After saying goodbye to Em and Katie in Osaka, I high tailed it up to Lake Kawaguchi which is the second largest of the Five Lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji. It was a full day of travel for me but I was rewarded with a fresh snow fall about an hour after I arrived! Keep in mind that this is only the second time I’ve seen snow in my life so I was very excited. Later that night, there was a fireworks show for the winter festival over the lake which was an easy walking distance from my hostel. It wasn’t Disney World but I was still very impressive and a great way to end Chinese New Years Eve.
My main goal for coming to Lake Kawaguchi was to see Mt Fuji which I’ve heard could be difficult because she sometimes likes to hide behind clouds. The day I planned to see the illusive mountain started with a few clouds in the morning but cleared up beautifully and I was able to see Mt Fuji in all her glory on Chinese New Year. And its also year of the monkey and I’m a monkey! I’m choosing to believe this means good luck for the year. I got to see Mt Fuji on a boat in the middle of Lake Kawaguchi as well as on a mountain after a short climb in the snow. I love that it looks pretty much symmetrical all around. The mountain is stunning and I can’t believe that I was able to see it.
After spotting Mt Fuji, I went to Nagano which is as far north as I was gonna go on this trip. Nagano is the site of the 1998 Olympics and a great staring point to see the Japanese Macaques, or snow monkeys. I have been obsessed with visiting these monkeys since I figured out I was going to Japan. I got to Nagano during a light snow fall (again!) and planned to visit the snow monkeys the next day but I was able to see lantern festival at Zenkoji temple that night.
Since it was snowing, the hostel I was staying at offered me an umbrella which I foolishly rejected because in all my brilliance, I didn’t fully realize that while snow is frozen water it becomes water when it gets on your clothes and heats up. Again, this is only my second time in snow. Well, while I was at Zenkoji temple and the lantern festival it started snowing harder and my pants began to suffer due to my previous brilliance. I ducked into a restaurant for some soba noodles while I liked cause it was served cold and had a soy sauce soup to dip the noodles in with some shrimp tempura.
The next day was the day I got to visit my beloved snow monkeys and since it had just snowed I knew it was going to be awesome! After a short hike on a mountain through the snow I got to see the snow monkeys chilling in their hot springs.
The monkeys were cool and just doing their thing in the springs but the people visiting them were obsessed with getting a good picture. I understand that it’s a cool place and probably the only time you’ll be here but come on, respect that this is their home. One of my friends who also went explained it as a ‘photo frenzy’ which I completely agree with.
I hiked a little farther from the main spring and got to see some of the monkeys not completely surrounded and got to see some baby monkeys hiding in between their (I’m assuming) parents which was cute. While in Japan, I got to see so many monkeys and it made me the happiest person!
That ended my time in the snow cause the next day I left for Tokyo which was going to be my last stop in Japan. Even though I’d already been to Tokyo with Katie and Em there was still plenty that I wanted to do.
Here’s a slide show of more pictures of Lake Kawaguchi and Mt Fuji just cause it was so damn impressive.
In a Shenzhen Minute 
Looks amazing
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VERY nice article!! Freaking cute pictures!
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