Chapter 5

Lake Kawaguchi and Mount Fuji

We drove from Gotemba to Lake Kawaguchi to see Mount Fuji. It was a short drive, only 40 minutes. We parked our cars in the parking lot. There was some snow on the ground. The snow was not pure white because it was melting and mixed up with dirt. So, it was not as nice as I thought it would be.

My aunt, uncle, and dad asked my grandpa if we should go on the boat for a cruise on Lake Kawaguchi to see Mount Fuji and take a clear picture of it. So, they all agreed to go on the cruise. We had to follow their cruise schedule. While waiting, we went to try to take a picture of ourselves. We all keep our photos so they could be our memories of Japan.

Then we had lunch at the restaurant nearby and we had spaghetti on the second floor. The first floor was a souvenir shop. We saw some toys that we liked and my mom, aunt, and uncle bought them for us. I bought a police toy supply. My brother and my cousins bought toy guns that have light and sound. We went to rest at the shop too. The weather in Japan in winter was really cold. I had to wear two layers of clothes but it was still cold for me. We also bought a postcard of Mount Fuji in Springtime. It was beautiful.

My aunt Yuliana called my mom and my aunt Emelia to see some things in more stores. So, my mom asked my uncle and dad to watch us in the restaurant. The kids happily played with our new toys.

It was time for us to get on the boat for the cruise experience. The boat took us around Lake Kawaguchi in order for us to get a good view of Mount Fuji. We were supposed to go out to the balcony of the boat to take a picture with the mountain as the background, but it was so windy and freezing cold. My grandpa and the kids chose to stay indoors because we didn’t want to feel cold. My mom, dad, grandma, uncle, and aunts went outside to take pictures but they did not get a good picture of the mountain as their background. The 30-minutes boat trip turned out to be a waste of time and money as we didn’t see Mount Fuji clearly.

After we got off the boat, we got in our cars and drove to the nearest café because we wanted to go to a toilet. We found this café called Noah Café on the side of the street. The café is cute, cozy, and homey. To our amazement, we can see Mount Fuji clearer here than the view on the cruise. So, we all took pictures on the side of the road and we went to the toilet in the café. The toilet was decorated with flowery and pastel ornaments. It was a very girly café. They ordered coffee and rested in the café and took some more pictures. We went to play inside the café and also at the side of the street. We really enjoyed our time there.

We went to say bye to Mount Fuji, got into our car, and drove back to our hotel. My dad always drove behind my uncle’s car but I was not happy to be second and behind them all the time. I asked my dad to overtake their car but my dad said, “It is okay.”

On the way back, we stopped by a factory outlet to shop. They sell a lot of things, and clothes and the adults looked around and bought some stuff. The kids were running around and playing whenever we could while they shopped. The factory outlet had some pretty lights on the trees so it looked nice at night.

We had dinner at a ramen place and went back to the hotel. After we reached the hotel, my parents asked, “Do you want to sleep with us?” and I answered, “No, I already slept along the way back to the hotel.”. My mom told me,” If you are not going to sleep, go to Sebastian’s and Emma’s room to play so you don’t disturb us.”. So, I just agreed and went to my cousin’s room alone to play. I played hide and seek, and tag in my cousins’ room. My aunt told us, “Just watch TV instead of tiring yourselves.” So, we agreed to watch TV. We only watched cartoons and the same channel back in Indonesia but different episodes. We watched TV and then my mom told me to play the games we brought like UNO, Snake and ladders until it was dinner time. My mom did some packing for the next day because we would go back to Tokyo. We went to eat dinner and slept early.

The next morning, we had the same breakfast in the hotel. My brother and I had opted for Western food again. After eating, we explored the whole garden and took pictures with my mom and grandpa. We saw a small stream with many fish in it. It was so quiet, serene, and peaceful. There was a small bridge and lots of trees. After strolling around, the others called us and we checked out of the hotel.