Family Pictures and Iyashi no Sato Nenba

I don't want to leave Japan without taking a great family picture with Mt. Fuji in the background, so a few weeks ago, we drove out to Fuji to get our prized picture.  However, we got there and this is what we saw:

No Fuji!  Haha!!!  See that grey sky?  Well, it's actually a whole bunch of fog completely covering Mt. Fuji.  On clear day, from this exact spot, Mt. Fuji in its entirety is visible.  And it's stunning!  But, of course the day we get all dressed up for family pictures and drive an hour and a half out there, it's too foggy to see anything!  So, we decided to make the most of it and go visit Iyashi no Sato Nenba (an old fashioned thatched roof village) since we were all the way over there.  The drive over to the village turned out to be beautiful--the fall foliage was bright and beautiful with all sorts of yellows and reds adorning the hills.  As we pulled up to Iyashi no Sato, we found a prime photo spot and decided to take some family pictures real quick since we were all dressed and ready.

After taking pictures, we went in to walk around the village.  Walking through Iyashi no Sato is like stepping back in time!  All of the buildings have thatched roofs, and there's a little river that runs through the middle with a few water wheels next to some of the buildings.  Each building has a different activity or different local crafts/souvenirs.  There are a bunch of ceramics for sale and we were able to find some really cute octopus and sumo wrestler chopstick holders.  We ate lunch at one of the two restaurants and enjoyed some soba and udon as well as some green mountain vegetables that (surprisingly) Bennett loved and (not surprisingly) Will and Clara did not.

The absolute best part about visiting Iyashi no Sato though is dressing up!  For only ¥500 each, you can dress up in kimonos, samurai, or ninja clothing!  Then, you're allowed to walk around the village wearing the clothing--it gives you the chance to really experience what it would be like living in the village at the time.  It was so much fun!  Peter was our samurai and Bennett was a little samurai baby, Will was a ninja and Clara and I both dressed in kimonos.  Watching the two little old grandmas dress Peter in his costume was so funny!  They barely reached his chest!

Since we now had more awesome family pictures, we decided to incorporate them into our Christmas cards as well.  So, here you have it!  Merry Christmas from the Frandsens!

GPS Coordinates for Iyashi no Sato Nenba:  35.505223, 138.661551

Saiko Bat Cave

After checking out Shiraito Falls the other day, we drove back up towards Saiko Lake (one of the Fuji 5 Lakes) to visit the Saiko Bat Cave, which is the largest lava cave near the foot of Mt. Fuji (we'd checked out the Fugaku Lava Cave previously, but our kids were too tired that day for anymore exploring!).  

A little known fact about our family is that we LOVE bats!!!  I think it all started with a National Geographic easy reader about bats that Will got a few years ago.  That book is full of interesting facts, but once we learned that they eat mosquitos, we all became huge fans!  And, really, they are fascinating creatures!  So, anyway, we went to the Saiko Bat Cave with high hopes of seeing lots of bats.  However, and we knew this, but bats are nocturnal.  We thought we'd at least be able to see them asleep in their roosts, but they're too smart to hang out (hee hee) where the caves are open for visitors to crawl around, so we didn't see any.  We may try and go back this winter around 4:00-5:00pm when they wake up for the night and come flooding out of the caves.  Sounds exciting, doesn't it?!

We really felt like explorers in this cave!  And those silly helmets weren't so silly after all--the caves were quite narrow with low ceilings in several areas, making the hard hats quite useful in keeping us from banging up our heads on the rocks.  

After climbing through the cave, there is a small souvenir shop and a mini little museum-type room with pictures and more information about bats.  While this cave was relatively small and won't take too long to check out, there is a bunch of stuff to do around the area, making for a great day trip.  Check my other posts on things to do in this area: Shiraito Falls, Fugaku Lava Cave, Camping at Lake Motosu, Kawaguchi Asama Shrine, and the Chureito Pagoda!

GPS Coordinates: 35.494473, 138.671318

Shiraito Falls

A few weeks ago, we drove out to Mt. Fuji with some friends to visit the Shiraito Falls.  These waterfalls are amazing--it's hard to describe how breathtakingly beautiful they are--especially on a clear day with Mt. Fuji looming right above.  Japan is so full of hidden treasures!  And the Shiraito Falls are no exception!  Definitely worth the drive to see such incredible scenery.

The falls are about 2 hours from base, and then once you arrive, walking down to the water only takes a few minutes.  Since visiting the actual falls isn't a full day trip, we decided to stop by the Lake Sai Bat Cave afterwards.  Post coming soon!

GPS Coordinates:  35.313255, 138.587371

Fugaku Lava Cave

After a fun night of camping and hanging out at Lake Motosu, as we were leaving the Fuji Five Lakes area, we decided to stop and check out the Fagaku Lava Cave, also known as the lava ice cave or wind cave.  It was really cool--literally!  There were pillars of ice, even in the heat of the summer!  This cave used to be used as a natural refrigerator, and they still store silk worms inside today.  It was a short walk through the cave, and it was set in the beautiful greenery that surrounds Mt. Fuji.  There are several other caves in the area that we were hoping to explore as well (especially the bat cave!), but our kids were officially pooped after camping, hiking, and playing that we decided to save the rest of the caves for another day.

