Tokyo day 4

I hadn't booked bus tickets to Lake Kawaguchiko (which is a viewing spot for Mount Fuji 2 hours away) as I wasn't sure we would go. But we all agreed to go today so we got the subway to the bus station aiming for the 9.10 bus. We missed it as it wasn't obvious where the bus stop nor ticket booth were. Once located I was dismayed to see a notice that the seats were all sold until 15.10.

The ticket staff were very helpful and put us on the waiting list for the 9.40 but there were already 9 on the list and we needed another 5 seats so thought we had no chance. We agreed to try for the 10.10 too then give up so I started planning an alternative days itinerary.

Amazingly our number was called and we all got on the 9.40. So we were lucky.......until we got there and it was so cloudy we couldn't see the lower mountains let alone Fuji. It cleared up later but sadly not enough.

We went to the Fuji visitor centre then walked around the lake. In the photo of us in the cafe we are pointing to where Fuji would be on a good day!

And this is the view of Fuji from the north shore of the lake....or where it should be;

The weather was quite cold so we transferred our return tickets to a bus an hour earlier than planned to get back to Tokyo.

Back in the city, which was warmer, we wandered through the neon light and red light districts - Martin was a bit ahead of the rest of us at one point and was offered a massage with a young Japanese lady! We ate dinner in a typical Japanese outlet full of locals. I had delicious dumplings and soup.