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Explore the other side of Mount Fuji


There are many ways to enjoy Japan’s iconic peak without crowds, from hiking its sister summits to touring vineyards. Words: Oliver Berry


ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO EXPERIENCE THE BEAUTY OF FUJI/GETTY


“If Fuji-san is wearing his hat,” says canoe guide Shinji Toizumi, as we paddle out across Lake Kawaguchi, “it means rain is on the way.” He points to the distant outline of Mount Fuji, silhouetted against the rose-pink sky. Sure enough, a disc of cloud is drifting around its summit. It’s so common, Toi says, it even has a name here: kasakumo, the umbrella cloud. He goes on to tell me that he


used to be a fl orist, but his second passion has always been canoeing. We drift into the lee of a wooded island, where he sets out camping chairs and brews a pot of coff ee. As the rising sun turns Fuji’s slopes red, we sip from enamel mugs, then paddle back to the mainland. True to Toi’s prediction, drizzle begins to fall. An hour later, the mountain has vanished from view. Every year, 220,000 people descend


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on Mount Fuji, mostly between June and August when weather conditions are favourable for a summit push. T ousands more come just to get a quick snap, take a selfi e and hashtag the view. T e mountain is a deeply sacred site in Japan. Since 2013, it’s been a UNESCO World Heritage Site — listed not just for its beauty, but also its spiritual signifi cance as the alleged dwelling place of deities and spirits. However, in some places, the overcrowding has become so bad that councils have introduced climbing permits and erected barriers to stop sightseers from blocking traffi c. So I’ve come north to Yamanashi


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Prefecture, on Fuji’s northern fl anks, to fi nd a more tranquil side to Japan’s holy mountain. Specifi cally, I’m in the Fuji Five Lakes, two hours’ drive from Tokyo, an area popular with city-dwellers in search of nature. Sheltered from the drizzle by pine trees, I’ve spent the afternoon trying archery, chopping fi rewood, balancing on a slack-line and boiling myself in a barrel sauna. As night falls, I barbecue my supper over smouldering coals and sip a homemade cocktail, chilled with ice made with Fuji-fi ltered water


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Fertile slopes If you mention Yamanashi to most Japanese people, however, they’ll


GLAMPING IS POPULAR IN JAPAN/VILLA HANZ


probably hand you a corkscrew. T e sheltered, gently sloping foothills around Mount Fuji provide the perfect volcanic terroir for wine- growing. T e next day, I take a road-trip past riverside villages and rice terraces into a landscape more reminiscent of Tuscany than Japan. Vines carpet the slopes, mostly growing the local Koshu grapes, plump and purple as cherries. At Haramo Wine, I meet


Shintaro Furuya, whose family has been making wine here for three generations. “Most people outside Japan don’t even know we make wine,” he says. “T at’s changing, but it’s a slow process.” Like most of Yamanashi’s vineyards, the winery is open for tastings. He uncorks his favourite white: it’s crisp, fruity and acidic, the perfect partner, he says, to sushi and miso-based broths. T e next day, I e-bike across to


Kawaguchi’s neighbour, Saiko. Crumpled hills rise along the skyline, a reminder of the restless geological forces that rumble, unseen but omnipresent, under Fuji’s crust. Kayakers scull across the lake and fi shermen cast lines for trout. I borrow a standup paddleboard and glide under Fuji’s looming shadow, then plunge into the lake, which is fed by meltwater from the winter’s snowfall. It’s bracingly cold and crystal clear.


T e most striking thing about


Yamanashi is its greenness. Aokigahara Forest — also known as Jukai, the Sea of Trees — sprawls for 12sq miles around Mount Fuji. Parts of it may be a millennium old. On a misty afternoon, I walk into the forest and fi nd trees contorted into weird, cartoonish forms as they compete for light. Deep caves burrow into the rock, some said to be bottomless. Ghosts are also believed to stalk Aokigahara — partly due to the forest’s unwelcome reputation as a suicide spot — but it’s also an oasis for nature. Nihon kamoshika, a type of goat-antelope, roam wild here, and sometimes hikers encounter elusive Japanese black bears. On the western fringes of the


forest, beside the shores of Lake Motosu, I meet up with local hiking guide Shinobu Sato. “Everyone wants to climb Fuji,” he says. “I’ve done it many times and it’s beautiful, but it’s too crowded.” Instead, he suggests summiting one of its sister mountains. “Most people ignore them,” he says. “And the views are better.” T ere are dozens to choose


from — his favourites include Settogatake, Ryugatake and Mitsutoge — but he’s brought me to Nakanokuratouge for a


JUKAI, THE SEA OF TREES/AWL IMAGES


special reason, he says. We trek up the hillside in the early evening, stopping occasionally to examine lichen, moss, lizards and tree frogs. After half an hour, we reach a clearing, and there, framed against the orange twilight, is Fuji’s conical profi le. It looks like one of Hokusai’s


works: ringed by lake and forest, streaked by reds, pinks, umbers and ochres, topped by a diamond-white kasakumo crown. He was right — the views are better up here.


How to do it: Hourly JR Kanto buses run from Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station, taking around two hours to reach Kawaguchi, or Japan Rail’s new direct express train service takes 70 minutes. Glamping prices at Villa Hanz start from ¥32,000 (£162) for a two-person yurt, room only. InsideJapan Tours can arrange bespoke itineraries including nights at Villa Hanz and activities around Mount Fuji. yamanashi-kankou.jp jrbuskanto.co.jp jreast.co.jp gv-hanz.com insidejapantours.com


T is article appeared in the January/ February 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK). Read it in full at nationalgeographic.com/travel


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