24 July 2023
Elevation - 3,776 masl
Elevation gained - 1,500 m
Distance - 16.5 km
Total time taken - 10.5 hrs (2 days)
Climbing period - July to September
Difficulty - 3/5 moderate (achievable for anyone with moderate fitness and exercises regularly)
Trail type - Volcanic scree and rocky terrains towards the peak
Requirements - Permit is not required, only a hut booking is required for a 2 day hike
I have seen Mt Fuji many times while visiting Japan, but always from afar. So now it's time to get up close and personal with Japan's most iconic mountain, and likely also the world's most renowned mountain! When we heard that Japan was opening up this year, we started to plan our Mt Fuji climb. It was not surprising that many people had the same idea, and it became the year with a record number of climbers.
Trip Planning
You don't need a guide nor permit to climb Mt Fuji, all you need is to book one of the huts on the trail as it will be a 2 days journey up and down the mountain. Bullet climbing aka overnight climbing is strongly discouraged as the temperatures can become frigid at night and the huts will not accept anyone without a booking.
The climbing period runs from July to September and there are 4 trails to choose from. We decided on the most popular, easiest and accessible Yoshida trail. There are other trail options if you want less crowd on the trail. As for booking a hut, although there are a total of 14 huts on the Yoshida trail, from the 7th and 8th stations, only about half of them accepts online and overseas booking. The booking window defers from hut to hut but generally opens during the May to April period. You would ideally want to get a hut that is further up, 8th station huts are preferred, so you can do most of the climbing on the first day and minimise the distance you would need to cover in the dark on the 2nd day.
Due to the sheer number of climbers this year, the competition was intense. Although we tried to secure the huts the minute the booking window was opened, most of the huts were snatched up within a few minutes of opening, and often the server crashed before we could even get to the booking page (yes, it is this stressful and competitive!). We were panicking as we were unable to secure a spot after trying a number of times! Lucky for us, we were finally successful on our 4th try, and we later realised the hut we booked was the highest hut on Fuji and with one of the best views - Goraikoukan at station 8.5!
For 8th station huts, I would recommend booking Taishikan through the 3rd party platform, Fuji Mountain Guides, as the website is available in English and the process is pretty fuss-free. The other alternatives would require you to reserve on the hut's respective websites which are often in Japanese and are more complicated to navigate around. Some good alternatives with online booking are: Tomoekan, Gansomuro and Goraikoukan (this is the hut we booked!)
Costs
Mountain Hut - JPY 13,500
(Including: mountain hut accommodation, dinner and breakfast bento)
Express bus from Tokyo to Fuji 5th station - JPY 3,500
Bus from Fuji 5th station to Tokyo - JPY 1,780
cost indicated is per pax
Getting There
There are many ways to get to the trail head at Mt Fuji 5th Station and you can even opt to stay overnight the night before to better acclimatise. There are frequent trains and buses from Tokyo and Kawaguchiko. We took the first express bus out from Tokyo Shinjuku bus station, in the morning at 6.45am to reach Mt Fuji 5th Station at 9.20am. This would give us a good amount of time to store any excess luggage and rest before starting the climb.
Day 1 - Journey to the mountain hut
0645 | Take the first bus from Shinjuku towards Mt Fuji 5th station |
0920 | Reach Mt Fuji 5th station and store and excess luggage, spend some time to explore the shops and acclimatise |
1130 | Start our Mt Fuji climb! |
1330 | Reach first hut at 7th station for lunch |
1800 | Reach our rest hut Goraikoukan at 8.5th station, rest and have dinner |
0920 | Reached Mt Fuji 5th station
We reached Mt Fuji 5th station after around 2.5hrs on the bus from Tokyo Shinjuku bus station. We were actually super nervous about missing this bus and had recce-d the route the day before because Shinjuku station was really confusing! After we arrived at Mt Fuji 5th station, we spent some time exploring the shops (there were just so many shops with all the Mt Fuji merch you could imagine) and also stored some extra luggages we had. There were quite a number of storage options around, usually on the upper floors of the shops. But of course the main reason for taking some time at the 5th station was also to acclimatise before the climb, as we had already ascended to 2000+ masl from Tokyo. Don't forget to also buy a hiking stick at one of the shops to collect the stamps at each hut! I bought the long stick to maximise my stamping surface area, but you can also buy a smaller one so it's easier to pack it into your luggage.
