Category: Japan

There’s a ropeway right next to our hotel which leads to an ‘observatory’ with incredible views of Mount Fuji.

At 3776 m it’s far from the tallest mountain in the world, but it is Japan’s tallest, and its relative isolation coupled with its symmetry have rightly made it an icon of Japan. It’s always impressive seeing it from a distance, but the views we had today were breathtaking.

It was just below freezing when we went up and since we still have some cold symptoms we had to protect against breathing the freezing air. But the sky was clear and the views were tremendous, not just of Fuji but the lake as well. I’d say this observation area is a contender for one of the best in the world.

Actually climbing Fuji is a big task that requires careful preparation (an old Japanese saying says only wise men climb Fuji but only fools climb it more than once) and I’ll never do it, but I learned today that the first man who ever did apparently completed the task about 1500 years ago when he rode to the top ‘instantly’ on a horse! Since he was a prince, I’m guessing the accuracy of the tale may have elements of uncertainty to it 🙂

After we descended we took a short cruise on the lake to once again view Fuji, this time from the water. The lake is very still and the surface reflective, and apparently at certain times it can also be mirrorlike. Today was not one such time – not least because of the boat wake – but I did my best to capture a reflected image regardless.

The other mountains you see in the above photo are to the north/northwest of Fuji and are less than half of its height. They’re impressive as well, but given you can just turn around and see Fuji I suspect these guys get short shrift. The above photo by the way was taken from the viewing terrace on the roof of our hotel.

It was a relaxing day and we’re both feeling much better, and we’ll repeat this again tomorrow. The hot springs at this hotel are great, so I look forward to several more soaks before we depart.

That’s the night view of the lake from the front of our hotel. And yes, even with all the obvious light pollution it’s still dark enough here to clearly see stars!

Today we traveled to Kawaguchiko, a town on the foothills of Fuji. Since there’s no direct train there from Nagoya, we had to go via Tokyo. Naturally therefore our first leg (back to Tokyo) was on a Shinkansen.

The train was much busier than four days ago, since we’re now entering into the new year holiday, which is one of Japans biggest travel periods. The stations were busy with people heading home for new year, gifts in hand.

Once we got to Tokyo we had to take three more trains to Kawaguchiko, and in total the travel took a little under six hours. Probably the most single-day train travel we’ve ever done in our lives!

And once we got to our hotel and opened the door, this was our view. Here’s a better look at what we see from our room:

That’s Lake Kawaguchi, and it’s surrounded by lots of onsen (hot springs hotels), including the one we are staying in. I’m sick as a dog and KLS is recovering, so for the next few days we’ll relax and enjoy the onsen life!

We started by booking a private hot spring, which we just returned from. It was open-air, which means chilly above the water and toasty below. Here’s what it looked like:

We had a good soak and then some ramen for dinner:

Now it’s time to loaf around and watch idols on TV. Tomorrow we’ll go and check out some tourist stuff around the lake, but tonight it’s time to sleep without an alarm for the first time this trip 🙂

The above picture – taken at a laundromat at about 6:30 this morning – is a good depiction of our energy levels after several very busy days. Today therefore, would be ‘low impact’.

That meant going to SCMAGLEV, the JR rail train museum! This is a museum with a variety of Japanese trains on exhibit, and you can walk through many of them to explore the insides as well.

Much of the focus of the museum is Shinkansen (bullet trains) – Japan is rightly very proud of their triumph of engineering – but they have other trains as well and right now have a steam train exhibit.

The fact they apparently rotate out these trains every now and then is impressive since it wasn’t at all obvious how they’d get them in or out (some weigh over 100 tonnes). It’s likely the entire back wall can be opened to roll them in, but that functionality is well hidden!

In the above photo we’re standing in front of the actual lead car of the first bullet train, which carried its first passengers in 1964. We watched a video about the development process and it’s incredible viewed from today’s perspective that the entire technology (trains, tracks, signaling etc) was developed in only five years!

The above is a photo of some of the English explanations of the displays. There was a vast amount of material – including hands on demonstrations – about bullet train technology, almost none of which I knew. For instance information about max speed limits is transmitted to the trains through the tracks, or the carriages automatically become airtight when trains enter tunnels to avoid pressure waves from discomforting riders, or that the rails are made from welded segments that are 1.5 kilometers in length! I was very impressed by the scientific detail in the exhibits, which were well written to make them understandable without sacrificing complexity.

Cutely, the cafe at the museum is a ‘Delica Station’, which is one of the stores you buy bento from at Japanese rail stations. Kristin got the ‘Doctor Yellow meal’ because it came with a free trading card of Doctor Yellow, the famous yellow Shinkansen.

They even had an older Doctor Yellow on display! These famous trains are diagnostic and travel the rails at night to do tests and check for needed repairs. Since they rarely run during the day they’re not often seen and amongst Japanese rail enthusiasts it’s considered lucky to see a Doctor Yellow working the rails.

That’s a photo from the ‘diorama room’ where a detailed diorama of the entire Tokaido Shinkansen line – from Tokyo to Osaka – was on display. As you can see it was an insane amount of detail, with most of the more famous landmarks reproduced in tiny scale.

The above train was in the entry hall, and was one of the first things you see. At first I thought it was a prototype but it’s actually a maglev train! Magnetic levitation trains have been undergoing R&D in Japan for years now with the hope of one day using them to carry passengers at speeds that make even bullet trains seem slow. In fact the speed record for a train – 603 km/hr – was achieved by one like this back in 2015. The museum had a wonderful maglev section with very clever demonstrations and a simulator of sorts where you sat inside a car and experienced what maglev travel may one day be like.

Moving on from the trains, we were amused and amazed to note today that many of the Christmas decorations are gone and replaced with elaborate new years decorations! I was told once it is ‘very important’ in Japan to remove decorations as soon as possible after a holiday and today we saw evidence of this.

Today was our last day in Nagoya, and tomorrow we head to a hot spring for a few days. The timing is perfect since we’re both very tired and I’m a bit sick. Let’s hope the mineral baths heal us back to the stamina level we’ll need when we return to Tokyo around new years!