We boarded the coach after a lovely breakfast heading for the Fuji Five Lakes area. This drive took just over an hour and took us past less populated areas of Japan and various small villages. We saw many homes with gardening plots full of various vegetables and some rice paddies. After arriving at the resort town of Katsuyama, we were ushered onto a small cruise boat. It was warm and peaceful apart from the blasts of the horn as the boat reversed away from the jetty. We didn’t realise that we were standing right under it until it deafened us! This cruise was very enjoyable but the main point of it was to see Mt Fuji from the lake. Unfortunately, Mt Fuji was surrounded by clouds and was completely hidden. We did see a good photo of what it would have looked like on a fine day, though. We continued our way to Station Five on Mt Fuji with the hope that the weather would clear. Station Five was the highest station that our coach could drive to at this time of the year. Any higher stations were deemed too dangerous, and you would either need to hike or ride a bike to higher stations or the summit. Our guide, Henry is quite the comedian but also very informative. He told us the sad story about the forest near the top of Mt Fuji is famous for being second in the world for a place where people go to commit suicide. (Apparently the Golden Gate Bridge is number 1.) We also noted that the entire time we were in Tokyo we only saw 3 homeless people, camped under a bridge. Henrey said that there are less than 3,000 people homeless in all of Japan. I was astounded by this considering their population. He also said that Japan’s unemployment rate is 2%. Arriving at Station Five we hopped of the coach and walked a short distance to the small village. The village was made up of a few shops and a couple of restaurants and a Post Office. We enjoyed a delicious lunch before heading out for photos of the Mt Fuji summit…….well we tried. Our photos will show nothing but fog and cloud. Absolutely no sign of Mt Fuji. Anyway, we had fun and I posted a postcard from the Post Office so I was happy. We left Mt Fuji, well we think we did and continued on our way to our next destination. As this drive was going to be quite a long one, Henry put on the movie called “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale”, starring Richard Gere and released in 2009. This movie was based on the famous dog who had a bronze statue placed outside the Shibuya Train Station which we had visited and seen yesterday, while out and about. It was a beautiful movie but many of us needed a box of tissues. If you research the movie and the actual historical background it is quite fascinating. As the movie was coming to an end and I was trying very hard not to cry, I looked out the windows opposite from where I was sitting and saw what looked like Mt Fuji surrounded by cloud but clearly some of the mountain showing. We had been travelling for about two hours, and I thought it could not be, so I asked Rob to check maps on his phone and realised were now on the other side of Mt Fuji. I asked Henry if it was Mt Fuji and he said yes!!! Everyone had been concentrating on the movie now got their phones out and took photos of it. It actually was quite funny. Once we arrived at our new destination, we dropped our bags in our room and went for a walk before buying a very light dinner from the local store next to the hotel.
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