Welcome to Part 2 of our Japan trip report. Last week, I published Part 1 of our Japan trip report, where we explored Ginza and DisneySea and had a great time.
Let’s pick up where we left off, shall we?
Day 4 – The rental car excitement
Day 4 of the trip was all about getting the rental car from Orix Rent A Car near Shinagawa Station, about 1.5 hours away from the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay by JR Rail, then driving to our next hotel, Fuji Marriott Hotel Lake Yamanaka.
Before the trip, we knew we’d end Day 3 quite late, so we booked the rental car pickup at 1:30 PM. Picking up the car in the afternoon should have allowed sufficient time to drive back to Tokyo to return the car.
We slept in a bit on Day 4 and had a slow and relaxing breakfast, enjoying the view of DisneySea & Disneyland from the hotel lounge. After breakfast, I took Kid 1.0 and Kid 2.0 for a quick dip at the hotel pool while Mrs. T relaxed in our room.
At around 11:30 PM, we checked out of our hotel and started making our way toward Shinagawa Station using the JR trains. This involved taking the hotel shuttle bus to Maihama Station (~10 minutes) first. From Maihama Station, we took the Keiyo Line to Tokyo Station. At Tokyo Station, we walked inside the station for about 10 minutes ((Tokyo Station is HUGE, hence the long walk between lines) so we could take either the Tokaido Line or the Keihin-Tohoku Line to get to Shinagawa Station
When we got outside of Shinagawa Station, we had to orient ourselves and figure out which way to walk to Orix Rent A Car. This was mostly due to multi-level overpass walkways by the station and Google Maps not being very good at giving directions in this kind of situation.
We eventually figured out the way and got to Orix after about a 10 minutes walk.
Having never rented a car in Japan before, I wasn’t sure what to expect (when I went for business trips, my Japanese coworkers had rented cars before, but I was never involved with the car pickup and signing paperwork). Fortunately, the rental car pickup process was relatively straightforward; it certainly helped that one of the Orix employees spoke some English.
Having said that, we had to get help from the Orix employees on a few things:
- Where to put the ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) card in the car. It turned out there was a slot underneath the steering wheel (Japan highways are usually tolled so an ETC card allows drivers to pay highway tolls automatically without stopping).
- How to find destinations with the car navigation system (we used both the car navigation system and Google Maps for directions).
This was my first time driving on the left side. For the first hour of the drive, I was constantly flipping the windshield wiper when signalling a turn. I also had to really think when making left and right turns to make sure I was on the correct side of the road (after turning). Because it was a Sunday, the traffic in Tokyo was relatively quiet so it made the “learning to drive on the left” experience easier.
We got onto the C1 highway shortly after leaving the Orix rental office. Once we were on the highway, the drive was relatively uneventful. We stopped at a few highway rest stops to stretch our legs and get some food and snacks.
About 1.5 hours into the 2.5-hour drive, we were very excited to see Mt. Fuji right in front of us, showing all its glory.
We booked the lowest category room at Fuji Marriott Hotel Lake Yamanaka for seven nights using 127k Marriott Bonvoy points and two 35k free night certificates. This was a very good deal considering that the room would have cost over $3,000 for the entire stay (~$430 per night). The day before, I checked in via the Marriott Bonvoy app and asked the hotel associate, as a Titanium elite member, if we could get upgraded to a room with an in-room onsen. I knew all the suites were booked for the duration of our stay, so I didn’t bother asking for a suite upgrade.
When we arrived at the hotel, the hotel associate informed us that they had upgraded us to a room with an in-room onsen. The only minor inconvenience was that there was a king-size bed and a single bed, which meant Mrs. T and I had to share the bed with one of the kids.
The Fuji Marriott Hotel Lake Yamanaka was renovated a few years ago, so everything felt very new. When we entered our hotel room, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that our room faced Mt. Fuji and we had a gorgeous view!
