Fujikawaguchiko Travel Guide

The Kawaguchiko Field Center is a nature-education and outdoor base on the shore of Lake Kawaguchi, Yamanashi, offering forest walks, nature observation and camping. With Mt. Fuji behind and the lake before it, it is an entry to the 'lake-and-mountain' environment — good for families and groups to meet nature.

The Kawaguchiko Herb Hall is a lavender-and-herb themed facility on Lake Kawaguchi, Yamanashi; its summer purple flower fields framed by Mt. Fuji are the signature view. Inside are lavender soft-serve, herb goods and dried flowers — an easy lakeside rest and souvenir stop.

The Yamanashi Gem Museum is a minerals-and-gems museum by Lake Kawaguchi, showing ores, crystals and rough stones from around the world, with notes on cutting and setting craft. Lit geodes and coloured stones sparkle inside — a showcase of Yamanashi, Japan's crystal-processing heartland.

The Kubota Itchiku Art Museum by Lake Kawaguchiko collects and shows the yūzen kimono made with the 'tsujigahana' technique revived by textile artist Itchiku Kubota. The building and garden borrow Mt. Fuji as a view, and the famed 'kimono road' displays gorgeous garments — a museum of both craft and scenery between lake and mountain.

The Nashigawa Momiji Corridor is a famous autumn spot along the Nashigawa stream by Lake Kawaguchi; in fall the maples on both banks turn red, and stone bridges with flowing water reflect in the river — a quiet Fuji-foot maple walk. Easy to stroll, it is a choice to enjoy red leaves away from crowds.

Lake Kawaguchi is the most accessible and most developed of the Fuji Five Lakes, in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi, Japan. It sits about 833 m above sea level, covers roughly 5.5 sq km and reaches about 14.6 m deep, and holds Unoshima, the only island among the five lakes. The northern shore around Ōishi Park and Ubuyagasaki gives the classic view of 'Inverted Fuji' mirrored on still water; lavender blooms with the mountain behind it in June and July, and the November 'Maple Corridor' turns a canal-side lane into a tunnel of red. The Kachi Kachi ropeway climbs Mt Tenjō to a full-frontal Fuji viewpoint, where a rabbit shrine and tanuki teahouse echo the old folk tale. The shore is dotted with the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum, a music-box garden and many hot-spring inns, making the lake the best base for climbing Fuji or visiting Oshino Hakkai and Fuji-Q Highland — a year-round viewing centre for Japan's great mountain.