Hakone and Kawaguchiko side trip from Tokyo – Day 2

8 April 2015

After the disappointment of not seeing Mount Fuji on Day 1, the weather for Day 2 turned out to be just as bad. However, we had the consolation of seeing some really nice cherry blossoms just outside our hotel at Lake Kawaguchiko! More about that later in this post.

Day 2 of our Hakone and Kawaguchiko trip would involves travelling by public bus from Hakone to the Lake Kawaguchiko area. There are 5 lakes around Mount Fuji. Lake Kawaguchiko is one the best.

We could also visit the Gotemba Premium Outlet mall that is conveniently located on the way.

To get to the Gotemba Premium outlet, there were two options.

Take 9.10 AM bus from Hakone Yumoto Station to Gotemba Premium Outlet. ETA 10.15 AM
http://www.premiumoutlets.co.jp/en/gotemba/access/bus/

OR

a) Take the bus line T from Yumoto to Sengoku (every 10-20 minutes)
b) Take the Odakyu bus from Sengoku to Gotemba Station (every 20-30 minutes)
c) Take the free shuttle from Gotemba Station to the outlet (every 20 minutes)

Alternatively, if we were to skipped the outlet and go straight to Kawaguchiko, we could take the Hakone Tozan Bus to Gotemba (G bus). At Gotemba, change to the Fujikyu bus to Kawaguchiko. It costs 1,470 yen from Gotemba to Kawaguchiko each way.
 

Waiting for the bus to take us to the Gotemba Premium Outlet. The fare is covered by the Fuji Hakone Pass.

After breakfast, we checked out of the Hakone Yumoto Onsen Pax Yoshino hotel and took the courtesy shuttle bus to the Hakone Yumoto Station. We were on time to take the 9.10 AM bus to the outlet. The ride was not that eventful and we arrived at Gotemba Premium Outlet as scheduled. On a clear day, Mount Fuji is supposedly viewable from the mall but the day was rainy and Fuji-san was behind clouds. We had some time to walk around the mall before taking the 1.20 PM bus from Gotemba Premium Outlet to Kawaguchiko Station.

Branded shops at the Gotemba Premium Outlet.

The bus ride to Kawaguchi Station from Gotemba passed through some awesome snowy scenery. The bus route went pass Lake Yamanaka (Yamanaka-ko) and we could potentially make a stopover there if we chose to. We did not as the bus schedule is not too frequent and we wanted to spend more time at the luxury ryokan we would be staying in at Lake Kawaguchiko.

Snowy shores of Laka Yamanaka enroute to Lake Kawaguchiko.

Awesome winter views from the bus on our way to Lake Kawaguchiko.

It was snowing lightly when we arrived at Kawaguchiko Station. Being from a hot sunny country, it was quite nice to experience snow falling from the sky.

We decided to grab some lunch near the station. A recommended dish in this area is the Houtou. This is a traditional thick noodles served directly out of the pot with miso broth. A recommended restaurant serving this is located just across the station. 

Entrance area of the busy Houtou Fudou restaurant.

Although crowded, the service is prompt and fast.

Metal base in the shape of hte restaurant’s logo where the hot miso pot is placed.

Houtou - traditional thick noodles served directly out of the pot with miso broth.

After enjoying the local speciality noodle, we phoned the Kozantei Ubuya ryokan and they sent a car to pick us up from the train station within 10 minutes. First impression counts and we were quite impressed by the service and beautiful lobby of the ryokan.

View from the lobby while the staff served us tea and snacks while checking us in.

After the paperwork was done, we were led to our room by a sweet kimono-clad lady.  She showed us our room wear and we have a choice of wearing a samue or a yukata.  We chose the samue as it was easier to wear than the yukata.

Choice of room wear at Kozantai Ubuya.

Kozantei Ubuya is one of the best ryokans located on the northern part of Lake Kawaguchiko that offers good views of Mount Fuji across the lake. Along this stretch of the shore, quite a lot of cherry tree were planted and this is one of the best spot to photograph the cherry blossoms with the lake and Mount Fuji in the background.

View of the lakeside cherry tree from our room.

After dropping of our stuff in the room, we went outside to experience the light snow and to shoot photos of the cherry blossoms. While Tokyo’s cherry blossom season was coming to an end, the flowers in the Fuji lakes area were at their peak. Awesome!

Lake Kawaguchiko’s cherry blossoms at the peak. There are a few good ryokans in this area. Kozantai Ubuya is the brown colour building in the distance.

White Yoshino Sakura.

Frozen cherry blossoms.

Snow covered sakura blossoms.

Dinner was served in our room. A sweet lady came in at a pre-arranged time to set up our table and then invited us to sit while she brought in our appetiser, followed by course after course of our kaiseki dinner. 

Setting up our dinner table and tableware in our room.

Appetisers – Rice cake wrapped in bamboo leaves, shrimp sushi, salad dressed with cheese, boiled small squid with vinegar sauce, jelled carrot, broad bean boiled in syrup, Japanese spanish mackerel with bechamel sauce. And Sashimi.

Top marks for food presentation – this is the appetisers.

Fish and mushroom soup on the stove, and the circular hibachi grill. The hibachi heating device is the round, cylindrical container, made from a heatproof material and designed to hold burning charcoal for us to grill our food at the table.

Ingredients for our hibachi grill. The wagyu is the BEST!

Simmered dish – Chicken ball, bamboo shoot, deep fried soy bean curd and vegetable.

Vinegared dish with vegetable, fried fish and some Ubuya special sauce.

Green tea jelly for dessert.

After the heavy dinner, we went to laze in the lounge where there was a good selection of tea and coffee and to use the wi-fi. We did not get to see Mount Fuji today, but overall we were happy with the ryokan experience at Lake Kawaguchiko. The weather forecasted for the next day seemed to be better and we were looking forward to the next day.