Central Japan Tour Day 9

Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/250s, f/8, ISO800

I made sure to set my alarm to catch the sunrise from our third-floor balcony, but as with just about everyday on the trip I woke up before the alarm. It seems I wasn’t the only one in the group that woke up early. As mentioned in the previous post, the common areas had just about anything a visitor might want when staying 4,000+ feet above sea level, including complimentary coffee. The crisp, clear morning was such a tease.

After breakfast, we left the hotel and made a stop at the Hall of halls, a unique collection of working, life-sized music boxes. We were treated to unique performances from many of the machines on display, and a Christmas medley featuring many of the machines! Afterwards, while exploring the surrounding area, we got a beautiful view of the tippy top of Fujisan. This made me even more excited for the lake Kawaguchi stop scheduled for later in the day.

And just like that, it was lunch time. The bus dropped us off at Hôtô Fudô. The group was divided into pairs because we were warned that the hot pot was very large for one person. Unfortunately for me, I was left unpaired and got one whole hot pot to myself. The warning was not wrong. I was roll-me-out-of-here full, but I was determined not to waste a drip of food on this trip (and I remained vigilante)! The staff uniforms and the Mt. Fuji ceramic were so cool to me, so I asked the staff if they sold any of it as merchandise… It turned out that they do! I bought a hoodie for me, a t-shirt for my dad, and a Mt Fuji ceramic. All this time later and I still haven’t figured out what to put in it though.

But while scooping delicious broth down our esophagus’s, the clouds began to roll in and Mount Fuji became obscured by them. The lake Kawaguchi stop disappeared like a dream. I’m still very sad about this.

Having driven past the now-not-as-scenic lake, we were taken to the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum. This was definitely another hilight stop for me on this trip. The museum and surrounding garden was paid for by the artist to showcase his exquisite techniques and artistry using micro-dosed tie-dye onto Kimonos that when presented beside each other made giant panoramic murals representating each season. His inspiration for this project started as a prisoner in a Russian jail bearing witness through a window to the beautiful Siberian sunrise. In theory this seems impossible until you see it in person. Sadly, no photography is allowed in the main gallery. There was lots to photograph around the gallery though, because the museum was surrounded by a beautiful Japanese garden straight out of a Makoto Shinkai animated masterpiece (I’m reminded of this “Weathering with You” scene in particular). Kubota-san passed away before completing his panoramic vision, but he did live to witness his work displayed in the Smithsonian Museum.

Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/60s, f/2.8, ISO1600

Finally, we were dropped off at the Hotel Metropolitan Kawasaki, our final resting place before departing back to Honolulu. I was wrong last post about it being the penultimate one, however, because there will still be one more day to hilight, so stay tuned for that!