1130 | Start of climb
We paid our conservation fees at the trail head and received a small token in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Mt Fuji becoming a world heritage site. Thus, our journey began! The first section was relatively easy and flat with many regular tourists around. The smell of horse poop was pretty overwhelming, as tourists can choose to ride on the horses to the 6th staton.
1210 | Reached the 6th station
After around 40mins of hiking we reached the 6th station hut which had beautiful views. It's a nice spot to take some photos and rest before continuing the journey. Unfortunately there were no stamps at the hut, as you would have to descend down via another route to get to the stamp station. Most regular tourists would stop here as the path ahead gets tougher. Beyond the 6th station is where the ascend begins with endless hairpin loops that lead up to the next set of huts at the 7th station.
1330 | Reached the first of the 7th station huts
After endless upslopes we finally spotted the first of the 7th station huts - Hanagoya. This was where we got our first stamps on our hiking sticks for 500 yen and they were so pretty! It was also time to fuel up with our packed lunch while we enjoyed the stunning views. You can also buy food and drinks at the huts and pay around 200 yen to use the toilet. As we continued up, we passed a few more 7th station huts in the same cluster, while the path became even steeper. Instead of volcanic scree, the path was rocky and sometimes required you to get down on all fours.
1545 | Reached the first of the 8th station huts
After what felt like forever, and passing countless huts, we finally reached the first of the 8th station huts - Taishikan. Of course we got a stamp to commemorate this. We were pretty tired at this point, but grateful for the huts along the way to stop and rest when needed. The huts were also a good sign post to track our progress and gave us motivation to reach the next hut. Not going to lie, we were quite jealous of those who had booked the lower huts and their relieved faces as they happily called it day. Since we had booked the highest hut on the Yoshida trail, we had to press on!
1800 | Reached our resting hut, the highest hut at 8.5th station
After passing by countless huts and hoping to see our hut's sign, our spirit was restored when we finally caught sight of a lone hut that stood far above the rest. It was so much further up that it was no longer considered an 8th station hut, but 8.5th station, the last hut you would pass before reaching the summit. We excitedly hiked up the last few hairpin loops to our hut - Goraikoukan. From this height, you could see the majestic shadow of Mt Fuji projected on the city below. We commemorated this by getting a stamp from our hut. The hut provided us with slippers to wear and gave us bags to keep our hiking shoes. We were shown to our beds. It was a dormitory style sleeping arrangement with one futon laid out per person, and each individual space divided by a small curtain. There were hooks above each futon to hang up our hiking bags. And Japan being Japan, they indeed had one of the best services and facilities I've seen for mountain huts.
1830 | Dinner is served
Dinner is served! We sat on the tatami mat lined with rows of tables, our preselected dinner option was laid out in front of us. We had teriyaki chicken with rice, salad, soup and some tea. Food was simple, but tasted so good after a long and tiring day of climbing. There were also other menu options for you to order if you were still hungry after your meal. The view of the sea of clouds bathed in sunset colours was so surreal, almost as if it was another world just beyond the doors of the hut. We quickly took some photos before it became dark out. There were no shower facilities at our hut, so we cleaned up using some wet wipes before we settled in for the night.
Day 2 - Summit for sunrise
0230 | Wake up for breakfast |
0300 | Begin our climb to the summit |
0430 | Reach the summit for sunrise, eat some hot oden and take many photos |
0645 | Start our descend |
1100 | Reach back to Mt Fuji 5th station (and onwards to hot onsen and food!) |
0230 | Wake up for breakfast
We woke up at 2.30am and started prepping for the summit climb. Breakfast was provided by the hut in a packed bento box - a few rice balls with salmon and sausage, so you can choose to eat it before your climb or at the summit. All of us had experienced some mild AMS symptoms in the night, mostly headaches, but luckily it went away with some panadol. It is definitely safer to stay at 5th station for a night to acclimatise and minimise chances of getting AMS.
