Japan (Shizuoka) April/May 2008 D-4

Travel Highlight – Shizouka (Lake Tanuki, Mt Fuji, Shiraito Falls), Tokyo (Shibuya, Akihabara) & Yokohama

The highlight of today’s sightseeing activity was to visit the Lake Tanuki, Shizuoka and to capture a full view of Mt Fuji from the lakeside. Mt Fuji, at 3,776m is Japan’s highest mountain and is one of the natural wonders of the world. The local tourism brochure advised that the best time to visit Mt Fuji is from 1stJuly to 31 August, which is the official climbing season. During this period, the entire mountain lodge will be opened for business. You can drive up to Gogome, the Fifth station and it takes about 5 hours to climb up to the peak. Most could prefer to stay overnight at the mountain lodge to enjoy the sunrise in the next morning. You can also join a bus tour from Tokyo or Osaka to Mt Fuji. The kita (north) foot of the Mt Fuji is the best tourist spot and you can get a beautiful view of Mt Fuji. Other tourist spots are the Fuji Five Lakes (Fujigoko), which were created by the Mt Fuji eruption. There are plenty of leisure activities, hot springs and eating-places around the Five Lake areas. Various festivals are held in Mt Fuji during the four seasons eg the Spring Festival is held in February, Kawaguchiko Herb festival in June / July & Fujigoko Autumn Color Festival in October.

As Mochan had to pick up a group of overseas CS members from Italy in Shibuya station, Tokyo at around 1100, we had to start our journey early in the morning. As I had already waked up, I decided to follow Mochan’s bus to Shibuya. Keisuke, a local Wish Club member also came along. However, the other CS members, Hitomi, Artem, Vance and Claire preferred to sleep and laze around in the house and joined us later. We left around 8.30am from Mochan’s house and arrived at the station slightly earlier. Along the highway, I was lucky to catch a glimpse of the Mt Fuji – only the snow-capped peak but not the full view. Clouds heavily covered most parts of the Mt Fuji on that day.

At the Shibuya Station, I took a picture of the Shibuya 109 butikku (fashion) building, which is very popular among the teenage onna (girls). Sibuya is one of the Tokyo’s most colorful and busy district and birthplace to many of Japan’s butikku(fashion) and entertainment trends. I stood in front of the Hachi-ko and Moyai statutes and took a picture of each.

After meeting up with the Italian group, Mochan drove us to Shizuoka station to pick up Hitomi, Artem, Van and Clare (our CS members from France). At around 1330, we arrived at the Lake Tanuki and had our picnic there. While waiting for the cloud to clear from the sky, our group waited patiently at the lake side and prayed hard so that our dream of taking a picture of Mt Fuji would be realized soon. Some of our members were indulged in some fun activities at the lake; others were enjoying their lunch and chatting with their mates. The lake was not that crowded with holidaymakers at the time of our visit. I had a small lunch with two pastries, which I bought from a nearby convenient store. After an hour stay at the lake, our hope of seeing Mt Fuji this afternoon appeared to have waned. So it was bad luck for our group – sumimasen (sorry) and gomen-nasai(please forgive me), we chose a wrong day to come to the lake to view Mt Fuji. No thanks to a very cloudy day! Feeling dejected, one Italian member jokingly said whether “Mt Fuji is still in existence in Japan!”

We left Lake Tanuki at around 1430 and Mochan took us to visit the Shiraito waterfall. Ienjoyed the natural environment there as our group walked passes a jungle path leading to the Shiraito Falls. When we were near the waterfall area, the place was crowded, as everyone wanted to find an ideal spot to take a good picture of the waterfall. As there were a lot of greeneries around the waterfall, this place was very cool & refreshing! We met a group of Indonesian tourists near a wooden bridge and together we took a group picture using the waterfall as the background.

At around 1700, we left Shizuoka and headed to Akihabara, Tokyo. We said goodbye to our Italian members, as they would not be joining us for the rest of the bus trip to Nara and Kyoto. In Akihabara, Hitomi and Artem spent an hour roaming the electrical stores, checking the latest prices of various Ipods. While doing the shopping, two of the Wish Club members suggested to Mochan that we should visit Yokohama, since this coastal city is located mid-way between Tokyo and Shizouka. To save time, we bought a take away dinner pack from Yoshinoya, a popular franchised Japanese restaurant. I paid Y360 (RM11.50) for a pack of Gyudon (beef bowl), a delicious dish consists of soy marinated beef slices on a bed of hot steamed rice. If you do not like beef, you could opt for pork or chicken slices.

After an hour drive, we arrived at the port of Yokohama. A large bright Ferris wheel greeted us as we approached the city. We stopped for a short walk at a red brick old warehouse area, now converted into a shopping mall. We spent about 30 minutes at the Yokohama China Town, the largest in Japan and overseas. This China Town has an up market image and I was very impressed with the décor and the colorful lightings of various Chinese restaurants operating there. The menu price of Chinese food served in the restaurants in China Town was very pricey. Imagined the price of a plate of a Yong Chow fried rice was going for Y1000 (RM32)!!! – Crazy isn’t it! We ended our visit after taking a picture of a large Chinese Temple, located in the middle of the China Town. For me, it was really a worthwhile visit and Yokohama lives up to be one of the most vibrant port / city in Japan. Given that Yokohama is about 1 hour by JR train from Tokyo, one would spend a full day exploring and admiring the beauty of this seaport at your own leisure.

We were backed in Mochan’s house at around 22.00 and for me; it was another long and tiring day!

However good or bad a situation is, it will change. We pinned our hope to see Mt Fuji today but there was a change of weather ….