Day 3, 14th of March, 2026. Saturday
Fuji Day Morning – Shin-Okubo
Good morning from the Shin-Okubo Korean Town of Shinjuku. Cold and quiet — it’s refreshing and a new day. On our itinerary today: the all-famous “Mount Fuji.” Kids are all geared up, so are the adults. It’s the Fuji day. We have booked the itinerary via KLOOK (Mount Fuji Popular Scenic Spot One-Day Tour), and the journey starts at 8:30 AM. So we need to start by 7 AM, have breakfast, and catch the train to “Tokyo Mode Gakuen,” which is our pick-up point for the tour bus. The route we will take is from Shin-Okubo Station to Shinjuku Station and then a 7-minute walk to our pick-up point. As usual, the messiah for breakfast are the marts — this time it’s the Family Mart — a few sandwiches and hot cups of freshly brewed coffee — what more do you want in an enlivening Tokyo morning. Here we go.
(waiting at shin-okubo)
Struggled a bit to find the pick-up point after alighting at Shinjuku Station — called the tour operator on WhatsApp to help guide us to the spot. By the way, I was using my Singapore number in Japan, as my mobile plan works well for data and voice across most Asian and some Western countries. The journey started — we have at least another 20 co-passengers travelling with us. We are settled in the bus, and the kids are on the window seat, and I am getting ready for the flurry of questions from my son… LOL. I would say there was light traffic on the way — mountains, rivers, rail lines, skyscrapers, row houses, and shopping streets all along the way. We were told it’s 2 hours to Fuji, and I realized we would not be bored with the views we already had. Lots of cars — was happy to see almost all of them were Japanese-made — Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki — you name it!
(from the bus – Don’t see the Fuji yet)
First Glimpse of Mount Fuji
So, 11-ish it is — we can see it, yes, the Fuji Mountain. Its snow-white top is visible, and what a view. Let me pinch myself — hey, is this what I watched on TV and saw in pictures? Serene and picturesque — Fuji is standing, welcoming you with its open arms and a big heart. I felt like we were looking at each other, and I am in awe — awe of its magnanimity, the beauty it exudes. And the operator is saying we are lucky to see Mount Fuji clearly, as it is visible only for about 80 days in a year (I googled it, and he is right)!
First stop (Fuji): the Instagrammable Ladder Town, a Showa-era shopping street with retro streets and Mount Fuji within reach at the end, adding to the sense of story in the scene. Scores of people thronged the streets, filled with eateries, bakeries, souvenir shops, and the internet-famous Hikawajikan store.
(here is a photo of the ladder street with a view of Fuji)
Mount Fuji(Fujisan, Fuji no Yama) is an active Volcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of 3,776 m (12,389 ft 3 in). It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island and the seventh-highest peak of an island on Earth. Mount Fuji last erupted from 1707 to 1708.
It is located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Tokyo, from which it is visible on clear days. It is a Japanese cultural icon and is frequently depicted in art and photography, as well as visited by sightseers, hikers, and mountain climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan’s “Three Holy Mountains” along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan’s Historic Sites. It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. According to UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mount Fuji locality.
Food Stop, Hiking & Nostalgia
We are famished by now — the bus took us to a nearby food village. We were spoilt for options there: Korean, Japanese, noodles, Western, quick bites — all you could ask for! I chose a Korean spicy ramen, and for the kids it was potato sticks with sausages. Needed a coffee — I had an Americano, and my wife had a matcha latte.
The next stop was a hiking spot nearby. I hiked a bit with my son — we could see the Fuji town and its surreal surroundings from there. We were tired and had lemonades to quench our thirst. We came across some Kokeshi doll stores. Kokeshi are simple wooden Japanese dolls with no arms or legs that have been crafted for more than 150 years as toys for children. Originally from the Tohoku region in northern Honshu, kokeshi are handmade from wood, having a simple trunk and head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. The body often has floral and/or ring designs painted in red, black, and sometimes green, purple, blue, or yellow inks, and covered with a layer of wax. Since the 1950s, kokeshi makers have signed their work, usually on the bottom and sometimes on the back.
Yes, to reach the hiking point we needed to cross a railway track. I felt nostalgic about my childhood, where I used to see these railway track gates from the bus while travelling across Odisha with my father. The railway station looked like a fairy-tale village train station — I was so happy that I even called my family back in India to show the station and its surroundings.
(Kokeshi Dolls + a photo of Fuji)
There are lots of lakes around Fuji Mountain. The Fuji Five Lakes (Fujigoko) are a group of five scenic lakes located at the northern base of Mount Fuji. Situated in Yamanashi Prefecture, each lake has its own distinct charm and atmosphere. The five lakes—Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Saiko, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Shoji, and Lake Motosu—offer varied and breathtaking perspectives of Mount Fuji, almost making the mountain appear different from each viewpoint. Together, they form part of a UNESCO World Heritage landscape and provide one of the best ways to experience Japan’s natural beauty up close.
(A photo by the lake with Fuji in the background)
A school Motto, Soft Ice Creams!
Next stop was the Lawson store by Fuji and the matcha tea experience. On the way, I noticed an elementary school and the school motto line attracted me. I will share a photo of the tagline; though written in Japanese, I used my photo translator and it said: “Good Wisdom, Good Effort, Good Heart!”
On the way, we bought some Japanese soft ice creams in chocolate and matcha flavors — the kids loved it! “Soft Cream” is a Japanese-English word coined by the founder of Nissei, a Japanese soft-serve ice cream machine manufacturer. He made the term “soft-serve ice cream” easy to understand and remember for Japanese people. Because of that, Soft Cream has become the Japanese word for this dessert today.
(Japanese soft Ice cream)
Lawson Fuji View & Matcha Tea Experience
We reached the Instagram-famous Lawson store, with Mount Fuji in the background — search hashtags like #lawsonfuji and you will find thousands of posts online. We spent some time at the store buying gums, fridge magnets, and other small souvenirs.
Then we headed to the matcha tea experience. You need to follow certain methods to prepare matcha with a bowl and a stirrer-like whisk. First, you smell it before drinking, and then with a “slurrrrp” sound (yes, I am not joking). If it is delicious, you say “Oishi” (delicious in Japanese).
From Wiki: Matcha is a finely ground powder made from specially processed green tea leaves that are grown in the shade. This shade-growing process enhances its vibrant green color and gives matcha its distinctive rich umami flavor. It is typically prepared by whisking the powder into hot water, creating a suspension rather than an infusion. Matcha originated in Japan between the 15th and 16th centuries. Its production involves cultivating green tea under shade, steaming the leaves without rolling, and then finely grinding them into a powder.
(Match tea with the bowl and stirrer)
End of Fuji Tour – Back to Tokyo
And the Fuji tour ended with the invigorating matcha tea experience, and we headed back to Tokyo. We reached around 8, grabbed some quick dinner takeaways, and hired a cab back to the hotel for a much-needed rest.
That’s that for the day — see you on Day 4! Till then, arigato gozaimasu!