned out to be a crystal clear day. So the Japanese are no
better at short term weather forecasting than we are!
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