Japan- Mt Fuji/Hakone Part 2 of 4

I slept through the night last night for the first time since coming back from Japan. I have more energy and feel wonderful. I hope this feeling lasts forever!

After Tokyo, we took an hour bus ride to the Mt Fuji area. The day started off sunny, and as we moved up higher in the mountains the weather became increasingly dreary. We stopped at the info center on the way up, which is at the base of the mountain. We then headed up toward the 5th station, the highest station vehicles can trek. Right before we pulled into the station, fog from nowhere blanketed the sky and the summit was blocked from our view! This picture isn't a snowstorm, it's all fog!

We then took a cruise on Lake Ashi to see views of the mountain range. The fog hadn't cleared completely, but we were able to see the bigger picture being a little farther away, but not the summit. Matt and I were really glad we had seen Mt Fuji from Tokyo after not being able to see it from close up. Finally, our group went up a smaller mountain in a cable car. I did this with my family in Switzerland and it was a different experience solely based on the weather. In Lucerne, we went up Mt Pilatus on a sunny, spring day where we saw green, hilly mountains and beautiful birds, butterfiles, etc. In Japan, the fog had really set in and all we saw were the pulleys pulling us up! To the right is our view looking down! We really can't complain about the weather. We had excellent weather every other day and this was one day where there wasn't a lot of walking so we managed to stay dry and warm!

We stayed overnight at an onsen (hot springs) hotel. There are natural hot springs everywhere around Mt Fuji and the only place in the world where you can find snow monkeys in the wild! Apparently, they are the northernmost species of primates. We didn't go on the inland tour to see them, but I hear they are a sight to see and Japan's national animal!

The next morning we took a shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. The bullet train reaches speeds up to 180 mph! It didn't feel that fast while we were riding it, but as we were on the platform before boarding, a shinkansen passed by and it was here and gone before we knew it- it literally took my breath away. Here is a video of a shinkansen passing us. It took me 2 tries to start the video on time because they come up so fast!