{"id":34320,"date":"2023-12-10T20:46:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T12:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=34320"},"modified":"2026-03-11T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:54:12","slug":"day-03-kawaguchiko-panorama-dai-lookout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2023\/12\/10\/day-03-kawaguchiko-panorama-dai-lookout\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 03 @ Kawaguchiko \u2013 Panorama-dai Lookout"},"content":{"rendered":"

So far, we’ve been blessed with weather in Kawaguchiko that’s as good as it gets. We’ve been able to observe Mt. Fuji in the clear, and the weather has been sunny throughout. The weather is a little chilly but otherwise quite manageable, except when we’re in places with strong winds: e.g. at the Fuji-Subaru 5th Station yesterday afternoon, and we expected to experience similar cold winds during our visit to the Panorama-dai Lookout<\/strong>. Here’s what the weather looked like today on Day 03:<\/p>\n

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Weather in Kawaguchiko for Days 01 to 04.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were initially planning to revisit Honcho Street this morning for sunrise photography, but decided to drop it on account that it would just require everyone to wake up extra early to make our way there, and then to the Panorama-dai lookout thereafter.<\/p>\n

The wife did an enormous amount of research about the Panorama-dai lookout, which is a spot that you reach either by driving or hiking. We were in the latter category: the bus took us from Bay 6 at Kawaguchiko Station for the first leg, and we changed to another loop bus that runs around Lake Yamanakako, also where we’d be spending the rest of the day exploring. As to whether the spot is worth the trouble, take a look:<\/p>\n

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Mt. Fuji from the Panorama-dai Lookout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A stitched panoramic picture of the larger area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Simply put, the views from Panorama-dai are gorgeous, unimpeded, and expansive. As to how to get there, there’s a carpark right where the lookout is, if you’re driving. If you’re hiking, here’s what you do:<\/p>\n

The bus from Bay 6 will have a very large number of stops – 33 – but there were practically no other passengers to be picked up at each stop, so the bus just continued past them. The second bus leg takes 8 minutes and another 20 steps, and you’d need to alight here.<\/p>\n

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Cross the road and walk up the gentle slope for about 40 meters. When you reach this sign – turn left.<\/p>\n

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It’s a very gentle slope up for another 60 meters or so until you hit this sign. Turn to your right and go up the dirt trail. The slope on this trail is also very gentle and manageable for persons of all ages, though there are a few spots where you’d need to balance yourself.<\/p>\n

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At the end of this dirt trail is the road. There will be a signpost on your right with an arrow pointing you to go up the road to reach the lookout.<\/p>\n

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Ignore this sign above. Instead, cross the road directly and continue up this second trail:<\/p>\n

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This second trail is a bit more challenging, as it gets steep and the black soil might make the climb a little slippery. This trail will take another 5 minutes, and at the end of it is the lookout and adjacent car park. There’s a toilet situated beside the car park too.<\/p>\n

That’s it: if none of this sounds appealing, then you’d need to drive up to this lookout. But if not, the hike is pretty easy to do and, except for a short stretch at the end, should be quite manageable for everyone. Highly recommended!<\/p>\n

Continued in the next post: Lake Yamanaka!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So far, we’ve been blessed with weather in Kawaguchiko that’s as good as it gets. We’ve been able to observe Mt. Fuji in the clear, and the weather has been sunny throughout. The weather is a little chilly but otherwise<\/p>\n

Read More Day 03 @ Kawaguchiko \u2013 Panorama-dai Lookout<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[677],"class_list":["post-34320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traveling","tag-chubu-kanto-japan-2023","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/blog-2023-japan-day-03-20231210_094852.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34320"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38243,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34320\/revisions\/38243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}