Kawaguchiko

If you want a stunning view of Fuji, head to Kawaguchiko! Kawaguchiko’s actually the name of one of the lakes surrounding Fuji, and the surrounding town, Fujikawaguchiko-machi, is a lovely place to visit.

We stayed at the Sunnide Resort, where the staff was super friendly and the onsen (hot springs) had superb views of the volcano! (I didn’t actually go in because I don’t love public bathing, but the others loved it.) The view from our rooms was also amazing (see below). All the hotel staff were telling us how lucky we were since it was snowing just a few days before – they couldn’t see Fuji at all!

Happily, we got to see an unobstructed Mt. Fuji both days (though it got cloudy towards the evening).

The resort had a really beautiful dinner, complete with sashimi, steamed noodles and a variety of small, traditional bites. Even the dessert was Fuji-shaped 🙂

While the Sunnide staff was very kind and friendly to all of their guests, they seemed particularly enthusiastic about chatting with me and helping us whenever we needed something (very likely due to the fact that I was the only Japanese speaker in our party, and there were many non-Japanese tourists when we stayed).

At the end of the first dinner, for example, two of the dining staff came over and handed me written notes with suggestions on what we should eat/see in Kawaguchiko. One of them told us of a wonderful houtou restaurant, where she said we could get really delicious houtou – a noodle specialty of the region. The other gave us a list of all wines that he recommended we try, as wine is also a specialty of the Yamanashi prefecture.

On the second day of our trip, we planned to visit the Itchiku Kubota museum (which houses the master kimonos dyed by the late Mr. Kubota) and then go in search of the wines and the houtou that were recommended to us the night before. On the way to the museum, we encountered a curious creature:

Can you guess what it is?? 😀