Day 5 : Ito's Family.

The room in K House Mt Fuji was very cosy though the toilet in the room has no warm seat. So we used the common toilet located just a few steps outside our room. I was silly to pay more to have a private toilet in the room but have been using the common toilet.

J put a cup of water outside the balcony before we slept. The next morning, the water has frozen! It became ice; just like the way we make ice in the fridge! So we concluded that the temperature overnight has really dropped below freezing level.

The hotel staff recommended us to have a walk at Kawaguchiko Bridge which offered a great view of Mt Fuji in the morning.

We ate our instant noodles and drank some free coffee and tea before checking out of our room. The luggages were left in the care of K House. The walk to Kawaguchiko Bridge really gave us a great view of Mt Fuji and the lake. The lake was real big and walking around seemed impossible for us. In fact, we did not finish walking across the bridge as we need to walk to take the pier to take the cruise and the cable-car ride.

We arrived at the pier around 9am. The cruise was by a sightseeing boat. Feeling the real cold wind, we decided to drop the cruise and took the Mt Tenjo Kachi Kachi ropeway. The fee was 700 JPY for adult and half price for child.

Reaching the top of Mt Tenjo, there was a big bell. Many people rang the bell and made a wish facing Mt Fuji. Of course, we did not miss this part too. There was a souvenir store where the staff took a photo for us and made it into a key-chain for 400 JPY. We were very pleased with the key-chain made.

We had a great view of the Mt Fuji and its peak was not covered by any clouds. In fact, we could see the smoke coming out of its peak in the clear blue sky.

There were 2 statues: a rabbit and a racoon at Mt Tenjo. I guess there must be a story behind but we have yet to find out.

For more info on Mt Tenjo Kachi Kachi Ropeway:
http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~ropeway/new/ropeway_p_e.pdf

We were unwilling to take the cable-car down but the time was running out. J suggested that during our next trip to Japan, we would stay in Kawaguchiko again but at a posh hotel where when we open the windows, we could see Mt Fuji!

Ok, another reason for a trip to Japan in the future!

There was no free transport from K House to Kawaguchiko station. We walked with our luggages to the station. We are amazed by the durability of our luggages. The small luggage has followed us to Europe 2 years ago. The big one was newly bought and has a warranty.

Thomas the train arrived as scheduled at Kawaguchiko station. Isa used to be crazy over Thomas and his friends. Since this service was available and the timing was suitable, we took this train at no extra cost.

From Kawaguchiko to Otsuki, transfer to Limited Express Kaiji train to Shinjuku. We continued to take a train straight to Tokyo before taking Rapid Airport Narita to arrive Sakura station in Chiba Prefecture.

The whole journey took about 4 hours and by the time we arrived at Sakura station, the sky was already totally dark though not even dinner's time.

Ito-san and his little boy, Ryouta, were already at the train station.

Ryouta, as in the photo, was cheerful and funny. Ito-san, remained as handsome as before. In fact, I did not find any sign of ageing in him. He was still the friendly and shy Japanese friend whom I knew for more than 10 years.

The ride from Sakura station to his house was short. We met his wife, Megumi and their daughter, Mari. Megumi looked older and maybe women age faster than men. Mari, as expected, has grown from a 4 years old girl to a 13 years young lady.

We were all very glad to meet each other, after a separation of 8 years. During then, Ryouta, was not even born.

The Japanese style christmas banquet gave me a great surprise. The dishes included chicken in mashed tomatoes, seafood salad, marcaroni in cheese, ham with potato, champagne for adults, sparkling fruit juice for kids etc. There were no sushi, rice, noodles, sashimi, tempura etc at all. A cake with strawberry and cream was later served as dessert.

The Japanese bath was again offered. Ito-san's house has quite a big bathroom. The hot-water bath tub has a small tv which Ito watched his news when he enjoyed the hot-water. Again, the water was simply too hot and we merely have a good scrub outside the tub.

Meanwhile, Megumi was busy preparing our bed in their Japanese room. Isa played with Ryouta and Mari. Ryouta taught Isa how to play his toys though he spoke only Japanese. But the kids enjoyed themselves. Meanwhile, the adults communicated using a laptop which translated English sentences into Japanese and vice versa. Again, we did not learn our lesson from the last Japan trip. I vowed to bring my laptop during my next Japan trip.

Despite the languages problem, the warmth we felt from Ito's family was enough to create an impression. Of course, Isa was most glad to meet Mari.