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Lake Kawaguchiko
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Monday/Tuesday April 21,22 - Arrived Narita International Airport North of Tokyo about 4:30 pm from SLC/Seattle. We changed some money to yen, picked up Richards mobile wifi at the post office, checked on phones, validated our JR Train passes and headed for the hotel. After a light dinner we attempted to sleep.
Wednesday April 23 - We slept until about 3am. After breakfast buffet, we reserved seats and caught an express train to Shinjuku (within 3 minutes of getting to the ticket office). Waited a bit for our Kofu train and made one more transfer to get to Kawaguchiko by about 3PM check-in time. The gods were with us all the way and my first train experience was flawless!
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Train to Mt. Fuji
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It was wonderful to see the countryside between Narita and Fujisan. Many farms, rice patties and fields and flowering trees. Fuji was cloud covered at the top but eventually cleared. We were surprised to find the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Thought we'd missed them. Lucky, lucky and Fujisan was magnificent that evening.
Naoma is our Japanese attendant at our lovely ryokan called Shuhoukaku Kogetsu. Say that three times fast!
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Welcome sign
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Our Ryokan
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| Naoma - our attendant |
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incredible toilets
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Dinner was incredibly beautiful and the detail of the pottery and dishes was as fascinating as the food!
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Dinner in our beautiful room
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It was the onsen (hot baths) prior to the meal that cannot be shown or described. You just have to experience it yourself. Here is a picture of the view from the onsen - found it online. No cameras allowed! |
Onsen with view of lake and Mt. Fuji
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