FUJIYOSHIDA, Yamanashi – Events are being held in the village of Yamanakako, Yamanashi Prefecture, to attract visitors with hot air balloon rides that provide splendid views from the sky of both Mount Fuji and the lake at its foot.
The village is home to Lake Yamanaka, the lake closest to Mount Fuji, but receives fewer tourists compared to other tourist destinations around the iconic mountain.
The local government hopes to make the spectacular view of the mountain and the beautiful lake from a hot air balloon into a new tourist attraction, aiming to eliminate the “tourism gap”.
In the morning of a late September day, an hot air balloon event was held at a grass field near Lake Yamanaka. The colourful hot air balloon slowly rose up and hovered at 15 to 20m above the ground for about five minutes.
The event was organised by the Yamanakako Tourist Association and a Tokyo-based event-planning company.
People who boarded the hot air balloon, which can fit five people, took photos or videos with their smartphones and enjoyed the scenery from the sky.
“Even locals have not seen this scenery,” said a 51-year-old man originally from the village who now lives in Kyoto Prefecture. “It was a fresh way of viewing Mount Fuji.”
During the experiential event held for three days, a total of 415 tourists and locals rode the hot air balloon.
According to the organisers, if the weather is clear, riders can not only view Mount Fuji and Lake Yamanaka, but also Sakasa Fuji, or upside-down Mount Fuji reflected on the surface of the lake.
The village is popular as a summer retreat because of its beautiful lakeside scenery and cool climate. There are recreation facilities for companies and university students visit the village for sports club training camps.
According to a survey by the Yamanashi prefectural government, about 450,000 people visited the village in 2024. This pales in comparison to the about 5.16 million people who visited Fujikawaguchiko and about 5.72 million who visited Fujiyoshida, which are also located at the foot of Mount Fuji.
One reason for this gap is inconvenient access. If visitors do not drive, they will need to transfer to a local bus at Mount Fuji Station on the Fujikyu Railway Line in Fujiyoshida, which takes 25 minutes to get to the village.
In the village, there are a few tourism facilities such as museums and roadside rest areas, thus it has been difficult to get visitors to lodge overnight in the village.
Therefore, attention was turned to the scenery that can be seen from the sky. The plan is to attract lodgers with the fact that Lake Yamanaka is the closest lake to Mount Fuji, so visitors can take photos of both the lake and Mount Fuji from the sky.
Fujikawaguchiko has drawn many visitors, including foreign tourists, because it became famous for a photo spot where Mount Fuji appears to sit on the roof of a convenience store. This inspired the idea of providing a Mount Fuji photo spot in Yamanakako.
The village’s tourist association and others involved plan to hold a second experiential event later this month and intend to hold more events next month and onward.
The ride costs 5,000 yen (S$41) for junior high school age and older, 3,000 yen for elementary school students, 1,500 yen for pre-school age children and 8,000 yen for foreign tourists.
Tourism officials in the village are also considering a lodging plan that includes the balloon ride experience, and is in discussions with accommodation facilities within the village. They said that early morning is the best time to board the hot air balloon because morning lulls are often seen with almost no winds.
“We hope that Lake Yamanaka can attract tourists as a morning activity, which will lead to overnight stays or longer stays in the village,” said Mr Keiji Matsumoto, chief of the office of the tourist association. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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