Mt Fuji Day Trip at Lake Kawaguchiko | From Tokyo | 7 BEST spots 🗻 | Japan Travel Vlog 2024

Mt Fuji Day Trip at Lake Kawaguchiko | From Tokyo | 7 BEST spots 🗻 | Japan Travel Vlog 2024

Today we’re going from Tokyo to Lake Kawaguchi to see Mount Fuji! It’s December 2024. One of the reasons 
we visited this time of year was so we had the best possible chance of getting a clear view of 
Mount Fuji. If this is high on your list of things to do. I’d probably recommend visiting between November and February if possible. You can do this as a day trip from Tokyo, 
but we’re going to be staying overnight, and we’re going to be showing you the top 
7 spots to see Mount Fuji in the Lake Kawaguchi area. So, there are two ways to get 
to Lake Kawaguchi. You can take the highway expressway bus or you can take the Fuji 
excursion train. Both go from Shinjuku, and I would recommend to pre-book. I’ll put 
the details for both in the description. But today we’re taking the excursion train. 
It takes a little bit longer than the bus, but the train looks pretty cool and it’s 
supposed to be quite a scenic journey. So, you should have pre-booked your 
tickets already and received a QR code, which you’ll use at a ticket machine like 
this to scan and get your paper tickets. I believe there’s one near 
the JR office in the station. Once you have your tickets, you’ll be 
looking for the JRO line platforms and it should depart from platform 9 or 10. The train is quite distinct and looks pretty futuristic. So, here are a list of the excursion train 
stops. So, you can go straight to Kawaguchi station for the lake area. A few of the spots 
on our list are going to be around there, but for the first spot that we’re going to 
visit, we’re going to get off at the Mount Fuji station instead. I’d recommend booking a 
seat on this train and also trying to get on the right hand side so you’ve got a chance 
of seeing Fuji on the way to Kawaguchi. We’ve arrived at Mount Fuji Station and 
there are ticket machines inside to get your bus ticket. The bus system here 
seems to work as a loop and you should be looking for either the blue or the 
green line going towards Oshino Hakkai, which is our first spot on the list. We 
double checked with the driver as we got on the bus. And as always, I would recommend 
using Google Maps to get accurate times. Oshino Hakkai village is a UNESCO World Heritage site- famous for its eight ponds that are fed by snow melt from Mount Fuji. The 
result is crystal clear water filled with large fish and you can even try the water 
yourself from a source at one of the ponds. It can get quite busy with tourists though, 
which is why we decided to head here first. Even if the weather isn’t perfect for 
you in Fuji, you can still enjoy your time here exploring the village, visiting the 
small museum, and trying some local snacks. In the past, Oshino Hakkai was an important 
stop for pilgrims who were making their trek up to Mount Fuji. 8 is an important number 
in Buddhism due to the eight-fold path, which is the path to Nirvana. And so pilgrims 
would make their way around the eight ponds where they would purify themselves in 
the springs before continuing their trek. Looking at this view, it’s not hard 
to understand why the ancient Japanese believed that gods lived at the 
summit of mountains like Fuji. At the carp pond, there’s an observation deck that you can head up to get even 
better views of the mountain. After some time exploring the village, we’ve worked up an appetite. So, let’s check out some local food stores around here because I’m starving. We’ve spotted Yakitori! which is something that we both love whenever 
visiting Japan. It’s just really simple and tasty. But I want to try this minced beef cutlet as well 
– it’s only 400 yen which is about £2. The food was tasty but I fancy something 
a bit sweeter. So I’ve spotted the stall selling these rice dumplings which is something I’ve 
not tried before. So let’s give them a go. I thought it was really nice actually. It 
does have a really subtle sweet flavour, but nice and chewy with a toasted after taste, 
which was nice as it’s starting to get a bit of a chill in the air. But let’s go back 
to the bus stop now. We’re going to head towards Kawaguchi station to visit our next 
stop. You might notice some signs with taxi numbers and QR codes if you’d prefer 
that, but we were fine using the bus. It was about half an hour on the bus 
to get to Kawaguchi station. The Fuji excursion train stops there too if you 
weren’t planning to visit Oshino Hakkai. This is the main hub for getting around 
this area. It also has quite a big gift shop inside if you want to get any Mount Fuji related 
stuff. If you can spot them, I’d recommend the Mount Fuji KitKats. I think they were like 
a blueberry cheesecake flavour and really nice. And the reason it’s on our list is on a clear 
day, you can get this view behind the station. And whilst here, walk 3 minutes to the nearest Lawsons. It’s become popular on social media for this iconic view. So, 
it’s definitely worth a look. Although there have been some issues with tourists blocking traffic, so we didn’t stay here for long. Next up, we’re heading to the lake 
area, which is about a 15-minute walk , and we’re heading up the Mount Fuji 
panoramic ropeway. You can get some really amazing views from the top, and the 
roundtrip ticket is only 1,000 yen per adult. It can get quite busy in more popular 
months though, so I’ll put a link to the website in the description and you 
can check the current way times there. At the top of the roadway, there’s some 
interesting information about Mount Fuji and the local area. You might notice a lot of 
images of uh Tanuki and rabbits. This is to do with a local folktale of the area. Tanuki was seen as tricksters and the statues show the rabbits bullying them. The 
actual tale is a bit gruesome, but I’ll put a link in the video description.
There’s also a gift shop that sells drinks and snacks, too. If you missed the Fuji KitKats from the station, you can get them from here. I think with the position of the sun, we’ve picked the wrong time to come up the 
roadway, but it’s still a really nice view. And on the other side, you can 
get a view of the lake as well. If you’re braver than me, you can also ride on these giant swings 
for a unique view facing Mount Fuji. And if you’re a weeb, you can get 
a selfie with an anime girl, too. There’s a rabbit shrine here too. In Shintoism, 
rabbits are normally a symbol of fertility and safe child birth. You can try some kawaraki 
throwing, too. The aim is to throw the clay disc through the ring. We failed miserably. 
Let’s head back down because our next spot is just opposite the ropeway. You can’t visit 
this area without taking a boat trip around Lake Kawaguchi. We’re going on a sunset cruise, hoping to get more fantastic views So, as you exit the roadway, just head 
