Fuji-san 5th Station

So we went to Fuji-san's 5th station on the weekend. We didn't go to climb to the peak, just to do some sightseeing at the 5th station, where most climbers start their ascent towards Japan's highest mountain. I must say that it was largely disappointing. It took almost 3.5 hours by bus to get there due to all the traffic accidents that we encountered enroute. Once we got there, we had less than 2 hours before our return highway express bus back to Shinjuku station. The whole time we were there except for the last 12 minutes, the skies were so foggy, you could barely see 50 m ahead or behind you. The views were not great.

To make matters worse, the food was more disappointing than the views. The restaurant / lodge/ rest stop pictured above had pretty plain tasting gyuudon --- and I like those beef bowls with rice. One of my friends couldn't finish eating the bowl and decided to buy some BBQ beef from one of the street vendor stalls outside. To her disappointment, the beef from outside was worse than the beef in the gyuudon. And we didn't think it could be possible!

Because we lacked time, we decided not to do any of the short hikes to possible other sites for photo opportunities. We were recommended a site which was 40 minutes away, but after we had finished lunch, there wasn't sufficient time to go on that and make it back in time for our return bus home. So we walked the perimeter of 5th station.

I must say that 5th station was rather disappointing ... it seemed rather kitschy, with more souvenir shops and stuff than tourists willing to buy them. When we arrived, we all shivered. It was about 16 to 18 deg C, which is actually nice for us Canadians, but having been subject to the hot and humid Japan summer, it seemed almost too chilly for shorts. I showed up in shorts and a tank top. There were people there with sweaters and windbreakers, scarves and hats. Everyone had long pants. We got a few stares. I guess when you exhale and you can see your breath, it's not a good sign. I guess it was a good thing that we weren't climbing to the peak that day, because it only gets colder as you get higher.

We stopped off at the shrine and the temple and their lookout points at the 5th station. Mostly we did it out of wanting to do something with our time and to get our money's worth out of the trip. I think having gone to Kamakura and Yamadera temple in Yamagata Ken, that these two places of worship just weren't going to compare. Also, seeing as how we didn't know to what deity or for what purpose we were praying, the visits seemed that much more hallow. The structures were interesting to see, but the lack of other tourists there just made them seem that much more desperate. Above was the sparsely populated wishing wall for paper tied wishes. I think that no more than 20 wishes were tied to it that day.

All the horses at 5th station seemed to be unoccupied that day. No one wanted to ride one or take a photo with one. It just didn't seem like a nice horse-riding day. Poor horses.

Below are some photos of the fog. The last photo is the start of the fog actually lifting. Can't say that the views improved much with the little fog that lifted, but I'm sure had we stayed another 3 or 4 hours, we would have had some good night views of Fuji.

ACCESS: Keio highway express bus from Shinjuku station, JR west exit to Fuji 5th station. Call in advance to reserve your ticket. Booking by phone only, payment to be made on day you pick up the ticket.

More beer vending machine sightings

It seems that my hunch was correct: beer vending machines abound in the small towns where 24 hour liquor stores don't exist or are more difficult to find.

On Friday, walking back to the station, I noticed this vending machine. I would have walked passed it without noticing all the beer, but for the bicycle I nearly tripped over. That bicycle can be seen here in the photo.

Beside this machine was 3 vending machines selling cigarettes. You can see the first two machines which are pictured to the right. If you look closely, you can see that you have to be over 20 to buy the cigarettes. See the TASPO signs with a hand hold a card? That's the ID card that you need to apply for to be able to buy cigarettes from these machines. You have to apply for it specifically and it stores your information - specifically that you are indeed old enough to purchase cigarettes. Placing this card on the machine pad will allow you to complete your purchase. If you don't have one of these TASPO cards, you will have to go inside this konbini to buy a pack of smokes. Kind of defeats the purpose of the machines' convenience eh?

But if you are under 20 and still want to cause trouble without a TASPO card, you can still buy a beer from the first vending machine. See? Everybody's happy.

