One Day Tour to Mt. Fuji area
Mt. Fuji perfectly matches the winter scenery of cold air and clear blue skies. The appearance of Mt. Fuji varies depending on where you look at it. On this one-day tour, the first place we visited after leaving our hotel in Shinagawa was Lake Kawaguchi and Oishi Park, which is famous among visitors to Japan. Parking spaces for people with disabilities are available closest to the path leading down from the park parking lot to the lakeside.
Visitors can also enjoy the seasonal flowers along the small, wheelchair-accessible Hana Kaido (Flower Road), which truly “adds to the beauty” of Mt. Fuji.
However, even if you go out to admire Mt. Fuji, you may be concerned about the weather. Depending on traffic conditions, it will take approximately 2 hours to reach Lake Kawaguchi from Tokyo via the Chuo Expressway. Although the weather may change after you depart, you can check the view of Mt. Fuji from Oishi Park using the live camera.
When you look at Mt. Fuji from Oishi Park over Lake Kawaguchi, you are looking at the north side of Mt. Fuji. The way you see it changes depending on where you look from, which is one of the charms of Mt. Fuji.
After viewing Mt. Fuji at Oishi Park, head to Gotemba Premium Outlets via Higashi Fuji Five Lakes Road. Since the outlet is spread over a vast area, the number of visitors is overwhelming. By using a direct bus from Tokyo or a shuttle bus from Gotemba IC, you can arrive at Bus service locations where other vehicles are not allowed to drive into. If you go out by a private car, be prepared to take enough time to reach the parking lot during the busy season. When I told the staff member who was organizing the line of cars waiting to enter the parking lot that I was a wheelchair user, the staff instructed me to head toward multi-story parking lot P7, so I waited for about 30 minutes and arrived at the private parking space. In General, parking spaces for people with disabilities have space only on both sides of the vehicle, and it is inconvenient to get on and off Wilgo which has a wheelchair lift attached at the rear gate, but here there is a plenty of space at the backside of the vehicle, which is very helpful and convenient.
Taking the elevator in the P7 parking lot down to the 1st floor, you can enter directly to the East Zone/Hillside. Each zone is spread out on a slope, but the outlet is completely barrier-free, so there is no problem with moving around on a wheelchair, shopping, eating, or using the restroom. Furthermore, from the connecting bridge connecting each zone, you can see a different view of Mt. Fuji than you can see from Lake Kawaguchi and Oishi Park.
You can find what you’re looking for at the outlet, look at Mt. Fuji, relax at the food court and restaurants, and have a wonderful time to the fullest. When nightfall approaches, people on their way back to home will head to the parking exit and it may take some time to leave the parking lot. However, if you take the Ashigara Smart IC where is closer than Gotemba IC on Tomei Expressway, you can avoid traffic jams around Gotemba Premium Outlets. Once get on Tomei Expressway, it’s a little over an hour’s drive to Tokyo without heavy traffic jams. It’s a popular area where inevitably gets crowded on weekends, but it’s definitely a place you should visit and enjoy on weekdays or in off-peak time even on weekends.