Lake Ashi and Mount Fuji

Reclusive Mount Fuji shows through on this summer day
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We took a bus tour, out of Tokyo, to see Hakone and Mount Fuji.  The tour was operated by Sunrise Tours, and we had a good, friendly, funny, and helpful tour guide who also taught all of us a little bit about the Japanese people.

Mount Fuji is generally very reclusive, as we'd heard.  Even in the best of conditions (winter, so they say) you don't always get to see the summit of Fuji-san because of the clouds, haze, humidity, you name it.  I guess we were lucky on our day up to the fifth station of Mount Fuji... the clouds cleared up a couple of times, just enough to get those precious & rare clear shots of the summit of Mount Fuji.

Nice to meet the normally shy Mt Fuji, and grand Hakone

The Fifth Station at Mount Fuji
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The atmosphere around the fifth station is great, even if the air is thin.  It's noticably cooler than it is at the base of the mountain.  At the fifth station there's an interesting mix of "gaijin" (foreigner) tourists and japanese mountain hikers.  You can actually buy containers of oxygen for the hike up to the summit.  There are a few restaurants, and many shops here.  Even if you're not into souvenirs and trinkets, just to be able to say you've "climbed" on Mount Fuji (to some degree!)is a good reward here in lieu of getting a good clear look at Fuji-san.

Lake Ashi, as seen from Mount Komagatake, in Hakone
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The Hakone area in general is naturally beautiful.  To get to cruise across beautiful Lake Ashi was fun, with the cool lake breezes to provide a nice but short break from the summer swelter.

As nice as the cruise over the waters of Lake Ashi was, the real treat might be Mount Komagatake, which overlooks the lake.  After a ride up a cable tram from lakeside to mountaintop, you're not only treated to a great view of the lake, but a constantly cool breeze, and several walking trails around the area.  One of the trails leads you to a picturesque shrine or temple of some sort.  If you're lucky enough, you can get a nice view of Mount Fuji from here, but our luck in this category was lost after the fifth station at Fuji.  All we saw were a lot of clouds and haze where Mount Fuji would've been.  Nevertheless, Mount Komagatake is not to be missed if you visit Hakone.

Overall, this tour offered by Sunrise Tours in Tokyo is well run and well worth the price.