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Today’s image is one of the last photos I took during our one-year stint in Japan. This pic was on our way back to the US.
The Narita Airport is quite a distance from central Tokyo. The area around the airport is nothing like central Tokyo. Instead, the landscape is mostly rice paddies. Most of the year, this area doesn’t look like much, but in July, August, and September things are quite green with the ripening rice.
Our trip to Takayama, Shirakawago, and Kanazawa included four bus trips. The first three were all during the day and featured great views. The last leg (Kanazawa to Shinjuku) was a night bus–something I hope to never experience again.
Today’s pic, out our moving bus’s window, is from Matsumoto (松本市), a castle town in Nagano Prefecture. It was our second time through Matsumoto, the first time being on our trip to Hakuba last fall, but I have yet to see the castle. Soon after I took this picture heavy rain began to fall in places, turning the great views into other worldly views. The bus took us through countless tunnels and down roads with steep mountains on one or both sides. Temporary waterfalls formed down these green slopes as I rode on with my jaw on the bottom of the window seal in awe.
On our first day in Shirakawago, we had only an hour or two before the rain began. The downpour was incredible and only added to the town’s character (assuming it let up for the following day, right?). There is nothing like thunder and lightning when you are lodging in a gassho zukuri (合掌造り).
Breakfast was scheduled for 7:30 so I headed out of the thatched roof home (Hisamatsu 久松民宿) where we were staying at 6 a.m., hoping for a morning walk of more than an hour that didn’t include rain or tourists. The above photo is what Myozenji looked like across the road as I began my walk. I didn’t see any tourists. Everything was extremely peaceful. There were a couple of old Japanese guys tending their rice fields, but I didn’t see anyone else. The mountains were shrouded in mist that slowly began to burn away with the clouds.
It was a morning I will never forget. I returned just before breakfast and took the pic below of the same basic scene. This time it was mostly blue skies, with just a bit of mist remaining to keep the atmosphere extra special.
Life doesn’t get much better than a stroll through the rice paddies of Shirakawago on a sunny morning after a downpour the night before.
Today’s title is a bit misleading as I wasn’t actually able to partake of the best view of Mt. Fuji from the east. But I did get to imagine it while standing in the correct location.
Let me back up a bit and explain. There are some great views of Mt. Fuji from Shizuoka and Yamanashi. Unfortunately, getting there from the Tokyo area can take hours and cost thousands of yen. The best views of Mt. Fuji from Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and even most parts of Shizuoka and Yamanashi are usually obstructed, if not by buildings then by wires or most often by a mountain range that only allows for a partial, cap view.
I have found, however, a nearly complete view of Mt. Fuji a mere 90 minutes and 940 yen from Shinjuku (80 minutes and 850 yen from Yokohama). There are also some added bonuses of this location like rice paddies,
mountain-side tea fields,
bamboo,
a river,
the ocean, a lake, and even cows at the top of the mountain!
So where is this place? Mt. Ono or Onoyama (大野山). To get there, follow the signs from Yaga Station (谷峨駅). For best results, check this site first. If the forecast is for 晴れのち曇 (as it frequently is) then you want to be sure to be on the first Express out of Shinjuku in the morning. The view of Mt. Fuji is best in the morning, the earlier the better for photography purposes. The hike from the station to the top of the mountain takes between 1.5 and 2 hours. Don’t stop for pictures on the way up. Hightail it up the mountain and try to get to the views of Mt. Fuji before 9 a.m. You can take pictures of the rice paddies, tea fields, bamboo, river, etc. on your way down.
This is a great hike with the above forecast if you are jet lagged in Tokyo and waking up before 5 a.m. anyway. I chuckle when I go through Shinjuku in the morning and see foreign tourists waiting hours for the stores to open at 10 a.m. Don’t be one of them. If you did Tsukiji to pass your wide-awake, early-morning hours on day one of your trip (or if you simply want to do something in the morning and don’t want to be part of a tourist crowd) then, weather permitting, this could be on your agenda for morning two (Odakyu Line train out of Shinjuku leaves at 5:31 a.m.).
If the forecast is for 曇りのち晴れ then time your arrival at the top to be an hour or so before sunset. Don’t forget to bring a headlamp for the way down. The trail is well marked so there is little worry about getting lost. Follow signs pointing to 大野山 on the way up and to 谷峨駅 on the way down. Here are some examples:
大野山ハイキングコース入口 = Onoyama Hiking Course Entrance
Above is a very poorly reconstructed scene of what it would look like were Mt. Fuji not covered in clouds. My camera was on wide angle and the sun was high overhead. A little zoom, a lower sun, and fewer clouds and this has to be one fantastic scene to behold. The entire left outline of Fuji San is visible and the right side reveals more from here than most Fuji views from the east. The scene in front of Mt. Fuji is also very nice, although the above photo doesn’t do it justice. Onoyama is covered not in trees but in grass. The name 大野山 literally means the mountain with a giant field on top, and that is what you will find. Hence the cows enjoying the view in the most unlikely of places.
I actually did see Mt. Fuji on this day. When I arrived at Shinmatsuda Station, I took the above pic from the station.