Asia 2017 - Day 13: Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji

We made the drive to Mount Fuji starting at 8am and the weather was one of the best days in October the guide said. It had also snowed in the early hours of the morning so it looked exactly how I had seen in pictures online before travelling to Japan. We were allowed to travel up to the 5th station at midday and is one of the most popular viewing points as its open all year round pending heavy snowfall in the winter.

Mount Fuji

Lake Ashi

In the afternoon we took a 15 minute cruise on Lake Ashi, which is in the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture. The boat was very spacious and relaxing just looking around the beautiful scenery in the distance.

Disembarking the cruise on Lake Ashi

The destination took us to Hakone cable car ropeway which was next on the agenda.

Hakone Ropeway

The cable car runs every 10 minutes, and I took the 15:50 up and the 16:30 back down. In total it takes around 7 minutes each way and as soon as it starts to move the view is fantastic on a clear day. Because of our luck with the weather we were able to see Mount Fuji over on the left side in the distance. At the top we were able to take some great photos of both Mt. Fuji and Lake Ashi below.

Hakone Ropeway

Shinkansen Bullet Train

In the evening I was transferred onto a high-speed bullet train for Kyoto. We departed from Odawara station and would have a 4 minute change at Nagoya. This may seem like a short period of time but the trains run on time and it is literally the platform opposite. I arrived in Kyoto at 22:15 after a long day and was taken to my hotel just opposite the station exit, where I would spend the next couple of nights.

Shinkansen train passing through Odawara station

My video from this day can be found here:

 

Next Day: Nijo Castle, Kinkaku-ji Temple(Golden Pavilion), Nara Deer Park and Kasuga Taisha Shrine