over the road back to the lakeside and you should see the pier for the boat cruise. 
We just bought our tickets at the pier and I couldn’t find an option to book them 
online. So, I think it is a case of buying your tickets as you board. I will put a 
link to the website in the video description, though. Tickets for adults were 1,000 yen, 
and the cruise only takes about 20 minutes, so very easy to fit into your day 
if you’ve got a tight schedule. I believe that the boat and the flag design are inspired by the Waring States period, which took place around the 15th and 16th 
centuries and led to the unification of Japan. It’s a really interesting period and 
I’d recommend reading up on it or even watching the recent Shogun series 
and if you’re a gamer you can check out Assassin’s Creed Shadows or Ghost of 
Yotei which is set around the same period. We’ve been so lucky with the weather 
so far. And this is another great view of Fuji. I don’t know if it comes 
across in the video, but at sunset, there’s a beautiful blue sheen at the base 
of the mountain. So, if you are staying over in the lake area, I’d recommend taking 
the cruise around this time if possible. But now we’re ready for some food. So, we’re 
going to take a 10-minute walk around the corner to a beef cutlet restaurant that we found 
online. It seemed to have really good reviews, and you get to cook the beef to your 
liking on your own hot plate. We want to try the set menu. You select how 
many cutlets of meat that you want, which includes some rice and cabbage salad 
on the side and some salt and seasonings to try on the meat. I’ll put a link to the 
restaurant’s website in the description, too. The food was delicious and we only had
one cutlet each, so it was under And you get a free refill of rice, too. And 
now that we’re fed, we’re ready to check out our hotel. We’ve booked here to get some early morning views without any tourists around. Hatori no Hotel Ban is located on the northern part of the lake. We jumped on the bus was about 15 minutes. I’ll put some details for 
taxi firms in the video description, too, though. They have different room options from 
about £85 – £115 per night. We opted for the one with the open air bath in one 
of the chalets down the road. As it was late, the receptionist offered to walk us there, which 
I was nice. There’s a family Mart outside, too, if you need to get any snacks, as it’s a quiet area so not many restaurants. The room was really spacious actually. It came with two big double beds and space for a 
Japanese style futon if you prefer that. And outside there’s a small terrace with a 
plunge pool, which is why we booked this. I forgot that I’d grab some 
Mount Fuji theme beer at the top of the ropeway. And what better way to try it? Is it Nice? ….. It was not nice, but fortune favours the bold. And we did have Yebisu in the fridge. It’s about 7 a.m. and we’ve just headed over 
the road from the hotel to the lakeside. It’s absolutely freezing. It’s early December, 
so the weather’s definitely on the turn, but the views are worth it with morning 
fog is rising up against the mountain base Next spot is definitely an iconic view of 
Mount Fuji, especially during cherry blossom season. It’s based in Arakuryama Sengen Park 
and the nearest train station is Shimoyoshida. You can also get the bus here, but because 
we’ve got up so early, there’s no service, so we asked the hotel reception to book us 
a taxi and it was about a 10-minute drive. The iconic chureito pagoda is reached via 
climbing 398 steps and it’s positioned on a hilltop facing Mount Fuji, which has 
helped it become a really popular photo spot. But it can get really busy, which is 
another reason why we got up early today. I think ordinarily these steps 
would have killed me right off, but we had good practice climbing down Mount Mizen on Miyajima Island. And you can check that video out too. To be honest, the most time consuming part of climbing these steps is because you keep having to look 
back towards the mountain. It really is stunning. The pagoda is five stories tall and serves 
as a memorial tower dedicated to people in the local area who have died during war. 
I think with it becoming so popular with tourists over recent years for the views, 
I think it’s important to know the meaning behind the pagoda and its importance to 
the local area. We did manage to beat the crowds and the tour groups. And this is 
undoubtedly my favorite view in Japan so far. If you’ve already been to Japan 
and you’ve seen Mount Fuji, I’d love to know where your favourite spots are, too. And also, if I’ve missed any must do things in Kawakuchi, let me know in the comments. The walk down was a lot easier. We’ve had 
a great time at Lake Kawaguchi, but it’s time to head back to Tokyo. We’re going to head 
towards Shimoshida station and catch the express bus back. But before we do, there’s 
one last spot we can say goodbye to Mt. Fuji. We found this small cafe walking back 
towards the station. And on a clear day, it has great views of the mountain. 
You can grab some ice cream or a green tea and watch local workers farm 
the soil with Fuji as a backdrop. And even better if you’re a bit of a train geek 
like me. It’s located next to the train track. So you can watch them pass by and enjoy 
the view. You might even catch the Naruto train or the Fuji Express. You can check out our video 
to Nagoya’s Train Museum, too, if you want to see more classic Japanese trains. Looks like it was worth getting here early 
as the tall groups are starting to arrive. We’re just walking towards the train station 
now where there are more themed trains. And if you’re with any kids who are fans 
of Thomas, I think they’ll enjoy it. We’ve got a bus to catch, so unfortunately we 
don’t have more time to explore Shimoyoshida. If you do have more time, head to Honcho Street, 
as on a clear day, you might get this view of Fuji. For the highway express bus, I’ll 
put a link in the video description with all the details on how to book. You can get it 
back directly from Kawakuchi station to Tokyo, but we’re going to jump on just past 
Shimoshida as we’re here already. Our bus was a bit late, so 
we did start to panic a bit, but it did turn up eventually, and it 
was quicker than the train overall. If you enjoyed this video and could drop 
it a like, I’d really appreciate it. And I’d love to know what your Japan travel plans 
are in the comments. In the next few videos, we’ll be exploring the areas of Shinjuku 
and Shabuya in Tokyo. And then we’ll be taking a day trip to see the giant 
Buddha in Kamakura and Enosima Island, which had one of the best sunsets I’ve 
ever seen. So, you can click subscribe and the notification bell, and we’ll let 
you know when the next videos are out.

