In which Layla and Roz visit Mount Fuji and are almost sucked into the lake

By Layla

After a very long flight from LA, we arrived sleepily in Tokyo, and staggered to the passport line looking very bedraggled, clutching a letter written in Japanese (saying, amongst other things, that we are a married couple) which we thrust hopefully at the passport officer. He shared it with four colleagues, all musing in Japanese. We smiled sweetly. And then, hey presto: our special Japan visas were issued! We danced into the luggage hall with permission to stay in Japan for four years. 

We went home that night, though our vacation was to continue, as it was late, and we proceeded to enjoy the dreadful sleep of the jetlagged. But waking up at 4am had its advantages: we were on an express bus at a sufficiently early hour that by 10am we were disembarking at our final holiday destination: Fuji Kawaguchi, or as the area is known, Fuji Five Lakes. This is a pretty holiday area set around five volcanic lakes at the base of Mount Fuji, and it is lovely. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and ventured out to the lake. It was a bit more built up and busy than perhaps we'd expected, but soon we were on a swan-shaped pedal boat having fun on the water. We had soba noodles for lunch at a random local restaurant, followed by amazing Fuji cheesecake (well, I did) and then we proceeded to the Kashikashi Ropeway. This cablecar took us up a little mountain, high above the lake, where finally we achieved the thing Japanese people are always talking about: a good view of Mount Fuji! We pottered around having drinks and ice cream, then found the hiking trail and walked down the mountain, a quiet and pretty path descending right to the Fuji Cookie Shop. Well, if I must... Mmmm. 

We walked back to the hotel and checked in, and soon it was time for dinner, at a nearby Indian restaurant which was not especially good but had amazing, giant naan bread. Roz took a dim view when I suggested ordering another... Back at the hostel, we attempted to watch Netflix but we couldn't keep our eyes open and before long we gave in to jetlag. 

Terrible mistake! I awoke at 3:30 while Roz had a long lie til 4... We got up when it felt vaguely appropriate, and Roz randomly had a Skype Japanese class. Then we caught the bus to the most exciting place on this part of the trip: Mount Fuji! The most famous, iconic and beloved mountain in Japan, we had considered climbing to the top, a 10-hour slog that absolutely nobody we've encountered has anything good to say about. We tried to persuade ourselves by reading accounts on the internet. Nope: it universally sounded miserable. So then we toyed with being vague on this blog about our Mt Fuji climbing experience... But in the end, we got the bus to the '5th station' and then left the hoardes behind to do an almost deserted, beautiful hike AROUND the mountain, walking through lava pebbles, past little trees and flowers, with cloud rolling over our feet. We even had a picnic! A completely delightful experience. We caught the bus back into town and contemplated our exhaustion. Perhaps what we needed was more food. This time we went to a busy Japanese restaurant famed for the local specialty: hotou noodles. At last a local specialty for vegetarians! We slurped the very fat noodles in miso soup with chunks of pumpkin and giggled at my having ordered a lemonade that came in a bottle whose opening mechanism was so bizarre that neither of us could figure it out. And, oh bad bad girls, went to bed around 9. 

Up before the sun, we were feeling a little apprehensive about the day's plan: hiking in Aokigahara Forest. At first glance this seemed perfect: accessible by bus, this forest grown on top of volcanic lava is beautiful and interesting and boasts various trails that are mostly on the flat: a big bonus as I realised we'd accidentally found ourselves in Mountains Central. But then when checking it out online, I learned the forest has another name: suicide forest. Apparently hundreds of Japanese people kill themselves there every year. People described its creepiness, its hauntedness, and coming across dead bodies. Not your average Tripadvisor hiking trail reviews... Still, I was attracted by the flatness of the promised trails. So off we went. 

We got off the bus at the Bat Cave so obviously we had to investigate that first. A really cool lava cave in the forest with lava stalacmites, we enjoyed donning our hard hats and exploring. But we couldn't delay forever. Onwards: to suicide forest! Thankfully it was completely fine and lovely. We walked for several hours along beautiful forest paths and really wished we hadn't read all the creepy things so we could have fully enjoyed it instead of expecting to encounter gory scenes around every corner! We picnicked in a wild bird park in a clearing, then headed onwards, finishing at a lava/wind/ice cave. On went the hard hats and we climbed down into another very cool cave - in every sense of the word! It was full of ice and pretty much freezing! When we emerged back into the forest, my glasses were completely steamed up.

