Day 14, Friday, May 25th: Mount Fuji Musical Road!

We set our alarm for 07:00 as Naomi and Hikaru are picking us up at our hotel this morning at 08:15 and we want to get breakfast before we leave. Our friends have rented a car for our trip to Mount Fuji and surrounding area. Pretty exciting and will make up for our loss earlier in the trip of our rental car/poor weather. The title of our blog is Mount Fuji Music and it is true. You need to read further...

Hikaru has created an itinerary! Naomi's iPad has access to the internet as her pad has a SIM card and they pay a monthly fee for data usage. We have so many good conversations about a wide range of topics. Naomi shared a Japanese saying... "older people, their knowledge is like a stone - very hard." In other words, they are not keen to change their views. We asked whether the younger generation in Japan loves sumo and not really except for the young women. This is described as "sujo" = su for sumo and jo for young girls/women. This is good news that the younger generation is embracing a love for sumo.

Mount Fuji from a lake below. 

Hikaru's Itinerary. 

Our GPS route from Tokyo Shinagawa area to Mount Fuji. About a two hour drive. 

There are a number of toll roads on the way to the Mount Fuji area. The toll is captured electronically of course. Speed limit is mostly 80 km/hour. There are hidden speed cameras along the freeway. On the way to Mount Fuji there is a huge amusement park at Fuji Kawaguchiko. We believe there are two gigantic roller coaster rides!

Mount Fuji is a sacred mountain for all Japanese. It is iconic. At the very peak of the mountain is a Shinto shrine like all mountains in Japan. This January 1st they could see Mount Fuji from their home in Tokyo so 2018 must be a special year for Japanese. Japanese celebrate the lunar new year like the Chinese. Naomi is a tiger and Hikaru is a boar. It takes us at least one hour of freeway driving before we have cleared Tokyo. Signs of a place called Akiyama and in Japanese this means old mountains--Naomi and Hikaru's last name is Akiyama   :)

Our first major culture shock is turning off the freeway onto a 'service area' which in North America we would call a rest stop. Except this is no rest stop from our frame of reference. There is a mall, restaurants, Starbucks, souvenir shops and other conveniences. The place is very busy with travellers. There are Thai Buddhist monks wandering around on a holiday? This is the Expasa stop in Dangozaka. Apparently on weekends and holidays you line up in your vehicles to get a coveted spot in the parking lot. 

Naomi explains that there a other "stations on the road" called michi no eki and they are smaller. In Japanese culture you will pull over for food, rest, bathroom and shopping. Of course, many North Americans will drive very long distances with no though of ever stopping. I think gas is 162Yen per litre which would be expensive by Canadian standards. 

Expasa stop eating area. 

Expasa Menu board. Check out the choices and the Little Mermaid buns that have a stamp for that specific location. 

Every Japanese rest stop has a rubber stamp so you can collect stamps from all over Japan in your travelling. This is our stamp. 

Hikaru and Naomi.

Lana and Randy. 

Yup, souvenir shopping!

Outside of Expasa rest area. 

 Back on the road and on our way to Mount Fuji Fifth Station "Fuji Subaruline". This 'station' is fairly high up the mountain and a long travel from the road up to the station. A number of cyclists testing their stamina for a long ride up. From 5th station you could begin your hike/trek to the peak of Mount Fuji. Drive through the surrounding forest.

At this entry booth you pay 2060Yen for entrance. Check out the sweet Porsche 911 in front of us. 

Music from Mount Fuji. This will sound very strange until you experience this musical road. There is a section of the road before Mount Fuji entrance where specially designed rumble strips in the pavement create a song you can hear in your vehicle as you speed along. It sings inside your car on the way up and we discovered on the way downhill as well! 

Lana's photo of the section of the road that sings. While it looks like regular pavement--it shows the rumble strips that create the tones to create the song you hear in the car. Lana says this is quite the engineering feat--brilliant really!!

Yes, we have a lot of photos of the iconic Mount Fuji!

An excellent photo with other mountains framing this volcanic peak. 

Photo taken from Mount Fuji itself. 

Photo taken from Fifth Station. 

Map at Fifth Station. 

These red sandals are even too big for a rikishi, but they are perfectly sized for the god that lives on the mountain--Komitake who was revered for his large size. 

Shinto shrine at Fifth Station. 

VIDEO: Mechanical fortune dispenser at shrine above. Check it out--Lana mentioned this from the Nishiki Shrine in Kyoto.

Torii gates to the shinto shrine above. Lana, Naomi and Hikaru posing. While it was sunny when the wind came up it got cool. Plus, we are at a higher elevation. 

