After our photo stop this morning in Arakurayama Sengen Park, we boarded the next Fujikyuko Line train at shimoyoshida stop at around 12pm, which arrived in Kawaguchiko a short time later. From here it was not far to the Shibazakura Festival.
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The Shibazakura Festival
The Shibazakura Festival is a flower festival at the foot of Mount Fuji with 800,000 flame flowers (“moss phlox flowers”), which takes place only a few weeks a year. On our arrival day in Tokyo, we saw a poster for the flower festival by train from the airport to the city. The colourful sea of flowers with Mount Fuji in the background looked so magnificent that we definitely wanted to see it. For the Japanese, the cherry blossom season (also called Sakura) is the most beautiful time of the year. From mid-March, it traditionally heralds spring and plunges the whole country into a sea of pink flowers.
Advertisement for the Shibazakura Festival
The way from Tokyo to the Shibazakura Festival
To get from Tokyo to the Shibazakura Festival, you can either buy bus tickets for the ride on the “Highway Bus” or drive on our own with the local trains.
From Kawaguchiko train station, a bus took to shibazakura festival, which takes place in 2015 only from April 18 to May 31. The ticket included the 40-minute round trip as well as the entrance fee. At the ticket counter there was a sign that currently only 10 of the flowers are blooming. That sounds very little, so we were curious to see what the sea of flowers in front of Mount Fuji would look like.
The Area of the Flower Festival
The grounds of the Flower Festival are not insanely large and in fact there were only a few flower fields that bloomed completely in pink. And it was precisely in these places that you could take beautiful pictures with Mount Fuji in the background. There is a place where you can photograph Mount Fuji with flowers and the original in the background. From a lookout bridge one had a good view of the whole area. Here you can also see the many bare places where hardly any flowers bloom.
After a good hour we walked over the whole area and got back on the bus to Kawaguchiko. From there we took the train towards Tokyo at around 4.30 p.m., where we arrived three hours later. Even the trains are painted here in a funny way with the motif of Mount Fuji 🙂
Hakone Geothermal Area
In addition to Mount Fuji, we also wanted the Hakone region Explore. Hakone is a geothermal area with volcanic thermal springs, a cog railway and a cable car. In the mountains of Hakone, there are numerous springs with hot sulphur water, and the smell is present throughout the surrounding area. Unfortunately, however, the region around Owakudani has been completely closed to visitors for several days, as seismic activity has increased dramatically and experts expect the Hakone volcano to erupt in the near future. During our stay in Tokyo we saw 2 earthquakes. One thing at least in the strength 6,8… that has already been quite a rumbling.
The region of Ewakudani
All travelogues from Japan
After spending 4 days in Japan we can say, that we really liked Tokyo! The Japanese are incredibly polite and friendly and despite such a huge city there is no hectic rush. There's something to see on every corner, the city seems very modern and is nevertheless down-to-earth. Even the taxi drivers all wear suits and ties. In Tokyo we would have definitely wanted to spend a few more days.
» Tokyo – Our flight from Australia to Japan» Tokyo – The Pandas & Sea Lions at Ueno Zoo
» Tokyo – Ameyoko Street & the district Shibuya
» Tokyo – Metropolitan Government Building & Tokyo Tower
» Tokyo – Imperial Palace & Sensoji Temple in Asakusa
» Arakurayama Sengen Park, Chureito Pagoda & Mount Fuji
» Shibazakura Festival – Beautiful flower carpet at Mount Fuji
» Tokyo – Shinjuku District & Hibiya Oktoberfest