Around the corner, to the left of this machine are more vending machines. I didn't bother to take a photo. They sold juice, pop, water, tea, and coffee.

Seeing Fuji-san

On a really clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji (or Fujisan as it is known to locals) from Tokyo. This actually occurs less often than you would think. Only about a dozen times a year or so. It is so infrequent an occurrence that when it does happen, the television and radio news programs report it. They will place a break in their regular programming to report it as "breaking news".


Last weekend, I went to Hakone. I was so excited. Everyone kept telling me that the views of Fujisan from Hakone were spectacular. Splendid in fact. To make a long story short, it was supposed to be an absolutely dreadful, dreary, rainy day on Sunday. However, instead of rain, we got clouds - and tonnes of it. It was cloudy, overcast and humid, humid, humid. Did I mention humid? To add to my disappointment, Fujisan was completely covered the whole time we were in the best recommended Fujisan photo spots. The only glimpse of Fuji I got was on the bus ride home. And even then it was lacklustre. Since the clouds had only just begun to clear up, only the left, three quarters of the famous mountain peaked out from behind the cloud cover. In my desire to take a photo, I briefly in one insane second, thought I could take a photo... but it really wouldn't be worth it. I was inside a bus, the dark was setting in, and there were any number of heads, hats, and bus curtains in the way of obtaining that perfect shot. And who posts photos of half of Fujisan?


In my melancholy, I recalled that I had already seen Fuji back in February of this year. I was listening to Japanese news to get my ears accustomed to the Japanese cadence, intonation, and speech pattern. Suddenly a sentence popped out at me: "Kyou wa, Fujisan o Tokyo de miemasu." Translation, "Today, you can see Mt. Fuji from Tokyo." And then to reinforce my self revelation, the camera then turned to a breathtakingly clear, unobstructed view of Fujisan. The news report when on to say that this was only the 2nd time this year that this happened and that the current forecasts looked as if there might be one more day later this week when the skies would be so clear that Fujisan would be visible from Tokyo.


Once I heard this, I grabbed by good camera (as opposed to my less powerful camera) and ran out the door. I headed to Shinjuku and to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Towers. I'll write more about Shinjuku in another post because there's so much to say about it, but for now, all you need to know is that the Shinjuku towers have two observation floors on the 44th floor. One is in the South Tower and the other in the North Tower - both towers have free admission. The North Tower is open later into the night and is usually the busier of the two. I think this stems from the fact that you are slightly physically closer to Fujisan when it is visible, so the thinking is that you would get a nicer photo. Although, when pointing your camera to a point approaching infinity... Shinjuku is also only about 10 minutes away by JR Yamanote line.


Upon arriving in Shinjuku, I noticed that the lineups for both North and South Towers were longer than usual for a weekday. I guess word got out that Fujisan was visible today. Everyone else in line was a Japanese tourist. I guess if I could translate the forecast from today's news shows, the locals could do it too. I decided to join the South Tower lineup since it was much, much shorter. It was only a scant 2 minute wait. Upstairs on the observation floor, it was the most crowded that I had ever seen it, for a weekday or weekend and this was my 3rd visit to this particular tower. If you're wondering, "Why so often?" - it's because the government buildings also house the Tokyo Information Centre (or one of the TICs in Tokyo - I believe there is one at Narita airport). My sprint across town was well worth it. I managed to get a great shot of Fujisan. I took about 50 shots, deleted about 25, and was happy to get this one completely unobstructed photo of Fujisan.





For all the hype of the Fujisan sightings, from Tokyo, the view of Japan's tallest and most famous mountain, is really little more than the size of my thumb with the naked eye. This photo used half the zoom on my lens. Had I been lucky enough to get a clear view of Fujisan from Hakone area's Lake Ashi, it would have filled have the photo area, without a zoom. However the buzz of seeing Fujisan is contagious. To the Japanese, it is a huge event. As a foreigner, I count myself lucky.

There will definitely be other visits to Hakone.