1st January 2008
As well as setting foot on Fuji-san, we wandered around Lake Kawaguchi for a few moments – it was bitterly cold, so we didn't stay outside for very long.
To be honest, there wasn't much to see so we pulled over at a large car park by an information centre and spotted this fabulously named hotel!
I was in stitches – where on earth did they get the idea for that name from? And even funnier was a sign saying "Hotel Yesterday is closed today".
In the information centre were a few vending machines and lots of leaflets about things to do in the area, but sadly they were all in Japanese so, although we collected a number, we have no idea what they mean. The pictures were pretty though.
We got tins of hot coffee and hot chocolate from the vending machines and for the first time, tried a food vending machine - there were no other options as "Yesterday" was closed.
It was rather good, although none of us fancied anything with chicken in it – after all, we have no idea how these things work (possible microwaves, but I'm not sure). So better safe than sorry. We had chips and a shared a big box of noodles which warmed us up beautifully.
And then it was time to head home, with a couple of stops en route to photograph the scenery. A lovely change from concrete.