City Hotel The Popeye Fuji

Today we had a great day exploring outside of Tokyo at the Hakone National Park. It is about 80 km outside of Tokyo. We took a bus to the park where we took the ropeway (gondola) up to the area where there are sulfur springs due to the volcanic activity in the area. We had beautiful views of Mt. Fuji, who had had her first snow the night before. Once we got to the area of the springs, our guide told ...

... which consisted of a variety of small soups, fish, sushi and rice dishes all with unique tastes, textures and colours, a great place to experience some traditional eats and relaxation.<br><br>Only there for a short time but it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and a key souvenir spot! I've never seen so many cartoon fuji-chan souvenirs! Endless!

... 261; w&#322;asne niewielkie onseny, które mog&#261; by&#263; wykorzystane prywatnie (co jest praktycznie niemo&#380;liwe w du&#380;ych hotelach). W&#322;a&#347;nie z takiego tradycyjnego zajazdu - ryokana skorzystali&#347;my. Dzi&#281;ki temu mogli&#347;my zakosztowa&#263; k&#261;pieli pod gwiazdami bez towarzystwa innych ludzi. <br><br> W&#322;a&#347;ciciele polecili nam jedn&#261; z pobliskich knajpek. Ró&#380;ni&#322;a si&#281; nieco od tych, do których na co dzie&#324; chodzimy w ...

... and they assured us we would be off the mountain by then so took them. It turned out later that the return reservation was more of a "suggestion" than anything else.<br><br>Meera and I arrived in Shinjuku, Tokyo to pick up our tickets and got on our full buses to Fuji 5th station at 7:30p on Saturday night. Along the way, I got to see fireworks and this mysterious line of lights going up into the sky that I later learned was the huts and climbers already on the ...

... the smaller gong. :-) There was also a side path that had a lot of statues lining it. Chrystal &amp; I weren't entirely sure what they were but it was definitely creepy down there and then to get out of we had to climb a ka-jillion stairs. Ok maybe not that many but it was A LOT!<br><br>After that we headed to the 8 ponds ...

... short walk around Kawaguchi lake to get the cable car, James Bond style, up to the top of Mount Tenjo. Mount Tenjo is a smaller mountain to the north-east of Fuji that provides a (far) quicker journey for those with less time on their hands than those who tackle the significantly higher Fuji. It also provides an excellent view of Fuji (pictures to follow). The cable car didn't actually carry us all the way though and we stopped off at a viewing platform about ...

... way that can no return cross, Once chance may make for bad days&#8221;&#65288;&#12300;&#34892;&#12 365;&#12399;&#12424;&#12356;&#12424;&#1 2356;&#12289;&#24112;&#12426;&#12399;&# 24598;&#12356;&#12301;&#65373;<br>It was easier till the 6th station, but after that, there was no point of return. We had a transient clear sky and brief view of the lake and cities at the bottom. That was the only luck that we had. Staying the ...

... wall. As we went up the stair uncertaintly and opened the door, it lead to the shoulder to the one side of the two-way multi lane roads and had a little shelter, kind of looked like a bus stop. I looked around to find the clue of whether we were the right place or the right side of road (the south bound to the Fuji 5 ...

... to avoid it up until then. I put the skewer back, hoping to keep up my streak, but my conspicuous move didn't go unnoticed. "Sebastian dozo!" "Ah!...nan desu ka" (what is it?)... "Bone!" the teacher said in English, and pointed to his arm in case I wouldn't even understand that. "Ah!...tabemasu ka" (do you eat it?) "Hai! Dozo!" "Hai!" I said, as my hand wait straight to my beer. A few gulps later, and then I found myself thoroughly chewing the ...

... only found the etched/ink version. Then comes the long climb down. Although it takes nowhere near as long as the climb up, the climb down is still not easy. And it is infact where most of my blisters formed. The climb down takes a different route to that of the upward route, which is why climbing down only took me about 2-3 hours, although I was much slower than many of my group. Once back at the 5th station we were again free to explore the ...