Statistically, the chances of seeing Mount Fuji in August are quite low compared to the rest of the year, but not nothing, and so with hope we were out of the house and driving up a mountain before 5:30am. Often the clouds can be more low-lying so from a higher altitude you get a clear view, this was not one of those days. We waited for half an hour but Fuji never showed so we headed back to the house.

Our plan for that morning was to take a Canadian canoe trip on Kawaguchiko with Country Lake Systems. Instead of parking at the site we drove down to Oishi Park and had a nice, short, walk along the lakeside. We were lucky to find one of the only hydrangeas with any flowers left now it was so hot. Fuji had started to peek out of the clouds and so I was excited to see her from the lake.

I booked this via Japan Experience, the canoe tour was for 2 hours and is to row across to the sacred island in the middle of Kawaguchiko which I had never visited but was very excited for. The website said the tour was English speaking, which is great so I didn’t need to translate for my husband. When we arrived we were met by the rudest receptionist not only in Japan but that I have ever met. She was a white European who spoke in the fastest Japanese I have ever heard and didn’t bother to ask if I spoke Japanese, or if I understood (which every Japanese-speaking Japanese person I interact with always does). We had some clipboards shoved across the desk to us, in Japanese, to fill in our names, etc., and were left to loiter while my brain caught up with what she had said. Only a few other people were waiting, and soon an instructor came out and asked if I spoke Japanese, I said I did but my husband did not, and he wandered off again. Eventually, we were taken in our group down to the lakeside to get our canoes.

There was no English-speaking staff available, so I was left to translate all the safety information and “how to” information for my husband. I understood about 50-60% of the information (hopefully the pertinent stuff, such as how to respond if you capsize). We got our life jackets, our oars, and went to the shore for a trial run. The canoes were much larger than I had been in before, as they were Candian, and we were completely solo launching the canoe and beaching it again. Once everyone had shown they were capable of launching and beaching, we were off. Sadly, due to the wind direction, we couldn’t go to the island and instead headed east. Fuji never came out, but it was really enjoyable, one of the other groups did capsize and needed rescuing, the guide was really friendly checked on us often, and made sure I understood what he said. Even though it wasn’t as advertised I don’t blame the Japanese company (except for the grumpy receptionist), as it was booked through a third party. I would do it again and hope to be able to get to the island.

After our fun on the lake, we drove back to our lovely house for some lunch, and relaxed while the sky was cloudy. After about two hours of rest, we decided to get out of the house and revisit the Kubota Itchiku Art Museum as it was only a 15-minute walk away. Kubota Itchiku was an incredibly talented kimono designer, who brought a long-forgotten tie-dye kimono technique back from the dead. In his life, he produced some of the most stunning and intricate kimono series, which are more works of art than clothes. No photos are allowed of the kimono, so you’ll really have to visit to get an idea of them. The grounds are beautiful, and I found a tiny mushroom friend!

On our walk back to the house we went past the lake, Fuji was just starting to show herself, just the very peak! By the time we got back to our house, Fuji was there! What a stunning view, this is the reason I rented this house, for this very view! We decided to rush back up to the secret photo spot we found the day before, on the way the clouds were moving in, Fuji is so often only visible for short times during summer. As it was a race against time we stopped on the way at the Mount Fuji Viewing Platform which is in a lay-by on the mountain road.

While looking across the road to Fuji I noticed some peculiar creatures under the road, two Japanese serow! The serow is very timid, and rare to see, this was the first time I’d seen them in my seven trips. Serow are called goat-antelope, called kamoshika in Japanese. We stopped to watch them for a while, the adult on the right continued to lick the wall the entire time!

The view from the viewing platform was good too! However a thick bank of clouds was moving in from the left, and so we got back on the road back to the secret spot. As we had walked the road the day before I felt comfortable enough to drive down it, not the safest road, the speed limit is 20kph and there are many small bridges with no rails!

We were able to park close to the spot and walked down to the fence free of forest to get the view. There was one other photographer there, in a camping chair with his camera all setup, he was a bit grumpy to be sharing the space! It was a mixed bag, we got some lovely sunset colours, and the view of the lake and mountains were beautiful, but Fuji wasn’t totally clear.

The clouds came and went for the rest of the evening, and we were treated to our first glance of the light trail going up to Mount Fujis summit, a preview of where we would be two days later. (Poor quality phone photo below!)