Today we left Tokyo and drove to Kawaguchi, the second largest of the five Fuji lakes. On the way we stopped at a ‘truck stop’ which was massive, there were some interesting foods on offer. Lots and lots of sweet stuff and not much savoury.
Had no idea what was in these packages!
What the hell is this!!
At the lake we stopped at a cableway and went for a ride up to get views of Mount Fuji. I felt very fortunate to see the mountain, it was a beautiful clear day, apparently it is fairly hit and miss as to whether or not you get to see it.
You have to leave your pets at the bottom!
It was a smallish cable car and they crammed us all in! But so worth it at the top, stunning views and such a beautiful day, I would love to see this area in autumn it would be incredible.
We had lunch at a local restaurant, this is the local delicacy, Hoto, delicious broth with mushrooms, crab, one piece of carrot and noodles.
We then travelled around to the other side of the lake to the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum.
This guy used an ancient tie-dying technique (very time consuming and intricate) to create huge pieces of art work in the kimono shape. THe building was fascinating and the art works were mind blowing, we were not allowed to take photos but if you click the link above you can see some of them, although as usual, the photos don’t do it justice. It’s interesting, as he died in 2003 and his family sold the gallery but his family held the copyright for his images, so the gallery cannot sell anything which has images of his work on it – very frustrating. Apparently, they are fighting for the rights but it has been more than two years in court. Absolutely stunning building and reminded me a bit of Gaudi’s garden in Barcelona.
I pinched the above image from google
We then headed off to our hotel, which had a Japanese bath in it. Our guide went into great detail about the protocol etc, there is a certain way you wear the Yukata (cotton kimono) which is basically a dressing gown. Helen you would have benefited from this pep talk lol. You then proceed to the bath, wash yourself down and go into the spa, there were two pools one inside and one out – you don’t wear togs but go naked, got to see more of my tour peers that I would’ve thought I would!! Great fun though. Then you wear your Yukata to dinner, looked hilarious with practically the whole dining room in them.
The terrible view from my room.
