Visiting Mt. Fuji: Sloshing in the Rain

“A solid pair of boots have done me more good than all the insurance, hiking gear and electronics during years of travel.” – Old Sean

Quietly Urban

Following my time in Tokyo, I strived to get away from major cities.  This was partially due to simply tiring of busy streets and crowds and partially because of the coronavirus.

For those of you unaware, coronavirus is a new viral epidemic currently sending all of Asia, especially China, into a tizzy. China, a traditionally health-minded and naturally disease-wary population heavily consolidated in major cities, is the pseudo-victim of this outbreak. 

The coronavirus thus far has shown to have a very high infection rate (since people can infect others while the virus is still in its incubation phase) but a thus-far low mortality rate.

None of that has calmed anyone down. Since the virus appeared during Spring Festival, when Chinese citizens are prone to excessive travel, quarantines and lockdowns at airports and cities (especially Wuhan) have put everyone on extremely high alert.

As such, my plans to return to China are uncertain if not downright canceled.  Which means, in the coming month when my Japanese vacation has ended, I might be out of a job.

Which makes me gratuitously happy.  I didn’t much like my job and I was planning on leaving the ESL field soon anyway.  While I’m apprehensive about that last paycheck, I don’t intend to fly into a plague zone for it.

Entering Kofu

Anyway, the ideal place to get away from the crowds was to visit Mt. Fuji, the iconic peak of Japan.  Like everyone else in the world, I’ve seen cards, posters, videos, poems and advertisements displaying the lofty and legendary peaks.

But I arrived in Kofu at an inopportune time.  Rain hammered down in a steady, lasting torrent for two days, shrouding the mountain from view.

That being said, I wasn’t deterred completely.  I walked around a lot, visiting shops and browsing through the wooded areas around Kofu, though I didn’t make the long trip to Fuji for a while. 

Instead, I puttered around town, hiking up into the nearby speckled mountains on occasion.  Umbrellas, rain boots, a multitude of socks, a backpack cover and warm-weather clothes brought from Hohhot kept me relatively comfortable unless heavy winds slashed in.

I found a breakfast café I truly adore called L’heure Vide. They make a magical series of breakfast and dessert crapes, both of which brought me a considerable amount of joy.

Heading to Fuji-san

Finally, however, the rain was due to break and I found a bus to take me to Lake Kawaguchi and Fujiyoshida, both located on the northern sides of Fuji.

I should mention that the bus rides can be a bit expensive, and the most popular viewing position of Fuji is Hakone.  However, Hakone is pretty busy and there are a lot of Chinese tourists there this time of year, factoring into my decision.

I first saw Fuji in the early morning, rising above the edge of Lake Kawaguchi.

Majestic and magnificent, there’s not much to say about Fuji that people don’t already know from pictures.  The volcano has a remarkably even peak spearing far higher than the other mountain ranges surrounding it.  It’s a lonely structure, dwarfing everything nearby with gentle slopes and a rather pristine cap of snow.  Low clouds swirl around the base like a white skirt while higher ones can vanish the mountain entirely.

All around town, there were viewing points, photo overlooks, cable cars and more.  Every shop seemed to have a Fuji icon somewhere on it, claiming relations to the mountain itself.

However, a person can only stare at a distant mountain for so long.

Legwork

I made sure to do a bit more wandering around and quickly found myself mired.  There was a hefty layer of melting slush everywhere.  Every footstep left a crater and every stride slurped behind me.  A lot of snow was no longer white, but a slat grey which bogged my feet and defied traction.

But I travel with clunky waterproof footwear for a reason, and I was soon clumping along, squinting against the dauntingly bright snow. 

I sloshed through the Kawaguchiko Music Forest Museum, which is a pretty little property playing movie-background carnival tunes. 

I also hiked up and down the Maple Corridor, marveling at the torrent of water the snowmelts had created.  Indeed, most of my hike was accompanied by the sounds of rushing water wherever I went, either off of rooftops, past gutters, under concrete drainage or down mountain ridges.

I hiked across Kawaguchiko Ohashi Bridge and made my way to the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway (which I don’t really recommend) before turning my attention further south, nearly past Fujiyoshida.

The Town of Fujiyoshida

I should mention that Fujiyoshida is a nice little town, but not very walkable in a lot of places.  Fortunately for me, it presses right up against the woods that ring the base of Fuji’s gradual slopes.

I strove toward these, squelching liberally and stopping at Kitaguchi-hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine.  This is a beautiful building area and the dichotomy of green bamboo and moss on the red temple grounds against untouched snow made an impressive contrast.

I kept wandering up the roads, going further and further into the great pine woods.  The trees shifted from a rough brown to an oddly vivid reddish hue. 

Some of the trees had white prayer ropes, thicker than my arm, tied around them.  As did several boulders, rounded and graced with white folded charms.  Some of the most impressive trees actually had their interior bark decaying, but in a typical Japanese-botanical fashion, new bark had been pressed on where rot had taken hold, bolted in by shiny steel pins.

Finally, exhausted and wet, I went back down.  My few glances of Fuji inside the woods weren’t clear and I was using unaccustomed muscles to handle the awkward footing.

Resting Slopes

I ended up taking my rest at a place called Coco’s Restaurant, which is sort of a Denny’s style diner.  The food was okay, but the beverages were fantastic.  A person simply goes up to the machine and pours in whatever they fancy.  There’s coffee, hazelnut cocoa, strawberry cocoa, caramel coffee, strawberry milk mix and a few dozen others I liberally sampled.  Overall, nice little place.

I made a couple more laps of town, threw some snowballs around and toyed with the idea of visiting Arakurayam Sengen Park, but I was tired of pagodas and my boots, while performing their task well, were finally succumbing to the endless puddles I kept soaking them in.

Final Fuji Moments

My next day was my last in Fuji before taking the rail up to Tokyama, so I ended up waking up extremely early, attempting to beat the sunrise.

My friend Chad had recommended a hot spring onsen in the mountains, one with an unobstructed view of Fuji during a sunrise.  It was cold and brisk outside. The journey had to be made in the wee hours of the morning to arrive in a timely manner, but I arrived easily enough.

Unfortunately, there are no rails heading to Hottarakashi Onsen, so one must hike for a little over an hour uphill to get there if no vehicles are available.  But it is definitely worth it, and I enjoyed my mountainside soak and view.

Tourism done for the day, I went back to my hostel and loaded up my gear for my next stop, pausing to buy some new sunglasses (mine broke), transfer some cash (Chinese yuan to Japanese yen) and slather on some aloe vera (snow-burns).

Anyway, off to Toyama now.

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written January 29th 2020

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