A little early to go home, we were ready for more fun so we caught a bus to a bizarre and brilliant attraction: the Music Forest. This is essentially a museum of automatic mechanical musical instruments, and it is romantically designed as though in 19th century Vienna. Beautiful rose gardens on the approach, the opportunity to don fab dresses from the era, and then entry into a charming 'town square' on a pretty pond (complete with swans, plus an enthusiastic and impressive juggler). 

We went from building to building, crossing on charming little Venicey bridges. We saw a wind up girl teaching her parrot to sing her music box song; a teddy bear blowing real bubbles; the automatic organ that was supposed to have been installed on the Titanic (apparently at the last minute a decision was made to engage eight musicians instead) and perhaps the best of all, a huge room-sized organ complete with about a hundred little figures, all automatically contributing to the tunes with cymbals, drums and other tiny but real instruments. I don't know how to describe it. I want one in my house. Just as we went to leave there was a dancing fountain display with a charming mechanical set-up. We were 100% charmed. That night Roz did yoga with her new YouTube yoga idol Adrienne while I did some work, we had Thai food, played Scrabble and stayed up til the impressive time of 10 o'clock.

Not helpful though - we were both still up before 5am and flummoxed about what to do. So we kicked off by visiting an onsen (hot baths) which was lovely. Being so clean, it was impossible to know that in just a few short hours we would be so, so dirty... 

After the onsen we bought a picnic lunch and set off on a hike about which I had grave suspicions. It was, after all, heading up a mountain. Sure enough there was no denying the steep, unpleasant ascent.  We climbed up and up. Then I saw a sign leading to the lake. "Errr darling, you know we don't HAVE to climb this mountain..." I happened to mention. I was persuasive - but that left me in need of producing an alternative plan. "Let's walk around the north side of Lake Kawaguchi."

This was a good idea in theory. The north side had a charming, well-designed walking path. Until suddenly it didn't. Faced with the prospect of walking along a road with no pavement, I spotted a trail leading down to the beach and leapt on it. The beach trail was varied and featured some challenging walking through tall grasses by the water's edge. But we had our picnic, watched a waterskiier, and decided to continue on the beach 'path'. Except the path had more beachy grass. And then the ground was a little less firm. We started to squelch along a little. And then a lot. "Hmm, maybe we should turn back?" I wondered. But it was too far. Proceeding seemed like the best plan. 

Nope. The ground got softer and softer until our feet were getting muddy with each step - then our ankles. Then our shins. And our knees. This was suddenly a really terrible plan! One by one, our shoes got trapped in the amazingly deep mud. We dragged our feet out, heaved our shoes from their muddy graves, and walked onwards. Now barefoot, every step took us up to at least our shins, with this soft, deep mud sucking us down. This was the worst plan!

Finally we reached a beach area. We heaved ourselves towards it, wondering if we would make it. We did. We tried to wash off the worst of the mud. Then we climbed up and our and suddenly, incongruously, we were walking across a nursing home lawn like two deranged soldiers emerging from trench warfare. We found the road, we found a bus, and eventually we got back to the hostel for a very vigorous shower indeed...

We'd planned to stay til tomorrow - indeed we'd booked the hostel room. But then Roz, always an outside the box thinker, pointed out that instead of spending our evening in a lackluster restaurant and watching Netflix, we could spend it on a bus and thus free up our whole weekend for fun in Tokyo. I saw the benefits. And so, after a giant traffic jam, we rolled into Tokyo at 9pm - and since we were in Tokyo station, decided to break the tedium of mediocre meals by finally trying famed vegan ramen restaurant T's Tam Tam. They were very delicious indeed and we rejoiced in being back in Tokyo in time for a delightful weekend. But still, we cannot deny the facts. It's the end of our holiday. It's been amazing. I am not ready for real life to start again. 

Books we read while on holiday

Layla: 

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Unseen World by Liz Moore, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling and others, When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, Bilgewater by Jane Gardam, In the Wet by Nevil Shute, Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami, Secret Language by Neil Williamson, No Highway by Nevil Shute, Pied Piper by Nevil Shute, Round the Bend by Nevil Shute. Plus good progress into Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and The Reader on the 6:27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent. 

Roz:

In the Wet (Nevil Shute), The Unseen World: A Novel (Liz Moore), The Moonflower Vine (Jetta Carelton), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (many), The Death of an Owl (Paul Torday), When She Woke (Hillary Jordan), The Bertie Project (Alexander McCall Smith), The Silent History (Eli Horowitz), The Muse (Jessie Burton), and Rule Britannia (Daphne du Maurier). Plus good progress on Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.