Last Christmas, I broke my tradition of finding the most non-Christmassy locations to spend the day in by actually having a white Christmas!
We decided to spend a family holiday in Tokyo this time, but it was a little tricky to plan because my sister and I have been to Japan numerous times but for my brother, it was his first time to Tokyo.
I settled on Christmas in the Fuji Lakes region because none of us have been and I just needed a nice, good onsen soak to bleed out the stress of the year.
There were some hiccups when our flight was abruptly cancelled on the day itself, but we managed to reroute our flights to include a Hong Kong stopover and a tiring 12 hours later, we were on the roads in our rented car.
Barely an hour into our drive to Lake Kawaguchi, the notoriously shy Mt Fuji started flirting with us, ducking in and out of clouds. As we got closer, all the sleep was rubbed from our eyes as we eagerly took in one of the most iconic symbols of Japan.
It took almost three hours for us to get to Kawaguchiko, and food was the only things on our minds. We stopped at Hoto Fudo for lunch of course, to try the famous houtou noodles and also to check out the weirdly dome shaped building.
We were warned that the bowls were huge, but I had no idea just how big it was. I barely managed half of my bowl, even though I saw that the tables around me somehow finished all of theirs. I tried my best anyway because the thick miso and vegetable noodles really was yummy.
The highlight of our lunch pitstop wasn’t the noodles, but was the little untouched patch of snow by the restaurant! Coming from a tropical country, it has been so long since I’ve properly seen snow, and my snow encounters for the past few years have been limited to morning flurries while traveling in November.
Now that we were faced with a whole snow bank, and with a perfect view of Mt Fuji behind it, of course we went a bit wild with taking photos.
If my dad hadn’t reminded us that daylight in winter was short, I think we would’ve spent over an hour just playing in the snow. But alas, daylight was short, and we had to head to Chureito Pagoda to see arguably the most famous image in Japan for ourselves.
Due to the snow, the car park was closed and we had to hike the 400 steps up. It was grueling but rewarding because whenever I looked back, I was greeted with a panoramic view of the town guarded by Mt Fuji. Even through my pants and gasps, I managed to sneak in just a few more snaps.
The sun was close to setting by the time I reached the viewing platform and I’d recommend going there around late afternoon anyway, to avoid the backlit glare of the sun.
There were much too many people to take a proper photo but at least I got a photo with the pagoda, the mountain and the little puppy in the bottom right corner.
When it comes to trip planning, I tend to scour through the whole internet to find every single resource possible in every language I know. I’ll spend weeks (or months, if I plan that ahead, though rare) watching vlogs in Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, English just to make sure my choice would be the best.
My chosen onsen hotel did not disappoint! I chose to stay at Kawaguchiko instead of Hakone for the views of Mt. Fuji and I’ve read that the best view around Kawaguchiko is from Kukuna. Kukuna is a little above my preferred price range though, so I settled for the hotel next to it at a third of the price – Fuji Ginkei Hotel.
Just… look at the view from our window! I highly recommend this hotel if you’re chasing the views. The staff were really friendly as well and spoke excellent English, a rarity in onsen hotels.
We circled the whole lake and there really isn’t a better view than right in front of the hotel.
I couldn’t take a proper photo for obvious reasons, but the outdoor onsen offered the best view I’ve ever seen in any of the onsen hotels I’ve been to.
I’ve always found outdoor onsens a bit unbearable due to the contrast between the chilling air and the hot water, but somehow this one was just right. It felt more like a warm bath instead of the hell baths that usual onsens are and just sitting there watching night descend upon the lake had to be the most calming experience I’ve had all year.
If there was one thing I didn’t enjoy as much about Fujiginkei, it’s the dinner, but that’s more down to personal preference than anything else. The meal leaned towards pickled and cold seafood, and as someone who is afraid of fish (long story), it was a bit hard to stomach.
I usually don’t have problems eating kaiseki meals but this one just missed the mark slightly for me. It still made for an interesting Christmas eve dinner, and we ended the night with a toast of some plum wine and an even toastier dip in the onsen.
Maybe I should consider chasing after more white Christmases! After a very tiring year of up and downs, I don’t think I could have chosen a more relaxing end to it.
JQ ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ 
Hey! Just found this blog. I’m staying in this area for Xmas in 2023. I was wondering, what day did you go and what was the likely hood of snow? It seems like a high chance given your photos that it will snow this year. Thankyou for the insight!
It snows at night and before dawn, so snow banks will be filled, but less likely to snow during the day itself. I think maybe like 15-20 mins max?