Tokyo trip to see Mt. Fuji, Arakurayama Park, Five-Storied Pagoda, Sengen Shrine and cherry blossoms.

Gotemba serves as a transfer station after countless choices. Facts have proved that it can only play this role. Most people stay here to go shopping in the outlets. We don’t shop here, so we only have a brief stroll around here.

Two mountain bridges connect the east and west areas. It has become foggy at night and seems to be endless. As I walked, I always felt that the opposite side should be the museum where the secret room murder occurred in Ayatsuji Yukito's novel, rather than a brightly lit luxury store.



I chose to stay in Gotemba for two days, and I also wanted to take the opportunity to visit Lake Kawaguchi. To be honest, I have been to Japan so many times, but I have never officially seen Mount Fuji except on the Tokaido Shinkansen. But I didn't expect that seeing Mount Fuji is a mystery. It rained for two whole days in Gotemba. I finally took a bus to Lake Kawaguchi. The sky was clear, but I found that I didn't know how to play.



The imagination was very beautiful. I rented an electric bicycle according to the guide. It was different from the bicycles we used to ride. It would automatically accelerate when I stared at it, and it could switch between pedaling and electric intelligently. My father and I stared at it for a few times and got used to it, but my mother didn't dare to ride it. There was no bicycle lane on the road. She either squeezed on the narrow sidewalk or passed by the whistling cars. The attempt failed. My father accompanied my mother to return the bicycle, and I rode back and forth to Lake Kawaguchi at a high speed. Only then did I realize how unrealistic the plan of cycling was. Going around the lake required physical strength and plenty of time.



The weather was bad and I couldn't see Mount Fuji from anywhere. It was fate. So I took the train to Arakurayama Park and Sengen Shrine to see the classic cherry blossoms, five-story pagoda and Mount Fuji in the same frame.



After climbing to the highest observation deck, I found that it was full of people staring at Mount Fuji, waiting for the huge cloud in front to disperse. The weather was clear and the sun was shining. The mountain was right in front of me, but it just didn't come out. Fortunately, I don't have any obsession with natural scenery. If I come here and can't see it, I will turn around and leave. I still have a meal scheduled in the evening.



I realized the seriousness of the matter the night before. We stayed at Gotemba Dormy Inn. The location of the hotel is a bit awkward for people without a car. It is 2.5 kilometers to the JR station, and you can only take a taxi. There are only sparse residential areas and parks nearby. Where can you eat?



The "Fuji Mountain View" Foot Bath on the rooftop of the hotel

The key is that there are no restaurants near the JR station that are worth taking a taxi to eat! Then I saw Maison KEI on the map, which is within walking distance. It is a French restaurant with cheap prices and easy reservations. There is no place to eat anyway.



After checking again, it was amazing that the restaurant won three Michelin stars in Paris in 2020. The chef is Japanese Kei Kobayashi, which is an extremely impressive resume for an Asian chef. The branch in Gotemba is jointly owned by the Japanese confectionery shop "Toraya", and the highlight is the large window with a distant view of Mount Fuji. We walked slowly from the hotel and didn't see many people along the way, which made me curious about who else came here to eat.



The restaurant has a huge parking lot. After entering the door, we found that it was crowded with people. Most of the guests were there to drink. We were given a semi-private room at the back. The windows were clean and bright (unfortunately, we couldn't see Mount Fuji in the distance). The courtyard was left to let the plants grow wildly. The sun was about to set, and the slanting light came in through the glass. The three of us felt bright as soon as we sat down. Eating here was really a pleasure.



The set menu is divided into three levels. We ordered the mid-range 5-course Voyage (9500 yen), which, with the free appetizers and snacks, had nearly 10 dishes. The food was served slowly, and the check was slow. It took more than 2 hours in total. It was very suitable for killing time in a city with nothing.



Maison KEI has a salad that is the same as the one in Paris. Even if other dishes are changed, this one is a repertoire. More than 30 kinds of local vegetables, lemon-flavored white foam, mixed with four kinds of sauces such as tomatoes, smoked rainbow trout from Gotemba, and crispy cumbles (small butter flour crumbs) enrich the taste.



When the waiter introduced the "39 types of vegetables and flowers", it reminded me of the Earth Salad at Hajime, a three-star restaurant in Osaka. More than 100 kinds of vegetables and fruits were laid out gorgeously on the plate. It was beautiful, but it seemed like eating something illusory. KEI's salad actually got a good review from my mother, who doesn't eat this kind of food very often. It was probably because it was rich in flavor and the sauce was heavy. I quickly dipped the bread in it and ate it. I still felt unsatisfied and asked for another piece of bread. The fish and meat were quite standard.



The desserts were also very European, with sweet and hard meringue, red sweet and sour rhubarb sauce, and green spice-flavored basil juice. The waiter told me that rhubarb is now also grown in Japan, but apart from French restaurants, I really can't think of who to sell it to, maybe a Chinese medicine shop?



After returning to the hotel and soaking in the hot spring, it was time for Dormy Inn's night ramen. The restaurant was full of guests wearing brown hotel uniforms, waiting in line for noodles. "From a distance, it looks like a meditation center, everyone is wearing the same robes." My dad still thinks this scene is amazing.

That day was the day after Trump's assassination. The guests ate ramen in their mouths, but their eyes were all fixed on the TV in the restaurant, which was broadcasting the evening news. Several precious live videos were played over and over again, and reporters also tirelessly explained them repeatedly. Except for Tokyo TV, probably every major TV station would not miss such an explosive ratings-boosting event.



I always feel that in recent years, the world has been heading towards an irreversible madness. Plagues, assassinations, blockades, wars, migrations, like a screw that keeps turning down and tightening, and I don’t know when it will reach the point where it can’t be turned at all.

But this place still has a strange smell of money mixed with depression. There is a notice in the hotel elevator, warning tourists who are crazy about shopping in the outlets, "If you throw too many shopping paper bags in the room, you will be asked to pay an extra 1,500 yen for garbage disposal." I wonder, how much is this! If shopping can bring world peace, it would be good.