Exploring Mount Fuji Alone 🗻 | Japan Solo Travel Guide & Vlog 🇯🇵 🌸

Exploring Mount Fuji Alone 🗻 | Japan Solo Travel Guide & Vlog 🇯🇵 🌸

because it kills me inside to watch it all burn in my head and I will never like I’m back in Japan. I’m super excited to be here because I’m dedicating this trip to be around Mount Fuji. I’m currently staying in the Lake Kabukucho area, which is kind of the most accessible area for most people to see Mount Fuji because this is where the bus stop is. But I’m staying in this hotel called Toyoko Inn. It’s a popular chain around Japan. And I got this hotel for pretty cheap, about like $35 a night, I want to say. And it’s pretty like spaciousish for a solo traveler. it. This space is still kind of small um to like fit your luggage and stuff, but for a solo traveler like me, I think this is like perfect. It’s super clean. Let me give you guys a tour. So, when you open the door, this is just what the room looks like. We have your bed. There’s the window. And then right here is just the desk and the TV. Um down here is just the fridge and the safety box. And then you have like other necessities over there. Um, right here is the bathroom. It’s just like any other Japanese hotel bathroom. You have a tub, sink, and then toilet down there. Yeah, not bad. Yeah, I booked this hotel like 5 months ago when I was planning to come to this um area. It was around like $35 per night. Super affordable. However, it kind of ranges depending on when you’re going and how early you book. I think if you don’t book as early, maybe it’s going to be about $65 a night. I’m staying in this hotel for three nights. I’m in this area for four nights total. My last night, I’m going to stay in a Rioin or a Japanese onen hotel. I’m super excited for that. But I just want to show you guys what it’s like to be around Lake Kawaguchi go and also uh what it’s like to like solo travel here. I’m going to be renting a car or I’m currently renting a car. I rented a car from Toyota Rent a Car which is a popular chain in Japan to rent cars from. I booked them three other times on my last trip to Japan like last month and it’s super easy. The website is in English, so it’s really easy to book and then you just go to the store. It’s about a 7-minute walk from the bus station to the Toyota rental a car branch, so it was like super easy. Renting a car was about $261 for 4 days. And I also bought insurance and also the etc card, which is the toll pass card that’s convenient to use if you’re driving on highways. If you’re not driving on highways, then it’s like not needed. But yeah, I’m solo traveling. It’s kind of scary solo traveling and driving on the other side of the road, but I’m kind of used to it now. I’m going to head out to dinner right now. Um, there’s supposed to be a good hotel noodle spot 2 minute away, like walking distance, and it’s pretty cold, so I am really craving something soupy. [Music] Good morning, guys. It’s 5:00 a.m. I’m warming up the car because it’s like frozen right now. It’s so cold. If you’re ever coming to Mount Fuji area, um December, January, it’s going to be really cold. So, definitely bring a lot of layers. I only brought one jacket. So, this is the jacket I’m be wearing, but I’m warming up the car right now. I’m going to this famous photography spot. Um, it’s about an hour drive from the main Lake Kawagucho area. You probably seen it on Instagram. It’s that famous bridge with Mount Fuji in the background. So, we’re going to go there first. This is what the drive is looking like. There’s two roads, but I’m going to use the toll road cuz it’s faster. So, I made it to the bridge and there it is on Fuji. It looks better if you have like a telephoto lens, but I’m the only person here right now. I’m going to set up my tripod and take some [Music] photos. I just got done taking pictures. I had the whole place to myself for about 30 45 minutes. I came right at sunrise and no one showed up except for like one local and had the place to myself. It was so nice. Definitely come at sunrise. I want to say on a weekday. I came on a Monday and it seems to be like less people. I think during weekends there’s going to be more people. I’m not sure. But yeah, there’s a parking lot at this area. So if you’re driving like me, there’s a place to park. I’m going to put the parking lot name in the description box or the Google link so you guys can like go to that directly. However, if you’re just going through this like dream bridge, there are signs where it says parking and it’s free. There’s going to be people like monitoring um parking and also taking photos cuz it is a very busy place. I think by the time it hit like 7:15, um, a lot of more people showed [Music] up. There’s this Mount Fuji spot where the Shin Kaisen uh, goes through. It’s kind of like a very scenic place, especially in the springtime where there’s like the flower fields right in front. Right now, it’s kind of bare, but it still looks so pretty. So, right there is Mount Fuji, and then the Shin Kinden just like runs through. It’s kind of a great place. Also, it’s so crazy to drive on this side of the car. Um, I’m not used to having everything be reversed. For example, the Prindo gear shift is like on this side. I’m used to it being on this side. And also, when I’m driving over there, the blinker is usually here, but it’s on this side of the wheel. [Music] [Music] I’m at this green tea field. I’m kind of disappointed because Mount Fuji is covered by fog right now. Um, it’s a really beautiful location. It’s so big. Um, it’s really quiet. There’s like a ton