When Mount Fuji only reveals herself roughly 80 days a year, catching a clear view can feel like a lifelong pursuit. Travelers arrive hopeful, scanning the sky, checking forecasts, quietly bargaining with the clouds. I was no different on my first trip to Japan, digging into my 711 egg sandwich while on the train to Lake Kawaguchi, wondering if this would be one of the lucky days.
We planned three nights in the Five Lakes region and somehow saw Fuji in full, unobstructed glory every single day, which still feels statistically suspicious. How did we get so lucky?
That luck was amplified by where we stayed: Hoshinoya Fuji. This luxury resort sits elevated above the lake, and every minimalist, glass-fronted room frames Mount Fuji like a living postcard. It is almost unfair to the hotels lower down.
Photo by Whimsy Soul
After six amazing, yet frenetic, days in Tokyo, arriving at Hoshinoya Fuji felt like exhaling after holding your breath too long. The silence was immediate….no traffic, no overlapping restaurant smells, no neon lights at night. Just clean air, trees, stars in the sky. And silence. Real silence.
When you arrive to Hoshinoya Fuji, the experience begins at the gatehouse, a bright, airy space lined wall to wall with colorful backpacks. Guests are invited to choose one. Inside are small essentials for the stay, including a lantern, bear bells, and binoculars for wildlife spotting.
Photo by Whimsy Soul
From there, a short shuttle winds up the hill through the forest. We visited in late November, right at the peak of fall foliage. Reds, golds, and deep oranges blurred past the windows, and for a moment it genuinely felt like we were slipping l into another world, a whole side of Japan many overlook for bustling concrete cities.
After check-in, we were guided up to the Cloud Terrace, a multi-level gathering space built beneath towering trees. Cozy chairs, tables, and fire pits are scattered throughout.
Guests are welcomed with a glass of local Japanese sparkling wine made from Koshu grapes and a brûléed treat, while staff review activities and dining options. The air carries the scent of fallen leaves and wood smoke, layered with cedar and roasted nuts. It immediately signals that time will move differently here.
Photo by Whimsy Soul
Hoshinoya Fuji is often described as luxury glamping, but for American travelers, that term deserves clarification. These are not tents. The rooms are fully enclosed hotel rooms with real bathrooms, showers, heating, electricity, and coffee stations. The glamping element lives in the shared spaces, which are largely outdoors and designed to keep guests connected to the surrounding forest.
The property offers a steady rhythm of activities meant to encourage presence and disconnection. One evening, we visited the fragrance-making station on the Cloud Terrace, where guests create their own distilled scent to take home.
Another day, we joined a pizza-making class that used local shiso leaves blended into a bright, herbaceous pesto. We cooked our pizzas in a wood-fired oven and ate together beneath the trees. I realized halfway through lunch that my phone had been sitting in my bag the entire time.
Photo by Whimsy Soul
For guests eager to lean further into the outdoors, there are options like canoeing on the lake and wood chopping lessons. The hotel gently nudges you outside without ever making it feel performative which is harder to pull off than it sounds.
While Hoshinoya Fuji makes it tempting to never leave the property, I do recommend setting aside an afternoon to explore Aokigahara, the nearby lava field forest with a deep history. Ascetic Buddhist monks would spend months living in lava caves in the forest before earning the right to climb Mount Fuji.
We took a taxi after our pizza lunch and stepped into a landscape that felt eerily similar to Washington State’s Hoh Rainforest. Moss draped trees, soft silence, the smell of damp earth, and roots winding through hardened lava beds. Yes, Twilight jokes were made.
Food at Hoshinoya Fuji is an experience in itself. The property’s restaurant delivers multi-course menus built entirely around seasonal ingredients. They work with local hunters to source wild boar and venison, resulting in dishes that feel deeply connected to place.
Photo by Whimsy Soul
Our dinner included venison tartare with kuromoji gin jelly, wild boar sausage, hoba miso matsutake, sablone dobin mushi, and a dessert of baba auz raisin perfumed with Hakushu whisky. Each course felt deliberate and quietly luxurious without leaning into excess.
Later that evening, we returned to the Cloud Terrace for live music around the fire, a nightly ritual for guests. We sipped local Japanese whisky, snacked on nuts roasted earlier that day, and listened as a local musician played sound bowls.
As memorable as the shared spaces were, the rooms remained the undeniable highlight. With Mount Fuji filling the entire view, leaving felt unnecessary. The hotel anticipates this.
The first time we opened our room door was sunset after checking in, and I genuinely froze. Mount Fuji stood directly in front of us, glowing violet as the sun dipped lower. In Shinto tradition, she is Konohanasakuya hime, and in that moment, the mountain felt less like a landmark and more like a presence.
Photo by Whimsy Soul
I spent much of our stay simply sitting, staring at the mountain, watching the light shift across her slopes. It felt indulgent and meditative in equal measure.
We aren’t the only guests who cherished time in their room. Breakfast boxes can be delivered directly to your room in the morning. Dinner can arrive as a hot pot meal set atop a heated kotatsu table on your private patio, complete with a nearby fire pit.
Our hot pot dinner started after sundown, and when we turned off the lights, Fuji was still visible, just an outline against the dark. It felt absurd in the best way. How were we still seeing her? How did we get this lucky?
Photo by Whimsy Soul
Hoshinoya Fuji succeeds because it understands balance. Plush beds, beautifully designed bathrooms, refined dining, and excellent local wine coexist seamlessly with outdoor fire pits, forest paths, and open-air gathering spaces. Luxury and nature are not competing here, they’re working together.
On our flight home to San Francisco, we met another couple returning from Japan who had also stayed near Lake Kawaguchi. The wife mentioned she had almost booked Hoshinoya Fuji but chose a different hotel instead. When I showed her a few photos from our room, taken casually on my phone, she paused and laughed. “Oh,” she said, “we messed up. We should have booked that.”
She was right.
If you are planning a trip to Japan, carve out time away from the constant motion of its cities. Come to Mount Fuji. Stay a few nights at Hoshinoya Fuji resort, put your phone down, and let the forest quiet your senses. And if you are lucky like us, you’ll wake up each morning to views of Mount Fuji waiting for you.
AloJapan.com