0300 | Start of summit climb
Stepping out of the hut in the dark, we could see the long endless trail of lights all the way to the summit. We had to layer on more, as it was pretty cold out in the morning. Most climbers had already begun their climb hours before from the huts below. But as our hut was the closest to the summit and takes only about 1 hour to reach, we decided to sleep in. There was quite a abit of jam as expected with the sheer number of climbers, and we had to stop every few steps. Progress was slow and we started to worry about not making it before sunrise. Just as the sky slowly turned into a shade of orange, we could finally see the tori gate at the peak.
0430 | Sunrise at the summit
We passed the tori gate and reached the summit just 10 minutes before the sunrise! The summit was packed full of climbers scrambling to find the best spot for sunrise. As we were late, we could only stand behind the crowd, so do come earlier if you want to secure a good spot! All eyes were fixed on the orange glowing orb as it rised above the horizon. A magnificent sunrise from the land of the rising sun. Our next task was to find the stamp station at the summit. A long snaking queue quickly formed next to a man with a stamping rod and bucket, and everyone stood around waited impatiently for the rod to heat up in the pail of charcoal. I also bought a wooden token that can only be bought on the summit of Mt Fuji because it was *exclusive*, hmm the Japanese are very good at making people spend money. As part of the Mt Fuji experience, we had to also get some oden and beef bowl at the food stall. It was just what we needed after 2 days of climbing.
0645 | Start of descend
We explored the summit area and took some photos at the crater view before starting our descend. You can also choose to walk one round around the crater and take a photo at the summit marker on the other end, but do note that this would take another 1+ hr. The hike down was very slippery due to the loose scree rocks and I slipped and fell atleast 4 times and bruised my hip. After observing some of the more experienced climbers, I suspect the trick is to actually run down... And I strongly advise wear a face buff and sunglasses and it gets very dusting (I actually had a painful eye infection for a few days because I didn't wear sunglasses and dust was caught in my eye, don't be like me) The descend route is different from the ascend route and will not pass by most of the huts. We only saw one 8th station hut on the way down, while water stations and toilets were very far between so do remember to stock up on water sufficiently. The way down was more straight forward but also felt painfully long maybe because there were no huts as markers unlike on the way up.
1020 | Route converged at 6th station
After what felt like a gazillion hairpin loops slipping and sliding down the mountain, the route finally converged at the same 6th station as the ascend route. This was also a sign that the end is near, and the worst parts were over! The path got a little flatter with more greenery from there on and the smell of horse poop actually made me happy. On the way back we saw the climbers from the opposite direction, all with fresh faces and clean cloths and gear, well all the best to them.
1100| Back to 5th station
And of course the very last mile had to be an upslope... We pushed on to finish the last mile and was finally back at the 5th station with the crowd of regular tourist. It's shopping time! We bought more merch from the gift shops before taking the bus to our ryokan (with onsen, yas) at Kawaguchiko. Do note that the buses come once every hour, and you need to physically queue for the bus even with a ticket, as you might not be able to get on if there were too many passengers. If you were wondering how I got my stick shipped back: I had to lug it around with me as we travelled from city to city in Japan, it was actually too long to fit in most lockers and sometimes I had to pay more to store it at the manned storage counters. At the airport, I paid to pack it in a customised box and checked it in with my luggage. Pretty tedious but worth it in my opinion!
My Thoughts
Mt Fuji was definitely different from the other mountains I had been to, alot more commercialised and alot more crowded. Overall, it was a very manageable climb, and though tiring at parts there were many huts to stop and rest and pace yourself. The best part for me was getting the beautiful stamps from each hut stamped on my hiking stick. The stick now sits in my room and I feel happy just looking at it every day heheh.
Also do watch our trip video below (I took alot of time to make it)!
Reference Map
Day 1:
Day 2:
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