I had Japanese class this morning so I had to rush down to the hotel restaurant to get an early breakfast before class at 9. We had another sunny and clear day today and I asked if I could sit next to the window to get a direct view of Mt. Fuji. I don’t think I could get sick of this view. It only made my breakfast taste better.
Aaron left for an early morning run and snapped this picture from across Lake Kawaguchiko.
We started the day out by going to the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway. It was pretty busy by the time we got there at 11 but the line moved quickly to get in a gondola and go up the mountain. What can I say besides it was another great location to take in the landscape and snap some pictures.
There was a crew of workers at the viewpoint with a sign that said they’re happy to use your camera to take a photo in front of Mt. Fuji as long as you allow them to take a photo with their camera to sell you a print. I set up my tripod and had Become use their large white reflector to add fill light on our faces as the sun was shining directly above us. I don’t think they were expecting an outlier like me with an actual camera set up. I humored them and let them take the photo and reviewed the shot they took on their display. I’m far from an expert photographer but their picture was basically washed out in the back which is like everyone’s reason to want a photo. It looked like this for the $13 they were charging:
We foolishly bought a 1 way cable car ticket to go up thinking we were going to hike back down but we were tired and so we were ready to pay a premium for a separate cable car ticket down. I think the attendant put in his notice or just gave up on caring because he took our tickets anyway and let us go back down for free.
By the time we got down, I was starving and didn’t want to find a restaurant that was far away. I picked the first one that was next to the cable car ticket office and went inside. It was clearly a multi-generational family run business and they were swamped with tourists for lunchtime. I ordered the soba noodles, they came back saying they were out of soba. I ordered the udon, they came back saying all out of udon too. I settled for a fried pork tonkotsu which was delicious so I wasn’t too annoyed.
The group decided to split up after lunch. Become, Yolanda, Joanna, Vianna, and I decided to get pictures at the Chureito Pagoda while Christina, Aaron, and their parents went back to the hotel. It was either a 1hr 15min walk to the pagoda or a 50 min bus ride. I opted for the 12 minute taxi.
The taxi driver I walked up to was clearly on his smoke break and motioned that we should talk to his friend parked ahead of him but he saw we were a group of 5 and only his car could fit our group. I think my desire to speak in Japanese culminated to this point where the following conversation happened entirely in very awkward and disjointed Japanese with probably some English words thrown in with an attempt to make them sound Japanese
Taxi man: Where are you heading after Kawaguchiko?
Me: Tomorrow we’re going to Mishima
Taxi man: Oh Mishima? I can take you there, how many people
Me: 9 but we are going to take a bus
Taxi man: Why a bus? So slow, I will take you for 30,000 yen for everyone
Me: SO expensive! It was 16,000 yen for 7 people together when we come to Kawaguchiko yesterday
Taxi man: Where are you going after Mishima?
Me: Tokyo
Taxi man: I’ll just save you time and take you directly to Tokyo for 30,000
Me: No we’re staying in Mishima for 3 days
Taxi man: What are you going to do in Mishima?
Me: See capybara onsen
I actually have a listening comprehension and speaking test next week in Japanese class, I wish I could just submit this interaction to my professor and call it good.
We arrived to the Chureito Pagoda but I did not realize that it was a long flight of stairs to the top. Joanna said that this was good practice to hike Mt. Fuji.
The view at the top was definitely worth it. There were however a lot of people also taking pictures. I just had to be patient for my turn.
As we were walking back down, Become said there was a bus that we could take to get back to the hotel. A few minutes later, he corrected himself and said “No it’s a train”. Just then, Joanna saw a stack of gatchapon machines and went to go investigate. My subway card was out of money so I rushed inside the train station to fill it up. I came out to check on Joanna but Become was walking towards me to say that he already let them know they had 2 minutes before we needed to leave. I followed him onto the train that was waiting on the platform but Joanna and Vianna were nowhere to be seen.
I jokingly said “Wouldn’t it be funny if they missed the train for gotchapons?” and just then the doors started closing. I’m calling Joanna she said she was at the bus stop but didn’t see us so she went to the train and saw it pulling away from the station…It was very much not funny that she missed the train for gotchapons. The next train for her wouldn’t be for another 40 minutes.
One of the gatchapons she got that caused her to miss the train. She said it was worth it.
I was going to get off at the next station but it was too good of a picture opportunity to miss and the doors closed.
I jumped off at the next stop and caught the train going the opposite way and made it back to Joanna before the next train arrived to go back. I’m glad I made the effort to go back else she’d probably leave me at home for the next Japan trip.
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