Mount Fuji or Fujisan as it’s dearly called, is a sight to behold. Travellers come from all over the world to photograph it while some of us (like me) dream of climbing it. In December on a route I curated (Tokyo-Kawaguchiko-Kamakura-Tokyo), we stayed at Hotel Koryu, a family onsen resort with rooms that overlook Fujisan.
What I loved about Hotel Koryu is its 70s-style facades, yet it’s well-maintained and cosy even for families with kids. The breakfast and dinner buffets have a mix of Asian and Western offerings which can appease even the fussiest eater.
Of course, the onsens are one of the best attributes and we spent every night soothing our muscle aches away.
It was the perfect three night stay for my husband and I as we wandered around the sleepy town that stays awake for visiting wanderers like me.
Chureito Pagoda is the perfect place to go if you’d like to photograph Fujisan with the accompanying pagoda in your frame. However, if you don’t like steps like me, you will loathe the hundreds of steps climbing up to the pagoda (it’s 398 steps and it surpasses Malaysia’s Batu Caves). It was built as a war monument at first, to memorialise 960 citizens who died in war.
Another interesting shrine we visited was the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine, which is said to have been built in 100 A.D. A small shrine then was built to celebrate the visit of prince Yamato Takeru-no Mikoto to this hill when he was on his way to Kai Province from Hakone. Later on with the rise of Mt. Fuji worshipping, people started climbing the mountain as part of their training and the shrine became a basis of worship.
I’ll be curating more of my Japan stops for my YouTube channel (I actually enjoy the creative part of putting together a vlog, to my surprise), so head over if you want to know more.
