ASIA TRIP 2024 - JAPAN PT.3 - FUJIsan & Oshino Hakkai
June 30
Between the excitement of being in Japan and the effects of the jet-lag that I was still experiencing, I woke up pretty early. I immediately looked out the window again with hopes of better weather and to my surprise, it wasn’t as cloudy as forecasted. I quickly got dressed and grabbed my camera bag and hurried up the street as quickly as possible with hopes of getting a glimpse of Fujisan. I was lucky, I could see part of it, but only for short time before the clouds moved in. But hey, anything is better than nothing.
I took a look around and noticed that there might be some more gaps in the clouds. I also noticed that the clouds were moving fairly quickly. This gave me some hope that Fujisan would come back into view. So I went back to our rental house, woke up my wife and suggested that we take a drive down to the lake to see if we can get a better view. It turns out luck was on our side again. While we never got a full view of Mt. Fuji, the view that we saw was still pretty good. To me, the clouds covering the peak at least gave us the impression of a snow-covered peak. Which, considering that it was summer, there really wasn’t any snow to speak of on Mt. Fuji.
View of Fujisan from Lake Kawaguchi – 2024/06/30, 04:48 JST – 35.52248680429082, 138.75393329925294
With the clouds clearing, for who knows how long, we decided to go back and tell the others in case they wanted a chance to see Mt. Fuji since this was our last day in Fujikawaguchiko. As I drove back to get them, I couldn’t help but notice that the only downside to being the driver for this trip was the fact that I couldn’t really enjoy the views as I drove. And the roads weren’t really conducive to parking on the side with the hazard lights on. After we enjoyed the view of a mostly visible Mt. Fuji for a while, we decided to go get some breakfast and then head to our next destination, Oshino Hakkai.
The drive to Oshino Hakkai was a pretty one. The mountain roads reminded me of the Touge Races I would watch on Best Motoring’s Hot Version. As tempted as I was to ‘enjoy the drive’, I knew I couldn’t since I had a car full of people and I was in a Rav4, far from a sports car.
Hakkai Garden, Hikobei Residence – 八海庭園 彦兵衛屋敷 – 35.45826687705263, 138.8305179884782
We started our walk at the Hakkai Garden. It was a beautiful location that made me think again about how I’d love to see this location as the seasons changed. Had the day been clear, we would have been able to see the top of Mt. Fuji just above the tree line. Oshino Hakkai was a location I knew nothing about. In a way I wished I would have known what the itinerary was so I could have been better prepared photographically speaking. But on the other hand, it was nice showing up to a new place and seeing everything for the first time in-person.
As I tried to take in the scenery and burn images into my memory, it hit me again, I really wished we had more time. Everything felt rushed to me and I guess my brain is operating a little slower — I blame age for that. It seems I need more time to examine my surroundings in order to make some stronger photographs. Also, while I took some family photos at certain locations, I neglected to go back and make photographs without people in the frame, something I’m regretting now that I’m back home.
Saw a pond behind a building but I don't believe it's one of the Eight Sacred Ponds. Still pretty though.
We left the garden and began our walk towards the Eight Sacred Ponds. Unfortunately, this again felt rushed, as the whole trip to Japan was starting to feel. The area we walked through seems to have local residences right next to the World Heritage site. In a way it made it feel less like a tourist attraction and more like a nice village we were walking through, something I really enjoyed. There was a fast-flowing creek with beautiful clear water beside us. I watched as I saw some fish just floating by as if they were using the creek as we would use an escalator. We walked past what I assume were people’s yards that were fully utilized as farms. The entire area felt so calming and we were there early so we didn’t see many people.
As we arrived to the first Sacred Pond — not sure it was officially the first as I don’t remember if we went in order — I was surprised by how small it was. In my mind, when I hear the word pond, I imagine a body of water that’s at least the size of something like a basketball court. The first pond wasn’t much bigger than a single-car garage if I remember correctly. In fact most of the ponds were pretty small. That’s not to say they weren’t nice locations to spend some time.
Thank you Son for taking the time to read the signs!
As I was looking for things to photograph, my son was reading the descriptions for each pond. I’m sure glad he was because he discovered that the water from one of the ponds was taken aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. I was surprised to say the least. I wasn’t at all expecting to come across something relating to The Space Shuttle Program during my travels in Japan. Especially when I’m visiting Eight Sacred Ponds. This was really special to me and I’m so glad my son took the time to read the signs.
As we wrapped up our walk around Oshino Hakkai and headed back to the car, we started looking the beautiful architecture and landscaping of what we assumed were private residences. I wondered what the history of the buildings were. Were these properties expensive? Did the owners do their own landscaping or did they hire professionals? This is when I would have really loved to have had a local tour guide. I came to the same conclusion as I did many times during the trip; I need to go back to Japan.
While it was still early in the day, and early in our trip, it was sadly time for us to leave the Yamanashi Prefecture and make our way to Tokyo. The early departure was good however. It allowed us to avoid the traffic and minimize our time on the road. And this time we were able to see the countryside during our drive on the highway, which I really appreciated. Before we left and while I had some free time, I decided to photograph some more care that I though were interesting. One of the passing cars had a golden retriever with his head out the window taking in all the smells. It really made me miss our dog (a family member if you ask me). I wish I could have brought him with us.