For dinner, we went to お食事処幸房, a cozy neighbourhood restaurant. It was here that we tried Hoto Noodles for the first time (hearty miso-based noodle soup originated from the Yamanashi Prefecture, considered the region’s signature comfort food). The restaurant also had an amazing tuna yukke (tuna sashimi with raw egg) dish that was so good we ordered it twice.
Feeling adventurous, we ordered many different dishes without knowing exactly what they were. Most of them were quite delicious. The bill came out to 9,200 Yen or about $80 CAD.
Before going to bed, we tried the in-room onsen. It was a nice way to relax and get ready for bed.
Day 5 – Relaxing & public onsens
When we woke up, we were greeted by a gorgeous view of Mt. Fuji from our room. I then started Day 5 with a dip in the in-room onsen before breakfast. As a Titanium Elite member, we were able to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant for free. The selection for the buffet breakfast was excellent, with both Western and Japanese items available. Kid 1.0 was very happy to find fresh lychees and probably ate over 15 lychees that morning (he had just as many every morning during our stay).
After breakfast, we drove up to Panorama Dai to enjoy a nice view of Mt. Fuji before the clouds rolled in. This was a popular viewing spot of Mt. Fuji as the small parking lot was constantly filled with cars and motorbikes.
After Panorama Dai, we drove to Lake Yamanaka and walked along the lake. By the time we were walking around, clouds were covering Mt. Fuji, so there wasn’t much of a view.
We walked by The Park and saw a huge lineup in front. Not wanting to wait, we went to Jura Noire for lunch and had delicious beef on rice and sandwiches. But the stars of the restaurant were the fluffy baby Dutch pancakes.
It got quite cloudy after lunch, with Mt. Fuji being completely blocked. Back at the hotel, we decided to relax by going to the hotel’s public onsens. Kid 1.0 and I were going back and forth between the hot onsen and the ice bath to improve our blood circulation.
We didn’t end up doing too much on Day 5 and spent most of the day relaxing. This is exactly what we needed.
Day 6 Ice & Wind Caves
After a nice dip in the in-room onsen and a fabulous breakfast, we left the hotel to check out Yamanakako Forest Park of Literature and the different haikus on rocks. It was a nice walk around the park but it was hard to get the gist of the haikus due to the translation.
After the park, we drove to Fugaku Wind Cave and Narusawa Ice Cave, both of which were recommended by a Taiwanese co-worker of mine.
Having been to a lava cave in Iceland, we roughly knew what to expect. It was quite cold inside both caves, with the Ice Cave requiring going up and down steep sections.
Overall, it was “cool” to explore the caves and see the different ice formations.
After the caves, we drove to Oishi Park on Lake Kawaguchi. We were very surprised to see tour buses and many tourists in this park. I guess Lake Kawaguchi was a more popular tourist spot than Lake Yamanaka.
We wanted to get some baked goods from Lake Bake Cafe next to Oishi Park but everything was sold out. After driving around in the area for a bit, we ended up having afternoon hygge at Cafetino Mt. Fuji. This little cute cafe served delicious soft ice cream and tasty sesame lattes.
After the afternoon hygge, we went to the extremely popular Chureito Pagoda. The viewing platform was packed with tourists like us. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy that day, so we couldn’t see Mt. Fuji from the viewing platform.
When we returned to the hotel, we went to the public onsen and soaked for about an hour and a half. In the late afternoon and evening, it started hailing and snowing off and on.
Day 7 Hiking up to Mt. Ishiwari
Since we spent a lot of time sitting in the car the day before, we decided we wanted to be a bit more active on Day 7. With that in mind, we decided to check out Ishiwari Shrine and Mt. Ishiwari.
The beginning of the hike was all stairs, going straight up the mountain.
There weren’t too many people on the trail. We passed a group of Japanese hikers but didn’t see anyone else.
After Ishiwari Shrine, the trail got quite muddy with some very steep sections. By the time we got to Mt. Ishiwari summit, it was quite cloudy and muddy, so we turned back and started heading back to the parking lot.
