{"id":2541,"date":"2015-08-30T21:19:18","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T01:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/?p=2541"},"modified":"2023-08-08T15:32:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T19:32:43","slug":"japan-fuji-to-yudanaka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/japan-fuji-to-yudanaka\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan | Pt. 2 | Fuji to Yudanaka"},"content":{"rendered":"\"ME3A5779\"\n

We begin the next leg of our jour\u00adney imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly from where we left off in Part 1<\/a>, leav\u00ading the bright lights and bustling sounds of Tokyo<\/a> for the qui\u00adet beau\u00adty of the Japan\u00adese countryside.<\/p>\n

This is prob\u00ada\u00adbly our favourite part of our trav\u00adels across Japan \u2014 it\u2019s also the short\u00adest, at two days with sev\u00aden hours on the train between them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just over halfway to Mt. Fuji, our train from Tokyo came to a halt at \u014ctsu\u00adki sta\u00adtion, a quaint lit\u00adtle ter\u00admi\u00adnal with wood\u00aden accents that gave it a lodge\u2011y (if not toy-like) feel. Guides ush\u00adered guests to their next stop and, as we bought our tick\u00adets for the next train, one of them sug\u00adgest\u00aded we take the Fujikyu Rail\u00adway instead of any of the oth\u00ader options. He hint\u00aded that we would enjoy it more, and that if it was our first time in the area, it was a must. He was right.<\/p>\n

\"Japan\"Fujikyu\"Fujikyu<\/p>\n

Like some\u00adthing out of a Wes Ander\u00adson movie, each cab\u00adin was metic\u00adu\u00adlous\u00adly dec\u00ado\u00adrat\u00aded to look like a ski lodge, com\u00adplete with com\u00adfort\u00adable sofas to lounge on as Mt. Fuji comes into view. A pre-recorded nar\u00adra\u00adtion \u2014 in both Japan\u00adese and Eng\u00adlish \u2014 directs pas\u00adsen\u00adgers to notable sights through\u00adout the ride. It was an amaz\u00ading expe\u00adri\u00adence and one that would be hard to pass up on even the next time we make our way to Fuji.<\/p>\n

\"Fujikyu\"Fujikyu<\/p>\n

We arrived at Kawaguchiko, part of the Fuji Five Lakes area, where we were imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly greet\u00aded by what would have been our oth\u00ader mode of trav\u00adel \u2014 a train dec\u00ado\u00adrat\u00aded with Fuji car\u00adtoons \u2014 amongst oth\u00ader Fuji-themed sights.<\/p>\n

\"Fuji\"Kawaguchiko\"Kawaguchiko<\/p>\n

It was get\u00adting dark quick\u00adly, so we shut\u00adtled it to our hotel, Shuhokaku Koget\u00adsu<\/a>. This, along with our hotel in Yudana\u00adka, were ryokans. Ryokans are more tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal, atmos\u00adpher\u00adic inns in Japan, com\u00adplete with slid\u00ading paper doors, yukatas (casu\u00adal kimonos), pri\u00advate kaise\u00adki (tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal multi-course Japan\u00adese din\u00adner), and pub\u00adlic onsens. These may or may not be your cup of tea, but in Japan, these are lux\u00adu\u00adry and pre\u00adferred over tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal West\u00adern accom\u00admo\u00adda\u00adtions, and they\u2019re priced accord\u00ading\u00adly as well.<\/p>\n

\"Shuhokaku\"Ryokan<\/p>\n

Speak\u00ading of cups of tea, there was a pot of freshly-brewed green tea in the room when we arrived. It was a nice warm way to end a long day of trav\u00adel\u00ading and start what would be a very short, yet awe-inspiring stay near Mt. Fuji.<\/p>\n

\"Mt.\"Mt.\"Kaiseki<\/p>\n

The Kaise\u00adki din\u00adner was wel\u00adcome, although not entire\u00adly edi\u00adble. There were a few hits, and some dis\u00adas\u00adtrous miss\u00ades, usu\u00adal\u00adly in the form of an unrec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable gooey sub\u00adstance. We knew there would be horse meat at some point, and it was actu\u00adal\u00adly one of the bet\u00adter tast\u00ading meats in the meal \u2014 in fact, it was delicious.<\/p>\n

