2013/04/05 - Mount Fuji Report
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While the cherry blossom season aroundTokyo has pretty much come to a close, no doubt helped along by Wednesday's heavy rains, the trees in other nearby areas are only just getting started.

Today I headed down to theFuji Five Lakes (Fujigoko) region at the base ofMount Fuji to see how one of these later season spots is doing. The trees around the mountain typically start to bloom about two to three weeks after those inTokyo, and, in accordance with this year's accelerated schedule, first opened on the 29th.

Most of the popularFujigoko hanami spots that we cover are found aroundLake Kawaguchiko. The majority of the trees around the lake are still opening and have not quite reached 50% open yet. Rain is forecasted over the weekend; however, it will have little effect on the blossoms, most of which won't reach full bloom until next week. Definitely keep the Fuji Five Lakes region in mind as alater season alternative to Tokyo.

Chureito Pagoda

My first stop today was theChureito Pagoda, a five story pagoda that overlooks Fujiyoshida City from a nearby mountainside. About 650 cherry trees are planted along the slope with a few dozen trees around the base of the pagoda. When the trees are in bloom the pagoda appears to peek out over a sea of cherry blossoms with Mount Fuji in the background.

The cherry blossoms around the pagoda have only just opened and looked to be about a week away from reaching full bloom. The trees along the staircase that leads down the slope were further along, and got better and better as you headed downhill. The cherry blossoms around the shrine entrance at the base of the mountain have reached full bloom.

Eastern Shore of Lake Kawaguchiko

Next I headed down to the eastern shore ofLake Kawaguchiko where many of the arearyokan are located. There are about a dozen of the typicalSomei Yoshino trees scattered along the waterfront area here which were at varying states of bloom today. Most were still below 50% open, although they were progressively more open the further north you got around the lake. This is probably because the more easterly trees spend more time in shadow while the more northerly trees experience a lot more sun.

There was a few hundred meter long stretch of the waterfront trail that showed some future promise as it was lined by slightly later bloomingYaebenishidare trees. These darker pink, weeping cherry treevariety have only just begun to open and probably won't reach full bloom for another week.

Ubuyagasaki Peninsula

Just a few hundred meters further along the shore at the northern end of the Kawaguchi Ohashi Bridge is the Ubuyagasaki Peninsula. A short, paved path leads around the peninsula with several cherry trees planted along the way. Today the cherry blossoms along the Ubuyagasaki Peninsula were at full bloom and provided nice views of Mount Fuji in combination with the lake and flowers.

Northern Shore of Lake Kawaguchiko

Continuing around Lake Kawaguchiko will take you to the northern shore where many of the area'smuseums, shops, and restaurants are located. This part of the shore is one of the Eight Views of Mount Fuji (Fuji Hakkai), famous for the beautiful view ofMount Fuji reflected in the lake.

The shore is also lined by several hundred cherry trees, whose blossoms tend to appear slightly behind those around other parts of the lake. Today the delay seemed more pronounced as it looked as if most of the trees had only just opened. If that's the case then this part of the lake probably won't see full bloom for about a week.

This area also holds an annual cherry blossom festival which includes food vendors and handicraft markets set up under the trees and nightly illuminations (until 21:00). This year's festival hasn't begun yet and will take place from April 19-29, 2013. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they plan to move up the dates to compensate for this year's early season, so that will probably be after the cherry blossoms have fallen.

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