of green tea fields and right there is supposed to be Mount Fuji, but as you can see, there’s a lot of clouds right now. Um, I don’t think it’s going to clear up anytime soon. So, I think I might just like call it a day because sunset is about I want to say like 3 hours and it doesn’t look like it’s going to clear up. So, yeah. But I’m going to just walk around and explore the area. Good morning, guys. It’s day two in Mount Fuji area. I didn’t wake up for sunrise today because um I was just not feeling it. I just couldn’t go to sleep last night. I think it was because for dinner I had green tea and I think the caffeine kind of did something to me last night and so I just could not sleep early enough and then could not wake up early enough. But I think that’s okay because um I woke up a couple hours after um or an hour after sunrise and it was super foggy so it was a good thing I didn’t go. But it looks like the fog fog cleared up. And I didn’t notice this, but there is actually a view of Mount Fuji from my room. So, this is the view of Mount Fuji from my window. It’s so pretty. I know it doesn’t do it justice cuz of the window, but look at that. I think I’m just going to take it easy today. I’m probably going to go to a lake right now. Um, and also this like viewing spot about 30 minutes away from this hotel. Also, I’m probably going to wear the same jacket today because it’s super warm and it’s also very fashionable. It’s just in all of my pictures I’m going to have uh this sweater or this jacket, but it’s so cute. It’s from Revolve. It was like pretty expensive, like $100, $125, $110. I’m not sure. It’s around that range. But I love this jacket. You do have to dry clean it, which is kind of annoying, but it’s like such good quality. I think I found the exact brand on Amazon because it’s always sold out on Revolved right now. So, if you want this jacket, I will leave a link. [Music] So, I stopped on the side of the road because I found something super cool. Um, it’s a photo spot of Mount Fuji, but there’s cows here. [Music] So, I stopped by this rest stop about 5 minute drive from the cow place and it had like a lot of food and stuff. I ate some ice cream from there. And this area is called the Acagiri Highlands of Japan. Apparently, they’re really known for their milk and their soft serve um ice cream was really, really good. Highly recommend. It was 450 yen, so about $3ish dollars. There’s also like vendors outside. I’ve got one thing. It’s salmon creamy croette. This was 200 yen, so like a dollarish. I haven’t had lunch yet, so I’m excited. M crispy, creamy. The inside is more liquidy. It’s not like a fishcake type of um texture. It’s more of like cream. I wish it was more fishcake texture. That would have been really good. But not too bad for 200 yen. And they also had a whole bunch of souvenirs and Japanese snacks that you can purchase. So, I bought a couple of things. I bought these um chocolate cookies. They’re the shape of Mount Fuji. Super cute. There’s like matcha, chocolate, and strawberry. This was I want to say 600 yen. And there’s like a few of these inside. This lasts until like next year. So, I think I’m going to bring this as a gift for someone. There was also cheesecake there. Apparently, this cheesecake is really, really good. So, I got one for us to try together. And I also got a fulls size version because it’s my brother’s birthday when I come back from Japan. So, this is my gift to him. So, we’re gonna try this cheesecake together. Smells cheesy. M. The little cake was about 380 yen and then the big one was 1600. So, with the current exchange rate, I think the big one is a little bit over $10. I have a few hours left until sunset. So, I think I’m going to go to my final area for today, which is this like really pretty lake with swans. It’s pretty popular around Mount Fuji. [Music] A little bit. a little bit in love. Tell me if I’m [Music] wrong. I will leave my love behind and keep on talking to you. I just need a second. I can hear it. It all stay with you. [Music] Just got back to my hotel room after shooting at the Pagota. It was so beautiful there. Highly recommend. Um, there was quite a bit more people than I expected at the Pagota at sunrise, but it is one of the most popular places. You’re going to see like a lot of people there every hour of the day. But if you’re solo traveling like I am and you’re worried you’re not going to get a photo, don’t get discouraged. Um, you kind of just have to be patient for people to like move out of the way or you can just like ask them to like not be in the shot for like a minute. They’re everyone’s pretty respectful there, which is really great. I was able to get some really good photos, which I’m really happy about. But also, quick tip, I would stay about like 45 minutes after sunrise because I feel like that gets you the best light because I feel like about 30 to 45 minutes after sunrise, the light kind of like hits your face in a really nice way. And also when you’re going there, try to park at like the parking lot or like navigate to the parking lot because if you just navigate to the pagod, you’re going to get lost and it’s going to be really dark and you’re not going to like be able to find parking as easily cuz there’s a lot of like no parking signs cuz it’s within our residential area. So in the description box, I’m going to put where to park. So hopefully that helps you guys out. But I’m just going to check out of this hotel right now. This hotel is pretty nice um for the price that I paid. So, I’m super happy with it. Some pros is that