We woke up early in the morning on our third day in Tokyo. We had a bus to catch to start our adventures using the Fuji Hakone Passes we purchased the day before at Shinjuku Odakyu Station. The pass would allow you to go either to Hakone first and come back from Fuji area, or go to Fuji area first and come back from Hakone. I chose the latter for a reason but right now I can't remember what it was... Sorry!
We checked out of our hotel and rolled our suitcases to the new Shinjuku Station building where the New South Gate is located, and the bus depot is located up on the 4th floor. We packed two days worth of clothes in our backpacks and we had planned to leave our suitcases in a coin locker at the station.
At first we went to the coin lockers on the 4th floor but found that they have a time limit and were very expensive. So I inquired at their information booth and an English speaking staff told us that there are alternatives on the ground level. Based on that, we rolled our suitcases down the escalators and easily found a more modern, digitally locked lockers for a lot cheaper. We were very fortunate that they still had a few large lockers available. We left our suitcases and went back up to wait for our bus.
The Chuo Highway bus that we were waiting for ran between Shinjuku Station and Kawaguchiko Station with a stop at FujiQ Highland Station. The bus had reserved seats and I had made the reservation when I purchased the tickets the day before. With a few minutes left before our boarding time, we went to a convenient store at the bus depot and bought sandwiches for breakfast.
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| Waiting for the bus |
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| In the bus |
The journey from Shinjuku to FujiQ Highland Station took about an hour and 40 minutes. They had nice views on the way but Miss Kiki and grandma was asleep most of the way. Note that the FujiQ bus station for highway buses and for regular buses are different and not really walking distance.
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| View from the bus |
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| FujiQ Highland Bus Station for Hwy Buses |
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| Taxi van |
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| Kawaguchiko Station |
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| In the taxi |
We arrived at our hotel but weren't able to check in yet. I had a lot of things planned out for that day, but the rain dampens things out. One of them was hiking up to the famous Chureito Pagoda, the very image of Japan. If you have seen a JR Pass before, the picture in front of the pass is of this particular pagoda during the cherry blossom season. Once you're up there, you're supposed to see Mount Fuji, Cherry trees, a city below, and of course the pagoda. Sadly, when we arrived it was raining so had we gone up the only thing we would've been able to see was the pagoda alone. As such, I decided not to go.
It was about lunch time and we were getting hungry, so we asked the hotel staff for recommendations. They pointed us towards a restaurant located right across from Kawaguchiko Station famous for their Houtou, a specialty noodle from Yamanashi area. Yamanashi is the prefecture where the Fuji five lakes are located. Kawaguchi Lake is one of the five.
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| Brief story about Houtou |
We walked to Fujikyu Train Station and saw the train left as we were arriving. We waited for the next train but had to pay an extra 200 yen per person because this train was a special kind called Fuji Tozan Densha. The interior of this train was very interesting, it was like the trains in the old days.
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| Back at Kawaguchiko Station, the rain stopped for a while. |
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| Entrance to Houtou Fudou Restaurant |
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| Houtou |
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| Miss Kiki's soba |
At the time when we finished our lunch and exited the restaurant, it was pouring outside. Luckily Miss Kiki and I were already prepared with our raincoats we purchased in Japan a couple of years back. We hopped and skipped over to a 7-eleven so grandma could buy an umbrella for herself. Then we walked about 500m further in the rain to Cafe Crema for some coffee and dessert. I chose this cafe based on their google rating.
Cafe Crema is a very small cafe with 3 or 4 indoor tables and bar seats, and when we arrived two of the tables were already occupied. Just like other small-town cafes in Japan, this one was attended by one person only. We ordered our coffees and tea and two slices of cakes. Later on we added another slice of cake to our order. The cakes were very good. One was shortbread with grapes and the other one was a fig tart. That was my first time eating fig!
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| Grape shortbread pie |
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| Fig cake |
We spent the afternoon just sitting and sipping our coffee, waiting for the rain to pass. Prior to our trip, I had suggested to grandma that she starts a travel journal. She got one for herself and another for Miss Kiki, and they carry it in their bags everywhere. At this cafe, they pulled the empty journal and started filling it up.
Sitting there for a long time gave grandma time to think and worry about her high blood pressure medicine that she had forgotten at home. Originally we were going to go to a clinic after we go back to Tokyo but because this worry was stressing her out we decided to try to find a clinic in Kawaguchi. Then, it so happened that I looked out the window and read a sign that the building across the cafe was a clinic! I decided to try my luck there and walked across.
Upon entry, I found a foyer with shoe shelves. I knew from watching movies and animes that I was supposed to take my shoes off and change into one of the slippers provided. I did that and entered through a second door. I exchanged greetings with the staff behind the counter and asked in Japanese whether she spoke English or not. Neither of the staff in at the clinic spoke any English. Uh oh....
They saw that I was speaking Japanese to them and asked me what they could help me with. With my extremely limited (and very possibly grammatically incorrect) Japanese, I explained to them that my mom needed a medicine that she had forgotten at home. They were very patient with me, in listening to my explanation. Because of my limited vocabularies I had to explain it a bit longer. They also talked to me slowly so it was easier to understand. After checking with the doctor, they told me that my mom needed to come to see the doctor first before we could get any prescription. I thanked them and went back to the cafe to get my mom.
We left our belongings with Miss Kiki alone at the cafe and crossed over to the clinic. When we arrived, we were given a registration form that I had to fill in. All of the form was written in Kanji so I wasn't able to read it. The staff there understood so she read it for me and I was able to fill in the form. Soon after, we were called to enter the examination room. The doctor came and took my mom's blood pressure and asked some questions. Unlike the staff, the doctor was very difficult to understand. He spoke very quickly and abruptly that he had to repeat his words to me several times. Even when he tried to speak English I wasn't able to understand him! Lol....
Nonetheless, we got our prescription for 5 days worth of medicine. After we paid for the doctor's fee (which wasn't as expensive as we expected, by the way), one of the nurses kindly walked us out and over to the pharmacy down the street. She also helped explain our situation to the pharmacist and then went back to the clinic. The pharmacist asked some questions about allergies and smoking and asked me to wait. A few minutes later I got the medicine! Hoooray!
At that moment I was very very grateful for my Japanese lessons!
Not long after, the rain subsided and we walked back to the station. In one of the parking lots they had this statue of the Bremen's Musicians.
Kawaguchiko Station has a stamp table and both Miss Kiki and grandma got their first stamp in their travel journals.
We took the train back to FujiQ Highland Station. This time it their regular train so it was fully covered by our passes.
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| Our hotel |
We were wet and cold when we got to the hotel, so we decided it was a perfect time to give their onsen a try. Hotel Mystays Fuji Onsen Resort seems fairly new. Everything was clean and during daytime it has a lot of soft sunlight inside the lobby. They have mountain view rooms as well as mountain view onsen. Their onsen was not too big but the facilities were nice and clean.
Miss Kiki got hungry afterwards and asked to eat her mini cup noodle. I think she just wanted an excuse to eat it as it's not something I would normally let her eat...
After everyone finished getting ready, we walked over to Gyushige restaurant for some BBQ. It was located just a stone's throw from FujiQ Highland Station, which was less than 5 minute walk from our hotel. We ordered a 3-people platter and a glass of umeshu. As Miss Kiki claimed that she was full, grandma and I finished the platter ourselves. The umeshu they had was very good.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went to sleep in hopes for a bright sunny day in the morning. Please stay tuned to read about the day after!
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