Our overnight stay in the Lake Kawaguchi area – travelling from Tokyo on the Fuji Excursion Train – we your 7 of the best spots to see Mt. Fuji in all his glory. Check out this video for tips on how to get there, where to stay and what to eat and do whilst you’re there.

Our top spots our –
1. Oshino Hakkai Village🐟🛖 (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
2. Kawaguchi Station / Lawsons 🚃
3. Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway 🚡🗻
4. Lake Sunset Cruise 🛥️🌅
5. Hotori No Hotel Ban 🗻❄️
6. Chureito Pagoda 🏯
7. Shimoyoshida Train Spotting 🍵🛤️

HOW TO GET THERE –

The Fuji Excursion Train – Timetable -https://e.fujikyu-railway.jp/fujikaiyuu/
To Book – https://www.klook.com/blog/fuji-excursion-train-ticket-guide/

The Highway Express Bus – Booking and info – https://highway-buses.jp/course/kawaguchiko.php

Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway – https://www.mtfujiropeway.jp/en/
Tale of the Tanuki – https://en.japantravel.com/yamanashi/the-tale-of-the-tanuki-at-mt-fuji-panoramic-ropeway/59497

Pleasure Boat Lake Cruise – https://www.fujigokokisen.jp/contents/en/

Beef Cutlet Restaurant koushuya – https://koushuya.com/

Hotori no Hotel Ban – https://www.hotorino.com/

Local Taxi firms – https://www.mtfujitimes.com/post/mt-fuji-taxi-list
GO Taxi App – https://mofutsuji.com/en/kawaguchiko-yamanashi-taxi/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 INTRO
01:33 FUJI EXCURSION TRAIN
02:40 OSHINO HAKKAI
06:43 KAWAGUCHI STATION / LAWSONS
08:11 PANORAMIC ROPEWAY
11:30 LAKE CRUISE
13:13 BEEF CUTLET RESTAURANT
14:21 HOTEL AND FUJI!
17:02 CHUREITO PAGODA
19:22 SHIMOYOSHIDA TRAIN SPOTTING
21:40 HIGHWAY EXPRESS BUS