there’s free parking on a first come first serve basis. So, there’s two lots and like the front parking. And also another pro is that there’s uh a shuttle service in case you don’t have a car. And that’s also on a first come first serve basis. But if they see a lot of people um needing a ride, they’re just going to come back right away. And also some cons um for this hotel is that the bed is pretty firm. So I wouldn’t recommend it if you can’t sleep on firm beds. And also breakfast selection was just okay. It’s not like as nice or abundant, but the food is decent enough to get you going throughout the day. But yeah, I have all my stuff packed into my camera bag and also my luggage. I’m gonna be staying in a Rioan hotel um later today, so I’m really excited. But for now, I’ll see you guys in town. [Music] I really wanted to try this dessert. It’s this pudding or I think panacotta dessert and it’s like the color of Mount Fuji. It’s so cute. I found I like found this place randomly on like social media and I can’t wait to try and I thought we would eat it together. I think the flavor they said is supposed to be soda, which I think if you ever tried the Rameun soda pop drink, the Japanese one, I think it’s supposed to taste like [Music] that. Wow. The top layer is like vanillay, almost like a very sweet yogurt, but not really yogurt. And the bottom is like semi soda flavor. It’s more of like a creamy soda. Man, it’s pretty good. If you like a creamy desserts, I would probably recommend this. It doesn’t really taste like panakotta, just more like sweet cream. It has like the texture of pudding as well. [Music] So, I just got to my new hotel and it looks so nice. It’s run by I think like a mom and pop. So, it’s like a very local small business place. It’s so cute and the view is amazing. I’m going to give you guys a quick tour. So right here is just the entrance way and this is just the main room where you have beds. I don’t know why they gave me two beds, but um you have a table right here and then you have a TV safety box and then you have like a chilling room here. But what’s great is that there’s a view of Mount Fuji right there. Wow. Looks so beautiful. And then I think this is I’m not sure what that is. A mini fridge. And then just the main area again. And then in the hallway is where you can go to use the bathroom. It’s like a very old style Japanese bathroom. This is what it looks like. It’s my last night in Mount Fuji and I think this is a really great way to end this Mount Fuji trip. I’m super excited and I want to talk about this hotel just a little bit cuz what they’re really known for is their private onsen. So when you check in, you reserve two slots, one um at night and then one in the morning before you check out. It has this like really incredible view of Mount Fuji. You’re just going to sit there and relax. You can only use the private onsen for like 30 minutes, which is honestly more than enough time. I usually just get tired of the onen for like 10 minutes cuz you get like overheated. And I booked the room where it comes with a kiaki dinner, which is this uh traditional Japanese multi-course dinner. I’m really excited for that. I think for this hotel for one night I paid 200 around $250. I will leave the exact price right here. And it also comes with breakfast. So uh I think it’s pretty worth it from what I’m experiencing so far. The um the older Japanese man was like really nice when I checked in. It’s right in front of Lake Shoouji, which is um a really beautiful lake with Mount Fuji view. I’m going to go there right now to take a couple pictures and hopefully maybe in sun when I when it’s like sunrise, I’m going to go there, take pictures as well. [Music] So, it’s my last day in Mount Fuji. I’m actually going to be leaving in a few hours to take the bus back to Tokyo. I am so happy I went on this trip and I’ve been so lucky to be able to see Mount Fuji every single day that I’m here except for today where um I’m leaving and it’s super foggy out right now. But I just want to say thank you guys so much for watching. It really really means a lot that you stayed through the entire video. I feel like this one is going to be a long one. I really hope that this video helps you on your next trip to Mount Fuji. If you have any questions or um want to provide some feedback or you just need help with anything, I am more than happy to answer your question in the comments or if you want to DM me directly on Instagram. I can also uh help you out through there. And before I go, just some quick tips about the bus. I would recommend booking that um ahead of time. You can either book it on Cluke or Japan busonline.com is where I usually book the bus tickets because I think it’s just easier that way and it might fill up quickly. I think for Cluke it fills up within like 2 weeks at a time. So, you have to like plan ahead if you’re using Cluke cuz I know that’s easier. But the online system works well. You can book it at the train station or the the Lake Kawaguchi go station, but it just gets super busy and packed there. And so it’s just better to plan ahead. But yeah, I think the bus takes me back to my um hotel or like near that area. However, for today, for some reason that bus is suspended and so we have to take the bus back to Shinjuku, which is fine. It’s like a one stop away. But yeah, that is it for the video. Again, thank you guys so much for watching. I really hope this video helps you out and hope you guys have a good day. Love you guys. Bye-bye. [Music] And I will never find better. How could I ever go?