For lunch, we went to カントリータウンMt.Fuji, REAF Cafe and enjoyed some delicious food. After lunch, we went to Yamanaka Terrace nearby for coffee hygge. Both kids enjoyed playing outside while Mrs. T and I relaxed and enjoyed our coffee and cakes.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to public onsens. For dinner, we went to お食事処幸房 again because Kid 2.0 loved the tuna yukke (we ordered 3 sets). Despite ordering several more dishes than Day 4 dinner, the dinner bill was only 10,800 Yen or about $95 CAD.
Day 8 Relaxing
We relaxed on Day 8, did laundry, and soaked at the public and in-room onsens. It was increasingly cloudy as the day went by. In the mid-afternoon, it started snowing! By dinner time, trees were covered with a layer of snow and it felt like we were in the middle of winter.
Day 9 Music Forest Museum & Ninja Village
We woke up early on Day 9 to a snow-covered scene. Seeing that we had a clear view of Mt. Fuji from our room, I decided to drive up to Panorama Dai by myself to take some pictures.
After a relaxing breakfast (we could see Mt. Fuji from the hotel restaurant), we drove toward Lake Kawaguchi to check out the Kawaguchi Music Forest Museum. The museum wasn’t big, but it housed the largest organ in the world. We also saw a very impressive Pinocchio sand art & music performance. As well there was a Romero Britto exhibition that was quite neat.
After the Kawaguchi Music Forest Museum, we drove down the Fuyoshida Retro Street and saw Mt. Fuji popping up in front of us. Because of the lack of parking and hundreds of tourists, we didn’t bother stopping to take a picture. We did, however, stop at a bakery to get some delicious baked goods for lunch.
After lunch, we went to Shinobi No Sato, a Ninja Village that was popular with school-age kids. Both kids played and pretended they were ninjas. We also enjoyed a fantastic ninja show.
Since we were in Oshino, we checked out Oshino Hakkai, a touristy set of eight ponds. This was where we ran into large crowds of tourists. Although Oshino Hakkai looked impressive on Google Maps and Instagram, we thought it was a bit overrated. After walking to all eight ponds, we left Oshino and headed to Fujiyoshida for dinner.
We went to Kiyo for a sushi dinner. Kiyo was a small yet very stylish sushi restaurant. Although there was an English menu with a few dishes, we decided to order from the Japanese menu using Google Translate (Japanese menu had more dishes available). The food was amazing. The “highlight” of the meal was me ordering a wasabi roll (aka tear sushi), which was so spicy that only I could eat it. The chef even came by and joked that only locals would order the wasabi roll.
Day 10 Cooking Class
Before the trip, we thought attending a cooking class in Japan would be neat. Because we didn’t know exactly our plans while by the Fuji Lakes, we decided we would book a cooking class last minute to give us some flexibility. We did exactly that – we booked a hoto noodles & mochi cooking class the day before (day 9).
The class lasted about 1.5 hours. With English instructions and a friendly instructor, we each made a portion of hoto noodles and cooked them in a miso broth soup. The freshly made hoto noodles tasted more delicious than the ones we had in restaurants. After having hoto noodles for lunch, we made mochi for dessert.
After the cooking class, we checked out a rescue cat cafe nearby. Because it was nice and sunny, we decided to go to Oishi Park and bought some baked goods from Lake Bake Cafe.
When we arrived back at the hotel, we went to the public onsens to relax. Since this was the last night at Lake Yamanaka and also because Kid 2.0 really loved the tuna yukke from お食事処幸房, we went back to this cozy neighbourhood restaurant for dinner again. Upon arrival, the owner recognized us and joked that we’d get the “usual.” Despite ordering way more food than the previous two times, the bill was 12,700 Yen or $110 CAD, very reasonably priced all things considered.
Alright, I’ll end Part 2 of the Japan trip report here. I hope you enjoyed the trip report so far. Part 3 will focus on the last part of our trip – our stay in Nagano and Tokyo and all the fun stuff we did.
