Japan - Mt. Fuji !

Day two began with breakfast on the top floor of the Hilton. The executive lounge was one of the best I had ever experienced. It gave us a wonderful view of the surrounding area. It had all signs of being a cloudy day, so we believed our chances at seeing the top of Mt. Fuji were slim.

We were picked up at the hotel, same as the day before. We took a bus ride to Mt. Fuji - it was a about a two hour ride. We had the cutest Japanese tour guide.

 I can hear her now "The Japanese people have two favorite things : Shopping and Eating". My wife turned towards me and smiled saying "These are my people!".

As we began our ascent up to Station 5 on Mt. Fuji , the guide asked us all to lower our voices. As we listened we could hear, ever so slightly music being created by the tries running over rivets in the road. It was a neat experience like none other I have seen before. You can see/ hear what I mean in this Youtube Video.

As suspected when we arrived at station 5 clouds fill the sky and obstructed our view.



We hoped as we visited nearby Mt. Hakone  that it would give us a chance at a better view.

We did get to visit  some neat shops at our stop and stocked up on unique bottles of Sake. --->








                 
 





We enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant and got a taste of the local cuisine. I enjoyed a warm bottle of sake.

Lunch included pickled bean curd, tempura shrimp and veggies, white rice and Miso soup. There were plenty of other things I did not recognize, but I made sure to try them all!

                                                                                                         




Along the way we got to see some of the countryside.The image of  the rice fields were exactly like I had seen in pictures.











Is there a McDonald's in every town?












The architecture was amazing. This was someone's house!











We took a boat ride along a lake Ashi before jumping on a gondola ride up to the top of Mt. Hakone.

Of all things to find on a lake in central Japan : A Pirate Ship!







 



The lake was beautiful. There were resorts along the shore. We had sweeping views of Lake Ashi from the bow of the ship.










We took a gondola to the top of  Mt. Hakone in hopes we could see Mt. Fuji. The cloud cover was not our friend this day. We were told there was a small Shinto shrine at the mountain's peak. So we set off along a pebble path. After a short gondola ride up the mountain we encountered some peculiar stone markings along the path.




As we traversed the path we came to a set of stairs. As the mists parted we could make out a Shinto shrine at the top of the stairs.






At the top of the climb we found a neat little temple.
                                                    

We had a nice view of the surrounding area on our way down.








One of the highlights of the trip was the ride back. We took a bus on the way to Mt. Fuji, but on the way back we took the Shinkansen a.k.a. "The Bullet Train". There are three different trains, each at a different speed. The price of your ticket depends on how fast you want to get where you're going.

We were on the Nozomi, currently the fastest train. Reaching speeds of up to 180 mph we raced back to Tokyo. It was a very awesome experience. As we accelerated for the first time it was like nothing I had ever felt before.

Our first experience on ended on a sour note though. They advise you to line up at the door when the announce your stop. They are very punctual so they only stop momentarily, so there is a rush to get off and on the train. In our haste I left our Nikon Camera in the seat back pocket.

I didn't realize it until we were back at the hotel and looking forward to sharing some photos from the day's adventures.

Resolved to the conclusion that we would never see that camera again, I began to look up local places to buy a replacement. In my mind we would be able to get a good deal on a camera. Much to my dismay prices were no cheaper there than in the U.S. I thought about a lost and found, so I started searching the web. I stumbled upon an article describing an event where someone had left items on the train and evidently the Japanese are very honest,. The article described a scenario where the person found their items were at the lost and found at Tokyo station.

It was worth a shot, what could we lose right? The next day we took a train to the Tokyo station and to our surprise someone HAD turned in our camera. This is another example that made my admiration for the Japanese grow.

Check out our other days in Japan:

Day 1 :  Getting there and a tour of Tokyo

Day 3 : Tokyo SkyTree and Ueno Zoo

Day 4: Disney Sea & The Robot Cabaret

Day 5; Kyoto

Day 6: Final Day - Owl Cafe & a trip to Wonderland