Japan Spring Time 2015: Day 8

The weather on day 8 was a bit gloomy but at least it wasn't raining just like what the forecast that day would say. I thought that it would be colder once we go up near Mt. Fuji; it's a good thing that the weather was ok although still cold. By Train, Mt. Fuji is about 2hours at least from Tokyo. So had to start the day very early..

5:00 AM	Wake-up, Breakfast, Getting Ready
6:30 AM	ETD Shinjuku Sta.

Luckily, Sakura Hotel Hatagaya is just a few minutes away from Shinjuku Station. Our train to Otsuki leaves at 7:30 AM. No rush as we waited for our train.

7:30 AM	ETD Otsuki Sta.
8:31 AM	ETA Otsuki Sta.
8:35 AM	ETD Kawaguchiko Sta.
9:30 AM	ETA Kawaguchiko Sta.

There was only 4 minutes of transfer time from Otsuki to the next platform, the train going to Kawaguchiko. So we had to run up the stairs, then down to the next platform to catch our train or else we would have to wait for another hour for the next train. According to my research, you can pay the fare on the train. No one collected our payment so we had to pay our fare at the Kawaguchiko Sta. PASMO Cards won't work as we didn't tap on our cards when we got on the train to Otsuki.

Tip: If you see on Hyperdia the tight transfer time from Otsuki to Kawaguchiko, catch the train leaving that time and just pay for your fare when you reach Kawaguchiko Sta. If you don't want to run just like we did, you can also wait for the next train but that would take another hour.

Far away picture of Mt. Fuji

Lake Kawaguchi

Once we arrived at Kawaguchiko, I bought our bus tickets going back to Tokyo via the Shinjuku Highway Bus. I got our maps and then bought our tickets for the hop-on/hop-off Retro Bus.

Retro Bus photo courtesy of Mt Fuji Explorer

You can choose from among the 22 view points you want to get off to take pictures around the lake or pictures of Mt. Fuji as your background. Take note that there are two types of Retro Bus, the green and the red. One of these lines goes around the Mt. Fuji area and the other one goes to the other lakes in the area. The one we took was the Red Line, it goes around Lake Kawaguchi then back to the Visitor Center/Kawaguchiko Sta.

From view point 14 or 17?

The recommended view points are 14,17,19,22.

From view point 22

From view point 22

From view point 22

There was still lots of time to spare so we went to the Kachi Kachi Ropeway. You can either walk up the hill or ride the cable car. 

Bunny!!

Cablecar

Snacks!!!

View from the hill

Bunny vs Raccoon

View of Lake Kawaguchi from the hill

After eating some rice cakes and then drinking tea, we headed back to Kawaguchiko Sta. We rested for another hour since our bus leaves at around 5 PM.

10:00 AM	Explore Kawaguchiko: view spot 14,17,19,22
	Visit Kachi Kachi Ropeway, lunch, then head back to Kawaguchiko Sta.
4:00 PM	ETA Kawaguchiko Sta.
5:10 PM	ETD Shinjuku

You can charge your devices at the Kawaguchiko Sta. and also buy your souvenirs. They also serve free water as well for visitors like us. :) Travel time to Tokyo was smooth and it only took about 1.5-2hours.

6:55 PM	ETA Shinjuku Express Bus Terminal
	Went to Shibuya for Dinner
	Explored Shibuya

We bought our dinner at the basement of Tokyu Department Store in Shibuya. It's the foodie's dream because the market was huge and there were lots of fresh seafood to buy.

There's no seats or tables so we had to eat it at the rooftop of the store. So cold but the food was great. We still wanted to explore more of Shibuya so we opted to eat it there rather than going back to our hotel.

Hachiko Status outside of Shibuya Sta.

Shibuya Crossing

Sailormoon make-up

9:45 PM	ETD Hotel
10:15 PM	ETA Hotel

After exploring Shibuya it was time to go home. Need to get ready for more Tokyo Adventures!!!


Expenses:
Food: Approx. Y2,000/person
Fuji Hop on/off bus: Y1,200/person
JR train ticket from Otsuji to Kawaguchiko: Y1,140/person
Kachi-kachi Ropeway: Y700/person for Roundtrip
Bus from Kawaguchiko to Shinjuku: Y1,750