Join me on my solo travel adventure through Mount Fuji, Japan! The trip was such a dream and loved every minute of it. Hope this video helps you out on your next trip visit Mount Fuji! 🗻

🌟LOCATIONS:
Toyoko Inn Fuji: https://maps.app.goo.gl/D7AkX4T3SSXhWR8p7
Hoto Tempura Wakana: https://maps.app.goo.gl/bD8GfVeLGNHrUtTC6
Fuji Dream Bridge Parking: https://maps.app.goo.gl/htJiEDGDV7AG741D7
Fuji Shinkansen Photo Spot: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9nE6d7ApmmLSNtBT9
Tagonoura Fisheries Cafeteria: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Zf7fxieg4LQSqE5f9
Obuchi Sasaba Green Tea Field: https://maps.app.goo.gl/o41QhtMM1SjHRKes5
Lake Tanuki: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WqYTVeSvN1QSWP6X7
Asagiri Sawayaka Parking: https://maps.app.goo.gl/JA4WrAm3kyJpphwz7
Asagiri Road Station: https://maps.app.goo.gl/bTpnUekATZUaVX6u6
Lake Yamanaka: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gxQnUiySeuYJsCm67
Chureito Pagoda Parking Lot: https://maps.app.goo.gl/XXtmqfad5QbNdntF8
Gyukatsu Restaurant: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Dgs9rvxCREVjNgwh7
Fujisan Pudding: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jUU6JHjoR3r6FV1X9
Yamadaya Hotel: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EwxSEw4eHQq4J6Qn7

🌟HELPFUL JAPAN LINKS:
Toyota Rent a Car: https://rent.toyota.co.jp/eng/
Japan Bus: https://japanbusonline.com/en

🌟AMAZON LINKS: (I receive a small commission if purchased through these links at no extra to you)
Main Camera (Photo & Video): https://amzn.to/44QO4ZE
Main Camera Lens: https://amzn.to/3YWcMEb
Vlog Camera: https://amzn.to/4kBg34e
Drone: https://amzn.to/4kBg34e
Flower Jacket: https://amzn.to/3HmzLSD

🌟STALK ME ON MY SOCIALS:
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🌟MUSIC:
Music by Calming Lines – Single Love Bombed – https://thmatc.co/?l=F7DF75C1
Music by Fine Sounds – Greg Biffle – https://thmatc.co/?l=796A500C
Music by Lyle Kam – better – https://thmatc.co/?l=E0F9BD23
Music by kawaiiwork – Cozy Morning – https://thmatc.co/?l=102F6A01
Music by Lyle Kam – all we do is talk – https://thmatc.co/?l=2880BACD
Music by Stephan Lawson Piano – A Passage Through Fading Echoes – https://thmatc.co/?l=70FE6081

Thank you for watching :)! You’re a boss ass biss and ily -Linh