Camping at Lake Motosu

Going back almost two years now, when we first found out that there was a good chance that we'd be moving to Japan after Peter finished his residency in Texas, I began researching the areas around Yokota Air Base.  I wanted to know where it was in relation to Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, etc.  I discovered that Yokota was only about an hour from Mt. Fuji, and this got me REALLY excited.  Fast forward a few months (still in Texas, pretty sure that we'd be moving to Japan by this point) and I came across an article about stand-up paddle boarding in the Fuji 5 Lakes, which are the 5 lakes that are all very close to the base of Mt. Fuji.  It was at this point that I became determined to visit the lakes, camp, and go paddle boarding once we moved to Yokota.  Fast forward again to a year ago when we moved here.  Last summer/fall, Bennett was still very young, we were traveling quite a bit, and we hadn't yet figured out exactly where the best camping was near Fuji 5 Lakes, so we never made it out.  

But this summer I was determined to make it happen!

And we did!  We figured out that the Koan Campground at Lake Motosu was the place to go!  They have campsites lakeside, as well as a "tent village" down the road across from the lake.  And, at the Koan Motosu Inn,  (where you pay for your campsite, can eat, and even stay) you are able to rent kayaks, paddle boards, canoes, scuba equipment, etc.  

We camped at the "tent village" camp-jo (campground) down the road from the Inn, rather than lakeside (the campsite lakeside is much smaller with the tents quite close to one another).  The camp-jo we went to is nestled in the forest at the foot of the mountains across the street from the lake.  We literally had the entire camp-jo to ourselves!  The campground itself was amazing--plenty of space to run around and explore, nice flat ground for our tents, a bunch of sinks, and (clean!!!) bathrooms with showers.   

Just across the street from the camp-jo is Lake Motosu.  From Lake Motosu, as long as it's not too cloudy, Mt. Fuji is visible and the entire setting is absolutely breathtaking--I never cease to be amazed by how incredibly beautiful this country is!  

After setting up camp on Friday when we arrived, we went over to check out the lake and play around.  The side where we were doesn't have groomed beaches, but there was plenty of space to hang out, splash around, and throw rocks in the water.  All of the kids had a blast, but especially Bennett!  He did not hesitate getting into the water at all!  Plus, I swear all boys are this way, but he could literally throw rocks into the lake ALL DAY.  He would've been content to do it all weekend, in fact!  But, I'm not complaining--it's easy entertainment, and we had an incredible backdrop!

After playing at the lake, we went back to our campsite and finished getting everything out that we would need for the night.  Then we built our fire and began preparing dinner.  We roasted hot dogs and finished off with s'mores, of course.  

We ate dinner pretty early, so we had plenty of time to relax, swing in the hammock, play, and explore.  Then, once it got dark we played Marco Polo, which was Peter's ingenious idea.  It was pretty pitch black, so Peter would wander out and hide, and then the kids and I (armed with lanterns and flash lights) would yell "Marco" as Peter answered with "Polo" until we'd eventually find him.  It was so much fun and I couldn't believe how daring our kids were to go wandering around a strange forest in the darkness of night--they even played several rounds without me because I was cleaning up from dinner and getting Bennett changed.

The kids were exhausted by 7:00pm (their normal bedtime), so we put them down and all of them, even Bennett, went straight to sleep.  This gave Peter and I chance to sit and talk by the campfire for a couple of hours which was really nice--it was like we were on our own camping date!  Then, we went and joined our three little rascals in the tent for what turned out to be not such a great night's sleep . . . Will and Clara slept great in the double sleeping with Peter :)  However, Clara likes to cuddle a lot, so I don't think Peter had a whole lot of space!  But, the real challenge was Bennett.  He had his pack 'n play in the tent, and went down without a problem, but then a couple of hours after we came to bed he woke up!  And was wide awake!  And he wanted to party!  So, for about 2 hours Peter and I traded off trying desperately to get him back to sleep.  It was kind of rough. Then, a couple of hours after that, Will woke up!  At 5:00am, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and ready for the day!  Needless to say, Peter and I were tired :)  But, it could have been worse.  And the older the kids get, the better it'll get, so we're not going to let a few sleepless hours stop us from doing it all again!

Since our kids are such early risers, we had our hot chocolate, oatmeal, and cereal and were ready for the day by 7:00!  We decided to take advantage of our incredible surroundings and head out on one of the trails that lead out from our campsite.  We chose one that said it was about an hour hike, according to the little sign, and just hoped that it would take us to the summit so that we could get a great view of the lake and Mt. Fuji.  The hike started out mellow enough, but got pretty steep pretty quickly!  William did great, but about a half an hour into it, he burned out.  Peter ran ahead a ways to check things out, but once he realized that the hike we chose wouldn't get us to the view we wanted, we decided to head back down.  It was all so beautiful though and a great way to start out our morning.

After our hike, we cleaned up and packed up camp, ate an early lunch and went over to the Koan Motosu Inn to rent some canoes and get in the lake!  Ideally, we would have rented stand-up paddle boards, but Peter and I decided that we didn't want to have to wait and take turns going out and watching the kids on the shore, and that they'd have more fun anyway if we went canoeing instead.  So that's what we did!  We got two canoes and paddled around and had little races in the lake (I'm not going to tell you who won every single race, but I will tell you that Peter may have bragged about having gotten his canoeing merit badge as a boy scout . . . ).  It was a lot of fun!  William loved having his own paddle and Clara was happy as long as she didn't get splashed and had her own seat :)  And Bennett is crazy.  As long as he is outside and with his family he is a happy guy.

Camping at Lake Motosu was so so so much fun!  We can't wait to go back, next time hopefully with friends!  Plus, it's close to a whole bunch of fun places to check out--like all of the caves!  After canoeing we went to a lava ice cave--blog post coming soon!

GPS Coordinates for Koan Motosu Inn (where the campsites are reserved/paid for, and where you can rent recreational equipment): 35.473811, 138.573248

GPS Coordinates for the "tent village" camp-jo at which we stayed (paid for at the Koan Motosu Inn): 35.451829, 138.571253