We were told there was a maple fes\u00adti\u00adval hap\u00adpen\u00ading just down the road, so we went to check it out after din\u00adner. It was a nice short walk through a park with elab\u00ado\u00adrate light\u00ading set up to accent the chang\u00ading leaves of the maple trees at night. We want\u00aded to vis\u00adit Fujiya\u00adma Cook\u00adie<\/a>, but because Kawaguchiko is such a small town, every\u00adthing clos\u00ades pret\u00adty ear\u00adly. Our only regret was not arriv\u00ading any ear\u00adli\u00ader that day. See\u00ading as we were tak\u00ading off the next morn\u00ading, we would be leav\u00ading this serene lit\u00adtle spot unexplored.<\/p>\n\"Kawaguchiko\n

BUT we did go for a hike in the morn\u00ading just before leav\u00ading to get a bet\u00adter look at Mt. Fuji. The view across the lake was noth\u00ading short of breath\u00adtak\u00ading. Actu\u00adal\u00adly, it was inde\u00adscrib\u00adable and we only hope that these pho\u00adtos do it justice.<\/p>\n

We real\u00adly weren\u2019t expect\u00ading to feel any\u00adthing when look\u00ading out unto that lake, Fuji tow\u00ader\u00ading in the back\u00adground \u2014 we\u2019re not ones to be awed by things like that \u2014 but it\u2019s hard to not be com\u00adplete\u00adly tak\u00aden aback by its grandeur and sheer beauty.<\/p>\n

\"Mt.

Vic\u00adto\u00adria walk\u00ading over to the per\u00adfect van\u00adtage point.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Mt.\"Mt.<\/p>\n

We left Fuji for what would be a 6\u2011hour sequence of train rides to Yudana\u00adka, the most rur\u00adal loca\u00adtion in our itin\u00ader\u00adary. We picked up lots of snacks and a hand\u00adful of ques\u00adtion\u00adable alco\u00adholic drinks for the jour\u00adney. A cou\u00adple of trans\u00adfers (and one near dev\u00adas\u00adtat\u00ading miss of the last train to our des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion) lat\u00ader and we had arrived at Yudanaka.<\/p>\n

It was anoth\u00ader small town, but sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly devel\u00adoped for being the most rur\u00adal and most remote stop on the train route.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There were two things we were real\u00adly excit\u00aded for here: trekking to the Jigoku\u00addani Mon\u00adkey Park, and enjoy\u00ading our own pri\u00advate onsen on the bal\u00adcony of our room. It was per\u00adhaps this excite\u00adment that pushed us to forego call\u00ading our hotel\u2019s shut\u00adtle and walk there instead (\u201cIt\u2019s only 5 min\u00adutes away!\u201d). After so many hours of sit\u00adting, it was nice to stretch out our legs, breath in the clean\u00ader air and take in all the sights.<\/p>\n

\"Yudanaka,\"Yudanaka,<\/p>\n

We quick\u00adly real\u00adized that instead of tak\u00ading the road that our hotel was on, we had strolled down a par\u00adal\u00adlel street that slow\u00adly broke away from our des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion but that Google Maps assured us con\u00adnect\u00aded to it lat\u00ader down the road. Only thing was that these par\u00adal\u00adlel roads were simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly ascend\u00ading and descend\u00ading and the lit\u00adtle con\u00adnec\u00adtion that Google let us in on was a mas\u00adsive climb of tiny steps up the side of the hill. Because Ricar\u00addo is ter\u00adri\u00adfied of heights, this was a hilar\u00adi\u00adous\u00adly enter\u00adtain\u00ading mile\u00adstone, which he sort of crab-walked towards the end.<\/p>\n\"Yudanaka,\n

We reached the Ryokan Biyu no Yado<\/a>, which was eas\u00adi\u00adly one of our favourite hotels from the entire trip. We admired the view from our bal\u00adcony. Nes\u00adtled amongst the moun\u00adtains that cir\u00adcle the vil\u00adlage in, Yudana\u00adka was an incred\u00adi\u00adble place to sim\u00adply stare off at. Look down at the town and you\u2019re greet\u00aded by intri\u00adcate lit\u00adtle roads and build\u00adings that slow\u00adly trick\u00adle off into the moun\u00adtains; squint hard enough and you\u2019ll see tiny hints of hot spring smoke form\u00ading along these mountains.<\/p>\n

