Mt. Fugi. Just viewing this majestic masterpiece was an absolute slice of heaven, let alone skiing next to it, wowsers. Both the mountain and the entire weekend was so much more than I dreamed and I can’t wait to share all the details with you to enable your own trip!
Travel
Our family took a space A flight from Okinawa (Kadena Air Force Base) to Yokota via the Patriot Express, the only sure-fire flight traveling every Saturday from Okinawa to mainland Japan. Warning. The flight was long with a stop in Iwakuni plus almost 2 hour layover there which you are required to deboard then onto Yokota. Our flight left at 0630 and arrived to Yokota at almost 3pm, but hey, it’s free. No complaining allowed! Upon arrival at the Yokota amc terminal we rented a car, right inside the terminal. ($80/day) Then, purchased our flight home for $90/per person 2 days prior to our flight online since there were no Space A flights for Okinawa on the schedule.
Stay
In keeping with our budget theme, I booked a stay on Camp Fuji Marine Corps Base at just $42/night. Only 2 people allowed per room and they charge $5 per child. Mountain View Inn is the official name and is open to all ranks! This is a glorified barracks with the best un-blocked view of Mt. Fuji. Seriously the best, case in point:
Gotenba Town
Camp Fuji is nestled in the sweet town of Gotenba, full of restaurants, hot springs, breweries (Gotenba Kogen resort and brewery), and a 15 minute drive to Fujiyama Yeti Ski resort and 40 minute drive to Fujiten Ski resort. Perfect location in our books. We did a day of skiing at each just to give you the full scoop on both.
Food
We drove into town every morning to eat breakfast at Denny’s although there is a subway and pizza hut in the base exchange (drive around the airfield to get there). I repeat, Japan has a Denny’s and guess what, it had wheel of a deal breakfast, our family of 4 ate for $25, so yeah, we ate there every morning. Also hit up our usual Coco’s curry-it’s a weekly ritual we can’t disrupt and tried Jolly Pasta which was pretty tasty too!
Ski
To be clear we had two objectives for this trip: to see Mt. Fuji and to ski, helping the boys solidify their skills! We are not powdered snow snobs, if you are looking for powered snow, head to Hokkaido (our Sapporo adventure) where we skied last year, but the visibility and sheer cold made it a touch unpleasant for me! The two ski resorts we skied at (yeti and Fujiten) met our needs just fine! For ski resorts, apply the same rule of thumb when visiting Disneyland, (our hong kong disney trip, tokyo disney, and shanghai disney) stay away from weekends and aim for the second half of the day and you won’t have to battle crowds/lines. Also its cheaper to ski on weekdays!
Fujiyama Yeti Ski resort
Yeti was a mere 15 minutes rom Camp Fuji, so we skied there first! By the way, Camp Fuji offers a bus tour there every Friday night (Jan-March) for $50 which includes transportation, rentals, and lift, quite the deal. Call their tour desk to confirm.
Yeti is small, 4 ski slopes and pretty narrow and short which makes it challenging for those who are learning. My 7 year old ended up in more than one ditch and took out a snowboarder or two because there were too many people parked on the slopes! The plus side of Yeti were the tasty food trucks parked permanently on site (hello fresh crepes) and everything was very close together and all in a row-lift tickets, rentals, lockers, and the lodge. There is also a small sledding area and ski lessons are offered with reservations made the day prior, I believe you have to call.
Fujiten Ski resort
Fujiten was about a 45 minute drive from Camp Fuji, but super scenic as was everything around the town of Gotenba. We skied Fujiten on a Monday and didn’t realize they closed at 1630 on weekdays, so now you know! Fujiten had everything yeti does except wider, longer slopes and more of them (7 in total) which made all the difference for beginners. The slopes at both places aren’t clearly marked with a green circle, blue square or black diamond as they are in the states. I finally asked a ski instructor which one was for beginners and we skied that nice long slope over and over until my 7 year old mastered it!
Ultimately we enjoyed both places but if I picked one to return to it would be Fujiten even though they didn’t have food trucks!
Chureito Pagoda
This pagoda provides a wonderful photo op of Mt. Fuji and the pagoda. Follow google maps there, park at the bottom, and walk up 400 steps! The views are worth plus you can check off your workout for the day too! Win win.
Check out our Japan inspired SHOP!
