Icing on the cone of Mt Fuji

It would be remiss to visit Japan without sighting Mount Fuji at least once, in my books anyway. Rather than scoot past on a tour we chose to spend three days there, staying at K's backpackers. (Good place to stay by the way: friendly staff, & there is a view of Mt Fuji if you look for it.)
Excitement: we get a glimpse of Mt Fuji from the train. This view below was from a walk around the lake, which is well worth doing.
It was our first use of the Japan Rail Pass.  We were wondering about the value of the pass, especially given that 6 days will see no use out of the 21 day period.  It paid its way though with our use of the Shikansen bullet trains. Unfortunately not all trains are usable by the pass as Japan has private operators separate to J.R.  The suburban trains are made for quick entry with bench seats along the sides and lots of grab rails. They are clean and free of graffiti.
As soon as we arrived, Steph wanted to head up to a famed pagoda . Hunger prevailed so we had lunch first (a very impressive and reasonably priced lunchtime special at Sushi bar & dining - not to be rushed either). Next we checked in and unloaded our bags, then walked back to the station via the lake where we caught a taxi.
Lunch
Note - taxis are expensive in Japan, it was about 2500 yen for a 10 minute journey.  The Chureito Pagoda is famous for its views of Mt Fuji: which were obscured by cloud as we arrived too late. The early bird catches the worm as they say and that is true with Mt Fuji. For any chance of a clear view of the mountain you need to go early as cloud soon forms with the day's heat.  I was glad we had that earlier view from the  lake. You get a good workout with 400 or so steps to clamber up and its perch along with the aesthetic is still something to behold.
The next day was rather cloudy so we hired a bicycle from the backpackers and went for a ride around Lake Kawaguchiko. 
We were blessed with some early blooms of the famous national flower.  Our preview glimpse of this display shows the reason for Japan's peak travel season.  I can imagine it will be quite something with this whole area blossoming.
Food is of a high standard in Japan, whether it be from a street stall or classy restaurant. Halfway round the lake we struggled to ride past a cafe adjoined to a art shop. One parfait was sufficient for the both of us.
The cloud turned to rain, fortunately we made it back to our accommodation in time to avoid a good soaking. Not to waste an afternoon, we bought a Fuji pass which entitled us to unlimited travel by bus.  We did not get the full benefit of it with just 1/2 a day, but it was priced cheaply enough.

Kudos to the Japanese. It is very easy to travel round on the public transport. Announcements are made in English and Japanese. Google maps even shows a route plan and you location on that route.

The highlight of our bus trip was a visit to the ice caves. There are two caves established for visits by tourists.  They are formed by lava tubes. We donned the supplied helmets, others did not and soon regretted it when their heads played the drums on the cave ceiling.
The tourist attraction feature is the ice crystals.  Blue lighting adds some mystique. 
In the days of yore, the locals would use the caves for food storage.
Steph was keen to do some skiing. I was hesitant due to the risk of injury and our plans to do the Kumona heritage walk. After reading about the Fujiten ski resort, I dismissed that fear as it is a resort for families. The slopes are not steep which suited Steph's skill level. The Mt Fuji backdrop is a nice bonus. 
Here is a thing you don't see at other places; an air compressor to blow away snow from your bindings as well as a bath of warm water to clean off your board or skis.
Short and sweet, our visit to Mt Fuji. Glad we made the effort to stay a few days. We had to head back to Tokyo in order to get to our next destination (Kii-Tanabe). As skiing was so much fun and our time in Tokyo not in the same fun-factor league, why not go skiing again ?

I discovered that there is a Shikansen train that terminates at a ski resort. Trust the Japanese to come up with that one !  Gala Yuzawa  , if you are in Tokyo in the winter, in less than 2 hours you can be skiing.  A rapid plan was made: we could get up at 6:00am and be at the snow by 11:00am and be skiing.

That was the plan anyway. We goofed by not having a thorough awareness of the trains. We missed a critical station which was the connection for the Shikansen. We got off a couple of stations later realising our mistake and thought we could simply catch the train going the other way to get back.  Error, error, error ! Our train from Mt Fuji was an express, so it passed a few junctions. Our train going back of course had a different route.  It would of been far better for us to continue on to Tokyo.

Anyway after a few stressful moments and a clarification from a local who overheard our discussion we got on the right track so to speak. We found the locals keen to assist, often to a degree of ...  you will be there all day if  you can't get the answer quickly..  On that thought: backtrack to our trip to the pagoda in Fuji. We elected to walk back from the pagoda to town to avoid a second hefty taxi fee.

My battery was getting flat on my phone so we had to rely heavily on a paper map (note - always carry a portable charging battery pack). The paper map is less than helpful if street signs are in Japanese and the map in English. We dropped in to a supermarket to buy some provisions and asked an assistant for directions. I simply wanted to know if the road was in the correct direction. After about 15 minutes and 4 ladies in deep discussion about the different options, the weather and who knows what else we managed to extricate ourselves with many arigatos and sayonaras.

The next boo-boo was listening to the Japan Rail attendant telling us we should get off on the station before Gala Yuzawa. I think he must of thought we were staying at the village as we had our backpacks.

This station though was interesting. It was rather like a market with a bewildering array of food offerings that had could not possibly have an English translation.  We could not dwell for long though as we had a bus to catch to get to our ski resort ! ( the next train was a couple of hours away)
We stuffed it up once again, this time with the bus. Even though there is a big sign saying Gala Yuzawa bus, that does not mean that it is the only bus.  Learn: everything runs on time here. If the bus is running at 12:15, the bus at 12:13 is not your bus !  Despite all these impediments, we arrived before 12pm, albeit a different resort. We skied at Naspa ski resort instead. Naspa  was again beginner friendly so we were happy and were happy with 3 hours of solid skiing as well. The prices where not bad compared to Australia. All up you get ski hire and lift passes a tad cheaper than a day lift ticket.
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