\"Yudanaka,\"Yudanaka,\"Yudanaka,\"Yudanaka,\"Yudonaka\"Yudonaka<\/p>\n

The water in our bal\u00adcony onsen was actu\u00adal\u00adly fun\u00adnelled in from one of these hot springs and there was noth\u00ading we want\u00aded to do more than enjoy it. We jumped into our yukatas, and head\u00aded down to din\u00adner \u2014 anoth\u00ader kaise\u00adki, albeit a tasti\u00ader one that we paired with some sake. The hotel own\u00aders came to check in on us at din\u00adner and, despite liv\u00ading in this most remote area of Japan, we were sur\u00adprised to find they spoke per\u00adfect eng\u00adlish (bet\u00adter than any\u00adthing we had encoun\u00adtered in Tokyo) and have a daugh\u00adter attend\u00ading U of T. We talked about Toron\u00adto, they thanked us for stay\u00ading at their hotel, and then filled us in on the fact that we had the only pri\u00advate onsen in the entire ryokan. They told us a lit\u00adtle bit about the his\u00adto\u00adry behind the hot springs and how spe\u00adcial the room was \u2014 it was a nice touch to a very mem\u00ado\u00adrable din\u00adner. We felt com\u00adplete\u00adly tak\u00aden care of and hum\u00adbled by their ser\u00advice. After din\u00adner, we went and enjoyed the now-infamous onsen.<\/p>\n

\"ME3A5903\"\"ME3A5904\"<\/p>\n

The next day, we made our way to the mon\u00adkey park to see some free-roaming mon\u00adkeys bask in their own pri\u00advate hot spring. Prob\u00ada\u00adbly most famous in the win\u00adter, when the \u201csnow mon\u00adkeys\u201d all set\u00adtle into one hot spring to bathe each oth\u00ader, it was still quite the sight in the fall and the mon\u00adkeys were a lit\u00adtle more com\u00adfort\u00adable mov\u00ading around, in and out\u00adside of the hot water. We had a long hike through the woods and up the moun\u00adtain before reach\u00ading the park itself \u2014 which was a wel\u00adcome surprise.<\/p>\n

\"Japanese\"ME3A6284\"\"ME3A6017\"\"ME3A6028\"\"ME3A6034\"\"ME3A6218\"\"ME3A6024\"\"Jigokudani<\/p>\n

I\u2019m try\u00ading to find a word oth\u00ader than amaz\u00ading or breath\u00adtak\u00ading to describe both the hike and our expe\u00adri\u00adence with these mon\u00adkeys, since I\u2019ve been throw\u00ading those descrip\u00adtors around through\u00adout the entire post. Astound\u00ading. let\u2019s go with that. The mon\u00adkeys were sim\u00adply at peace enjoy\u00ading their baths. They either weren\u2019t ful\u00adly aware of or ful\u00adly didn\u2019t care about all the guests around them snap\u00adping away on their cam\u00aderas. Did we not have a train to Kyoto to catch, we could\u2019ve spent hours star\u00ading at these love\u00adly creatures.<\/p>\n

\"Jigokudani\"Jigokudani\"Jigokudani\"Jigokudani\"Jigokudani\"Jigokudani\"Jigokudani<\/p>\n

We ran the wind\u00ading paths back to our hotel shut\u00adtle. They brought our bags and took us to the train sta\u00adtion just in time to start mak\u00ading our way south to Kyoto. We had a long jour\u00adney back and a lot more of Japan to expe\u00adri\u00adence, but were still in awe at every\u00adthing we had seen and done in just two days. We had so much to talk about and relive. We also had a lot more Break\u00ading Bad to get through.<\/p>\n

\"Japanese\"Japanese<\/p>\n

Our next post<\/a> will see us mak\u00ading our way through Kyoto, Osa\u00adka, And Fukuo\u00adka. You can find that post here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We begin the next leg of our jour\u00adney imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly from where we left off in Part 1, leav\u00ading the bright lights and bustling sounds of Tokyo for the qui\u00adet beau\u00adty of the Japan\u00adese coun\u00adtry\u00adside. This is prob\u00ada\u00adbly our favourite part of our trav\u00adels across Japan \u2014 it\u2019s also the short\u00adest, at two days with seven [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2541"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4490,"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541\/revisions\/4490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outsideinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}