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From Fujikyu Higland, its only a 3 minute ride to Fujiyoshida. You can’t see the town from the theme park – at least, not from any vantage point I dared to take – but once you get to Fujiyoshida, its hard not to miss the curls and twirls of the rollercoasters. It was almost as though the theme park has sucked any excitement from the town itself, leastways round the station and a gentle, relaxed atmosphere was all pervasive. Almost like a ghost town.

So, yes, very much in keeping with the usual Fuji station vibe.

I should probably take the time to point out that Fujiyoshida station is no longer with us. It’s now called Mount Fuji / Fuji-san, and has been so named since 2011. So I’ll be heading back there one last time, probably to just miss something interesting place just like I did 14 years ago.

If you remember Fujinomiya, then you’ll remember Sengen Shrine. Sengen shrines venerate Fuji, if you recall, and there’s another of them in Fujiyoshida city, to the north of the town, a direction that was reversed on the town map outside the station. North was down. I have long since come to accept this about maps in Japan – you always have to check which way the compass points are pointing. I feel like I’m accustomed to maps in other countries conventionally assuming north is up and east is right and so on, but I could be misremembering.

The sleepy ghost town feeling continued as I made my way up to the shrine, but, as opposed to some of the other Fujis I’ve been to, I didn’t feel like I was intruding on anything.

There were some preparations in progress for Fujiyoshida’s festival that night, one which is a curious blend of sincerity and barminess. The basic concept is that they carry a portable shrine down into the town. This portable shrine temporarily houses the goddess who is Mount Fuji. (It’s like her travelling shrine.)

As they make their way down from the main shrine, there are big torches called taimatsu which are set alight. Ms. Fuji sees that the town is ablaze.

She – hopefully – rates this experience so much that she doesn’t erupt that year.

(Unfortunately for me, I missed this exciting part of the day, as the last bus for home left at 5.30. I’ve been trying to time my remaining Fujis a bit better around these events but it’s not always possible with actual life getting in the way. Missed a yabusame festival in Hyogo this January.)

Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida is a beautiful place to visit if you ever get the chance. Here’s a separate gallery of images just from there (some of which may not actually be from my trip that day.)

While at the shrine, I was asked to be in a commercial for Dydo drinks, which I turned down. Years later, I would be offered another chance to be in a commercial which I did accept because I thought it was an internal corporate thing that hardly anyone would see.

It wasn’t.

FUJIS LEFT AT THE END OF AUGUST 28th, 2006 : 48/59