We had to wake up early for our tour to Mt Fuji and Hakone so we did so and chose to get to the area of the Hato Bus terminal rather than try to eat breakfast in the Asakusa region. I originally wanted to have breakfast at the Mr. Donut down the street but I felt we had to go too far out of the way to risk using up the time. We took the Asakusa line to Daimon and came out right at the World Trade Center where the Hato Bus terminal is. We found the Food Garden and a Choco Cro therein and had breakfast there. I had something I thought was a cheese sandwich and a pig in a blanket, but the cheese sandwich was not really cheese. It was something odd and sweet. I ate it anyway. We both had coffees, I think Daniela had a cappuccino. Daniela had two types of croissant, with and without chocolate. After breakfast we shopped in a Family Mart right there to get snacks and drinks for the tour. I knew this one would have lots of bus time so it was better to stock up a little.
We got to the bus terminal and found out that Hato Bus had canceled their tour due to the weather. They did give us a full refund. They were surprised we had the tickets at all. We had bought them the week before. They told us JTB Sunrise tours was still going and we could get on their tour instead so we ran over to their counter. The lady told us we would not be able to see Fuji but we said we would go anyway. This tour had a couple more options so we chose to have lunch included then also to take the shinkansen home to Tokyo Station. The tour was by no means full and we were able to get seats that had a lot of room at the back of the bus.
Our tour guide was a nice older gentleman named Tetsuo. The start of the tour was the over 2 hour bus ride to the area of the tour which had to detour because of road closures because of the heavy rains the day before. It was raining at that moment but not that hard it stayed a light drizzle most of the day. This meant that we didn't visit the Fuji Visitor center and our closest point to the mountain was the First Station which is sort of a scenic stop point but the clouds prevented the scene if you understand. Still we got pictures with the sign saying First Step. We didn't stay more than a few minutes.
After the first station we moved on to Lake Kawaguchi where we had lunch at a restaurant near the lake. The food was Japanese style samplings. There was soup, tempura, a strongly pickled fish, pickles, rice and tea. It was all reasonably good fare. I liked the tempura best, the pickled fish and the soup not so much. I ate 2 helpings of rice.
We then went to the Kachi Kachi Ropeway and took a cable car to the top of Mt. Kachi Kachi. This was maybe 800-900 meters and did offer a nice view of the lake. Technically the mountain view would have been nice but it was obscured by the clouds. Still we walked around and took pictures and tried our hands at throwing the lucky clay disk through a rope (we both failed though I was close). The ropeway used a rabbit and raccoon as its mascots. They were cute and the ride had them talking to each other.
After we went down we shopped in a store for a couple minutes then it was on to the Lake Kawaguchi pleasure cruise which was a 20 minute spin around the lake. It was coolish and wet out but when we started inside the cabin it was too hot and both of us felt not so good so we moved outside. At least there was a roof overhead to protect from the rain. The cool air felt much better. Still the cruise was nothing to write home about even if I have just done so here.
When the cruise finished it was back on the bus and this time on the ride to Odawara where we would take the shinkansen back to Tokyo Station. The guide was supposed to go with us but a group of Chinese passengers wanted to go to the Hakone Station instead and he had to go with the bus to escort them. There was one Japanese passenger who spoke English who offered to help get the tour on the train and he did so nicely. It was over 2 hours until we got to the station but I think Daniela and I slept through most of it. At the station we shopped for a brief couple of minutes then got on our train. This was the first time Daniela got on a real shinkansen and she was really excited. She was also impressed seeing the trains going through the station at speed. Bullet train speed that is. The ride was about 35 minutes and we were able to get nice seats even though unreserved on the regular cars. I know, I know, I was spoiled with all my green car riding... Still she loved feeling the speed of the train. It was cloudy out and bits of rain but not so bad that you couldn't see anything. At Tokyo Station we switched to the Yamanote Line on the same ticket and rode to Ueno. At Ueno we switched to the Ginza Line and rode to Asakusa Station where we exited and headed back to the hotel.
We dropped our stuff off and made a quick pit stop before heading over to the Don Quixote where Daniela did some shopping for things she was looking to take back home. This process took over an hour and maybe more but I lost track of it. I bought some tea and coffee packs. She bought enough that she got a 1000 yen certificate to buy more stuff. So I brought the stuff back to the room and waited for her to pick out her $10 of stuff. I started my packing and watched some Japanese baseball. The Yomiura Giants and the Seibu Lions. Slow version of the game...When she came back she had bought a Hello Kitty digital clock. It was past 8:30 so I chose to eat at Itanova for the rain and the lateness (we needed to pack for the trip to Hong Kong and I was tired to be honest). I had a 4 cheeses pizza and Daniela had a chicken and plum pasta dish that also had bonito flakes and seaweed in it. She ate it all after she added some olive oil and hot sauce to it. We also had some garlic bread and some beer.
We got to the room and finished the small store of beer and Smirnoff Ice she had bought earlier in the trip while packing. Honestly I had a lot less to pack and I was done before her and passed out almost instantly. She continued until she was done then also came to bed.
The pictures from Japan day 15 are here.
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