Chapter 4 · Japan

The Mountain, the Crosswalk & the Dragons

Day two: Mt. Fuji, a tea ceremony, and spring water flowing from a dragon's mouth in Oshino Village

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Day 2 in Japan. Amin booked us a day trip to Mt. Fuji, the highest peak in Japan. We’re technically a couple of weeks past the hiking season, so there are fewer tours that will even take you to Mt. Fuji Station 5. We’re some lucky tourists though. Beautiful weather — mid 80’s at best, with a good breeze — and an amazing view of the volcano. Station 5 is actually halfway up the mountain.

Along this day trip, we stopped for a traditional matcha tea ceremony, a quick visit to Lake Kawaguchiko to take pictures of Mt. Fuji in the background, then on to see the Chureito Pagoda — nearly 450 steps up the mountainside overlooking Fujiyoshida City and Mount Fuji. What a hike!

Next we visited Fujiyoshida City for pictures of Mt. Fuji from popular viewpoints. Then lunch at Station 5 on Mt. Fuji — 69 degrees on the mountain with a stronger breeze.

After visiting Mt. Fuji, we made our way to Oshino Village, a world heritage site where we refilled our water bottles with spring water spewing from dragons’ mouths. Once we made our way back to Tokyo, we ventured over to Shibuya to walk across the largest crosswalk in the world and find dinner.