Our hotel included breakfast and dinner so we got back in time for our 6:30 reservation. On the way to the hotel restaurant, I noticed this poster in the elevator and jumped at the opportunity since it was going to be a clear night. The tour was $130 per person and the guide would take us to 3 different locations starting at 8:30 and dropping us off around midnight. I REALLY needed to catch up on sleep especially after a travel day, but the weather report said tonight was going to be clear. I didn’t want to risk the opportunity of a cloudy night tomorrow and risk missing out on a great photo opportunity.
I submitted a request to join the tour and was approved right away. Alex, the tour company’s owner came to the hotel and picked us up from our hotel. The only other person on our nighttime tour was Mike who works in cybersecurity for Amazon in Nebraska.
The itinerary for the night was to visit 3 places:
- Ryugu Cave, where the ancient legend of Mt. Fuji’s dragon has been passed down since prehistoric times.
- Lake Motosu, the westernmost of the Fuji Five Lakes with some of the clearest and cleanest water in Honshu, Japan’s largest main island
- Alex’s friend’s cow farm to get a panoramic view of the stars
I really love these types of experiences to get a slice of people’s everyday lives and learn about local traditions. Alex was born and raised in Tokyo and worked for a company’s HR department. He said he met his career goals and felt like there was more in the world so he left that behind to figure out the best place to live in Japan which ended up being around the Mt. Fuji region. He started this tour company himself and now has an additional tour guide who swaps the night time and sunrise tours. He also started a magazine publication in the area where he has 4 staff members who contribute content.
Alex took us first to a shinto shrine in the woods located inside of a lava tube. He said the ancient people believed that dragons lived in the lava tubes and were the source of lightning and rain. The shrine in the cave had paper folded in the shape of lightning which he said people came to pray at for rain during the growing season. Even during dry spells, water could be heard in the caves as they dripped through the rock. I could see large icicles that formed along the cave wall which backed up what he was saying.
He explained that people offer sake to the gods in the shrine as it represents the full cycle of water to rice to sake. Inside the locked door of the shrine is a mirror which represents your true self without ego and worshipping the divine within. At the end of this site visit, Alex bowed deeply 3 times showing a sign of respect, clapped 3 times which represents purifying the air, and bowed one last time before taking us to the next destination.
On the drive, Alex happily answered our non stop questions. He explained that this area was very sacred and Japanese people wrote scary ghost stories to keep a majority of people away just like with the suicide forest that we were driving through right now (whoah).
I asked Alex how many times he’s climbed Mt. Fuji as it’s something I’m interested in doing. He said about 11 times but his goal is 33 times because in Japanese culture if you summit Mt. Fuji 33 times, your biggest wish in life will come true. Typically people drive up to camp 5 and hike to the summit but last year he started at the base in the Fuji 5 lakes region where it took him 2 days to summit. I asked him what he wished would come true. He said to share Mt. Fuji history and culture with people from around the world. In pre modern Japanese times, villages would come together to sponsor a single person to climb Mt. Fuji. There used to be at least one thousand of these groups but now there are fewer than 80. It’s his dream to revive this climbing culture in our modern day.
He further explained that people would dress in white for their climb and chant all the way to the top. It’s believed that you are reborn 3 times during a successful hike. As you climb up, you reflect on your life to become a better person which represents the first rebirth, once you reach the top you are reborn again, and you are reborn a third time once you reach home again.
Joanna wanted me to include an excerpt from Alex’s magazine The Mt. Fuji Times about the history of climbing the mountain:
“Climbing Mt. Fuji holds deep religious significance in Japanese culture. This practice is undertaken to seek the spiritual power of Mt. Fuji or to express gratitude for its blessings.
Historically, the upper part of Mt. Fuji was regarded as heaven. People weren’t able to climb to the summit until the 7th century. Climbing to the summit was symbolic of ascending to heaven. Successfully returning from the summit was seen as a form of spiritual rebirth. The journey to climb Mt. Fuji was so risky that you could lose your life at any time. Pilgrims traditionally wear white cloth during their ascent, a color associated with the attire of the deceased in Japanese tradition, symbolizing purity and a connection to the afterlife.”
Alex stopped the car on the side of the road and told us this is his favorite spot. We stepped over a road barrier and found ourself on a rocky beach overlooking Mt. Fuji.
He said that the water takes 40 years to filter through layers of volcanic rock this is some of the cleanest water in Japan as there are no rivers or streams that feed into this lake. I don’t normally drink Fiji water but I will drink Fuji water. I cupped my hands in the dark water and took a sip. Yep tastes like water but…Japanese
Standing on the edge of this lake was so peaceful. There were what seemed like an infinite amount of stars around us and it was completely silent. Apart from an owl hooting nearby, there was nothing else making any kind of sound. Being able to get away from normal life and be connected to nature like this is truly a gift.
Alex brought us blankets and insulated foam pads to lay on the ground and stare up at the stars. He offered hot sake and tea to warm us up as it was about 40f outside. I chose to get to work and take as many photos of the landscape as possible.
These are the ones that turned out the best. Anything over 5 seconds would start showing star trails and until this very second that I’m writing this, I realize that my new camera has an intervalometer to take those cool milky way photos you may have seen online. I feel like I do get better at taking photos every trip though so maybe next time I’ll have some even nicer pics to show with what I’ve learned.
After about half an hour, Alex said it was time to go. It got so cold that my backpack actually was covered in frost.
The final location was Alex’s friends cow farm which was the highest elevation village on Mt. Fuji where people lived. We got a full 360 panoramic view of the stars. I didn’t want to take too long taking photos as it was even colder at this higher altitude.
We got dropped back off at our hotel exactly at midnight. There’s definitely something to be said about Japanese efficiency when everything is on time, even night time tours to Mt. Fuji. This was a once in a lifetime experience and I am so glad that I looked up from my phone in the hotel elevator and saw his poster advertising the tour. I think we’ll have to come back in the near future to do his Fuji sunrise tour as well to get a different view of the mountain.
Shoutout to https://www.mtfujitimes.com/things-to-do/mtfuji-night-activities if you’re looking for something to do while in Kawaguchiko next time you go!
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