We had a 200-mile journey to our final destination of the day, Kawaguchiko, but we didn’t want to leave Inuyama without getting a proper look at the castle and the grounds. We left the moldy hotel as soon as we could, headed out towards the castle park, and waited for it to open at 9 a.m. It was quite busy for such a small castle as it was a Saturday morning, but we didn’t have to wait to enter and got to get up to the top floor of the little castle keep, which had beautiful views across Nagoya.

We spent an hour at the castle, wandering around the grounds and shrines, as well as through the castle keep before we got back on the road. Our next stop on our 200-mile journey was still in Aichi prefecture, the Toyokawa Inari. It was thanks to Oshare Japan on YouTube that I learned about this spot, and it was worth a slight detour off of the expressway to visit.

Toyokawa Inari is a sprawling shrine complex, which is a bit of a paradox, being both a shrine and a temple. After entering you walk beneath an enormous torii (Shinto) before seeing a gate (temple), but the main draw of the enormous complex is the Reiko-Zuka, the Hill of Foxes.

I have visited a few Inari shrines before, usually dedicated to the goddess Inari, who has foxes as messengers. Unlike other shrines, such as in Kyoto, the number of fox statues here is almost uncountable! As you walk through the complex you come across a number of large fox statues, all with quite intriguing facial expressions.

The hill of foxes itself is almost hard to look at with the sea of red bibs spreading out before you. There are hundreds of fox statues here, from the obviously fresh and new ones, to moss-covered foxes who have stood for decades. If you visit in May, August, or November you may catch a festival in action as well, which must be amazing.

After an hour there we got back on the road and headed to Shizuoka, the next stop before we reached Kawaguchiko was influenced by Instagram, a stunning view of Mount Fuji across of the green tea fields, famous in Shizuoka. This, as usual, involved a very windy mountain road, but unlike the day before it ended in disappointment. Even though February is the best month of the year to get clear views of Mount Fuji, they still aren’t guaranteed, and we were greeted with low clouds on the horizon instead of the cone of Fuji.

After that disappointment, we left for the final portion of our long journey and arrived in Kawaguchiko. I had booked some interesting accommodation for our week there, which started with a few nights in a shipping container! Lots of new accommodations have been popping up all around Kawaguchiko alongside rises in tourism, and quite a few places chose shipping containers as a solution. I was intriguied, and it really paid off, it was a great place to stay. We had a shower and toilet, a kitchen with two burns, a fridge and microwave, a huge bed, and then a living/dining area with a projector TV. I’d highly recommend a stay at Mount Fuji Panorama Glamping. My only criticism is the website says this unit has a clear view of Mount Fuji, but since it being written new houses had been built which partially obscured the view.

After a trip to our favourite supermarket, Ogino, we had dinner, and Fuji popped out to say hello before we got into bed and settled down for the night, and we spent some time on the viewing deck to get clear views.