Menu at a Fifth Station restaurant. 

Yup, another tour bus on its way to the Fifth Station complex. 

Signage at Fifth Station talking about a charter to retain the character of Mount Fuji. 

Another pic of the huge complex at Fifth Station. This place was very busy with fellow tourists. Apparently in the summer  months only tour buses are allowed to Fifth Station parking lot. 

We are off on our hike along a volcanic path near the Fifth Station. Easy walking with no need of special footwear. Just like anywhere in the world when you are outdoors in a wilderness type area you say 'hi' in the native language to fellow hikers. In this case it is konnichiwa! This area is completely volcanic soils. Given the volcanic soil is black or dark it absorbs the heat and when walking in the warm weather it is in fact hotter! While walking you are hearing the crunch of the rocks below your feet. Not many hikers along this trail. Pretty cool to be hiking on Mount Fuji!

White birch trees seem to thrive in this soil and elevation. They grow sideways and not straight up and their bark is an amazing golden colour. 

Yes, I know this doesn't fit with the trail hiking, but throwing some colour in. These are Mount Fuji inspired cookies!

View from the hiking trail downhill to the green valley below. 

Pumice volcanic rock along the trail and it comprises everything around. You can feel the heat radiating from all the stones as you are hiking--very surreal   :)

Stone pillar along the hiking trail. 

Lana and Randy enjoying the hike and the incredible closeup views of Mount Fuji and its snowy peak. We are hiking with Naomi and Hikaru. Check out the volcanic rock/soil. 

Another example of volcanic rocks. They are incredibly light!

We drive to Aiya Restaurant which is close to the Amusement park featured earlier. It is a Japanese chain restaurant that Hikaru and Naomi enjoy. When you arrive you take off your shoes and then place in a locker and take the slotted wooden key. 

Lockers for your shoes. Nobody wants their shoes stolen!!!

These are the wooden keys--very old style Japanese--we first saw these when we visited a neighbourhood onsen on our last trip to Tokyo. 

VIDEO: Wooden key opening lock

We really enjoy our lunch meals! Large portion sizes and good value/taste. As well, they have the button on the table to call the server. We should demand these in Vancouver. Total cost of lunch for four 5159Yen. 

We take this as an opportunity to thank both Naomi and Hikaru for all they have done for us on this trip. Hikaru loves the sake bottle we chose and Naomi liked the small purse.

Randy's yummy and filling meal of mixed tempura, egg, tiny shrimp on top of udon noodles with a side bowl of rice topped with tiny dried fish.

Hikaru's lunch of fresh udon noodles with tempura. 

Naomi's meal of soba noodles with tempura. 

Lana's lunch of dan dan noodles with salad on top--she said this was delicious!!

Lana's meal came with a small bowl of chawamushi--steamed egg custard--silky, cream egg with seaweed and mushroom. 

After our delicious lunch, we are back in the car and to the rest of our itinerary which means visits to two lakes that lie below Mount Fuji that offer superb views of the peak above. These viewpoints are visited by the many tour buses that operate in the area. Lake Yamanaka and Lake Kawaguchiko. Yes, both lakes are fantastic viewpoints and offer more great picture taking!

Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchiko. 

Mount Fuji from Lake Yamanaka. 

Yup, this is a large Swan boat. I first thought it was from a Japanese Godzilla movie!

Parked at Lake Kawaguchiko. We have seen these go karts navigating the busy Tokyo streets. 

Yes, these are the drivers of the go karts and they are dressed like Mario Brothers characters. Definitely a fun Japanese activity. 

Last picture of Mount Fuji taken from Lake Kawaguchiko and behind Hikaru, Naomi and Lana. The four of us relaxed in the warm sun and took in the impressive views across the lake. Plus, beautiful area in front of us. Very serene although lots of fellow tourists. A great way to end the day of touring.

Back in the car and driving into Tokyo along mostly the same route we took to get to Mount Fuji area. Some places on the freeway where it was gridlock, but mainly due to a traffic situation with police. Good driving by Hikaru and we were safely back to our hotel by 19:00. What a memorable day travelling to Mount Fuji itself and surrounding area. We learned a lot more about Japan during our discussions. I went back to earlier blogs and added some interesting information about rikishi, stables and prize money. 

After arrival, Lana and I headed upstairs to the Executive Lounge to work on the blog and upload all the photos. The internet works dramatically better upstairs. Plus, picked up some small food for dinner and asked the hotel girl to make contact with a restaurant we are trying to get a reservation for tomorrow night, but the restaurant doesn't speak english. 

Statistics for today:  8,000 steps and 5.1 kms and 9 floors of elevation.