Tokyo Diaries: From Mt. Fuji to YSL

Day 3 of our Tour was a trip to see the breathtaking Mt. Fuji. It was very cold and we were hoping to go all the way up to Station 5 (about midway up the mountain) but the weather was bad so we didn’t get very far. Nevertheless, here are some photos of us, the famous Mt. Fuji and romping in the snow.

We were the most rowdy family in our tour, running around the snow, throwing ice at each other. We were also the most delinquent and rode the bust last, every single time. Woops. We were rarely late but almost always, last.

For lunch they FINALLY took us to a Japanese restaurant where we feasted on a Bento Box and some udon. It was delicious. We thoroughly enjoyed it but overheard many members of our group say that they disliked it. I guess to each his own.

I found this toilet sign funny. Oh Japanese Engrish. I guess for some people using the toilet is a “performance”

Souvenir Shopping afterwards.

After lunch, we drove to Hakone (very pretty town), past Lake Hakone (beautiful lake) and up to Hell’s Valley.

On the bus Miwako taught us some Japanese:

It’s a volcanic mountainside where you can see smoke rising up from fissures in the ground. You can smell the sulfur, it smells faintly of rotten eggs. Hence my brother’s expression in these photos.

There we ate some Black Eggs. They are eggs that are boiled in spring water and then steamed. The spring water is rich in a mineral that sticks to the egg’s shell. When it is steamed, the mineral oxidizes and turns black. It’s a chemical thing, I didn’t understand it much. Every egg is said to prolong your life by 7 years. I ate two, my dad ate like..3 or 4. They’re just plain hardboiled eggs. Nothing too terrific about them except that they’re black and you’re eating them on the side of a volcano.

Despite the cold, brother tried this Yellow Custard Ice Cream. Made from Egg yolks so it was ridiculously creamy. You can already imagine how many calories are in this. I shudder.

After this we went to Gotemba Premium Outlets. This outlet is similar to the developers of the famous Vegas and New York outlets with all the brand names. Heck, it has a YSL and a Balenciaga. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the tour guide only gave us an hour and forty five minutes!!! I was practically running through all the stores. The rain made it even more challenging. My brother was disappointed, he wasn’t able to get anything. I melted my credit card on a denim YSL Cabas ChYc bag  🙂 I went through buyer’s remorse for a little bit because it was so expensive (it’s probably the most expensive thing I’ve purchased for myself) but I’m okay now. I’m using it and I love it so it’s worth it. Plus, the Y stands for Yee. 🙂

Dinner was at another Japanese restaurant. It’s buffet but different from what we usually know. I didn’t know what to make of it, my family and I had difficulty finding things to eat. Here’s some pictures, maybe someone out there in the internet can tell me if this restaurant concept is a “thing” in Japan because we didn’t really get it.

I don’t know if I did it properly but this is what my plate looked like afterwards.

After dinner, when we got back to the hotel, we made it a point to visit Don Quijote – 7 floors of shopping bliss. They sell anything under the sun, from Hermes Bags to False Eyelashes. We were exhausted so we had no more energy to really shop here.

It was rainy and we noticed that most Japanese had these clear umbrellas.