Central Japan Day 4 & 5 - Lake Kawaguchi

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03 June 2008

By evening, after visiting the wasabi farm, we arrived at Lake Kawaguchi (Kawaguchi-ko), where enjoyed the coldest temperature for our trip at about 11 degree Celcius. The sky was completely overcast with thick clouds, dashing all hopes of seeing Mt. Fuji from the lake. Nevertheless we decided to take a walk around part of the lake after dinner.

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Map of our hotel at Kawaguchi-ko


The rooms were so small even Tokyo has larger rooms


Panoramic view from bedroom window


The hotel we stayed at, complete with indoor and semi-outdoor onsen


Down by the lake


Dinner time! Yet another huge feast


Night on the lake with a soft reflection of lights on clouds


I thought ``ko" already meant lake, so now this is ``Lake Kawaguchi Lake"


Our destination, Lawson, for some sake and beer, brrrr it's cold


They have a good variety, but surprisingly, Takayama had a bigger variety


Kirin Stout -- excellent, I feel it tastes slightly better than Yebisu Dark


Yebisu the Hop, another good beer, more hops added to give the sweet smelling fragrance


Now we know that Yakult indeed exists in Japan


A cheap bottle of sake, hopefully this will keep us warm on our way back


Passing a tunnel in somewhere round the lake


Back in the hotel room, we discovered there's a leg warmer under the table!

After the refreshing walk in the cold, we went to immerse ourselves in the onsen. This will be the last onsen hotel for our trip and we planned to go the next morning as well. Getting a carried away, before long we realized we have been immersed for almost 40 minutes. So we hurriedly got out and had some spring water from Mt. Fuji provided by the hotel before retiring to bed.



04 Jun 2008

Woke up at about 6am to go for another dip in the onsen before breakfast. Then I decided to go take some last morning pictures before we embarked to the Mt. Fuji visitor centre.

Another huge spread for Japanese styled breakfast


These firepots are used for everything


Little stuff to have with porridge


The hotel in the morning


The bridge in a distance that divides Kawaguchi-ko, again the sky is completely overcast with thick clouds


That's where we went the night before


Arrival at Mt. Fuji visitor centre


Ta-da! Mt. Fuji! What? You can't see it? Surely you jest, it's right there!


Sadly we departed for Tokyo. Apparently one has to climb Mt. Fuji before they are recognised as ``adults" in Japanese society. So lots of people head down this road to the 5th station where they begin their ascend every year during climbing season.



Roller coasters of Fuji-Q Highland Theme park, it is said they have the biggest and the most thrilling ones.

Somewhat slightly disappointed that the shy Mt. Fuji did a no show, we were headed for the last section of our trip and had no more onsen to relax our legs. First to some shopping in Tokyo, next to Sensō-ji in Asakusa, an ancient temple dedicated to Kannon, and finally more shopping for the rest of the day at Shinjuku.

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