Mount Fuji Day Trip from Tokyo: Chureito Pagoda, Oshino Hakkai and Lake Kawaguchi

Seven stops around the north side of Mount Fuji in one day, with an English-speaking guide. The bus leaves from Shinjuku or from Tokyo Station, and the route stays on the Fujiyoshida and Kawaguchiko side of the mountain, which is where the views people recognise were taken from. The first climb is the hard part: 398 steps up through Arakurayama Sengen Park to the Chureito Pagoda, with Fuji behind it and the town of Fujiyoshida spread out below. Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine stands at the bottom of the same hill and has been there since 705. After that the day follows the water. Lake Kawaguchi has the longest shoreline of the Fuji Five Lakes and, on a still and clear day, holds a mirror image of the mountain. Oishi Park sits on the shore with a 350-metre flower walk running alongside the summit view. At Oshino Hakkai you can drink, for free, from eight spring-fed ponds filled by snowmelt that spent more than 80 years filtering down through lava. The last two stops are street-level Japan rather than scenery: the Hikawa Clock Shop, where the road frames the mountain between the buildings, and the Lawson at Fujikawaguchiko town hall, whose blue shopfront sits under the peak.