Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen

Asian Adventure: Roof of the World Tour Overview
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific B777-300ER Business Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: The Cabin at HKG
Asian Adventure: Cathay Dragon A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong to Beijing
Asian Adventure: Regent Beijing Hotel
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Dongcheng District
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Great Wall
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Run-ze Jade Garden
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Legend of Kung Fu
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Tiananmen Square
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Forbidden City
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Qing Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show
Asian Adventure: Xi’an Wrap-Up, Flying to Lhasa, Lhasa Home Visit
Asian Adventure: Shangri-La Hotel Lhasa
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Canggu Nunnery and Sera Monastery
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Potala Palace
Asian Adventure: Leaving Lhasa and Flying to Chongqing
Asian Adventure: Viking Emerald
Asian Adventure: Shibaozhai Temple
Asian Adventure: Cruising the Three Gorges
Asian Adventure: Three Gorges Dam
Asian Adventure: Jingzhou City Walls Tour
Asian Adventure: Wuhan - Hubei Bells Performance and Provincial Museum
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Shanghai Museum
Asian Adventure: Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Old Shanghai and Yuyan Gardens
Asian Adventure: The New Otani Tokyo Hotel
Asian Adventure: Tokyo - City Tour
Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen
Asian Adventure: ANA Suites Lounge Review, Tokyo Narita
Asian Adventure: All Nippon Airways B777-300ER First Class Tokyo Narita to Houston

We'd made it to the final day of the tour and Viking had contracted with another tour company for a day trip out to Mt. Fuji and Hakone National Park.  When we signed up we had the option of coming back on a motorcoach or, for a few dollars more, to return via the Shinkansen, the high-speed bullet train.  Not knowing if we'd ever have the opportunity to ride one of these again, the vast majority of folks on the tour opted for the train.

After all the rain of the day before, we were thrilled to see the sun again.  That made the drive out of town that much nicer.  Normally the tour goes to Mt. Fuji first, then has a lunch stop before the afternoon activity.  But the rain in the city brought the first snow of the season to the mountain and the road was temporarily closed that morning as crews worked to clear the snow.  So we went to lunch first at a restaurant near Lake Kawaguchi-ko.  This traditional Japanese meal had a wide variety of foods so even if you didn't like everything on the tray there was bound to be something you did like - even if you couldn't identify it!

What lurks underneath those dish covers?

Some pretty good food, as it turns out!

The restaurant had a nice view of Mt. Fuji, which looked so nice with its new snow!

View of Mt. Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi-ko

Mt. Fuji

Those adventurous souls who hike Mt. Fuji from the bottom will find a number of stations along the way where they can camp each night before continuing on.  Station Five is the highest one that can be accessed by car or bus so that was where our motorcoach took us.

The usual tourist shops were present as was a small Shinto shrine.

Shinto Shrine at the fifth station

But the main attraction was the mountain peak.  We were told that the best view was on a platform over the gift shops but due to the snow these platforms were closed.  As we were looking straight into the sun our photos weren't the best but it was still a lovely place to be.

As close as we got to Mt. Fuji's peak

Konagatake Ropeway

After leaving the fifth station our bus took us down into the Hakone National Park where we eventually reached a dock at Lake Ashinoko.  Here we boarded a boat and cruised the lake until we reached the base of the ropeway.

The boat that took us to the ropeway

The building on top of the hill is the top of the ropeway

Now if you're like me you've never heard the term "ropeway" before and may wonder what it means.  I had visions of a ropes course where we'd all be set up in harnesses and latched on to safety wires as we walked over tightropes.  Though knowing who Viking's target audiences are I figured that couldn't really be what we were doing.  Sure enough, a "ropeway" is just an aerial tram like I've seen numerous times at ski slopes.  They did try to squeeze as many of us as possible into a single tram car and I decided to just wait 10 minutes for the next one.  Our car had only 15 people as compared to roughly 75 on the car before so it seemed a good move to me.  The ride had some scenic views and with so few people in the car I was able to move around to get better photos.

Going up!  On the tram as it ascends

Fuji-san from the tram

At the top we found beautiful views of the lake and, off to one side, of Mt. Fuji itself.  I wish the haze was gone to allow better photos but I had to take what I could get.

Mt. Fuji from the top of the tram

Beyond the top of the tram was a little hill and on top of that was this small shrine.

Shrine atop the ropeway's hill

Shinkansen

The bullet train experience was pretty cool but doesn't translate well to photos.  The train has a pointed nose, a bit like an airplane, and is very sleek.  Our station had four tracks with the two center tracks being pass-throughs and it was just incredible when trains went through the stations as we waited.  Once on board the lights were left on inside so it was difficult to look out the windows into the night and really feel like we were going as fast as the trains we'd seen at the station.  But the trains themselves were quite nice and we wondered if it wouldn't be cheaper to live away from Tokyo proper and take this train in vs. having expensive housing in Tokyo itself.  The outbound leg of our trip took about 2 hours but our return via train was only about 35 minutes.

Our last formal event was over and the three of from our original group of twelve had a farewell dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel with a couple who'd been in our larger group for the last three weeks.  It was an amazing trip but we were all ready to get home.