Visit a serene shrine and one of Japan’s most stunningly natural seaside settings, both lying in the shadow of majestic Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain. Settle in for a drive into the beautiful countryside that lies in the foothills of Mount Fuji. Japan’s national symbol and one of its most extraordinary settings, Mount Fuji has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a sacred place and source of artistic inspiration. Prior to ascending Mount Fuji, climbers often pray at Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, which you’ll visit. The shrine has been considered a guardian deity that prevents natural disasters and ensures easy childbirth. More than 500 cherry trees grace the surrounding grounds. Inside, there is a pond fed by melting snow and ice from Mount Fuji. The pond has been designated a Special Natural Monument and attracts pilgrims that come to purify themselves in the clear water. Next stop is the Mt. Fuji's 2th Station, at approximately 4,700 feet. You will have chance to see dynamic view of Mt. Fuji. The 2th Station offers stellar views of the mountain's magnificence. Last stop is the Mt.Fuji World Heritage Centre, opened in December 2017 and consists of three buildings. The central building is covered with the wood lattice and characteristic shaped of the inverted cone. This wood lattice is made from Fuji cypress. From the top floor, you will enjoy magnificent view of Mt. Fuji as picturesque.

Sample a selection of sake made with water from Mount Fuji and then visit a heritage center dedicated to the mountain and its influence throughout Japan.

A scenic drive through the countryside will bring you to Fuji Takasago, a sake brewery founded in 1831 at the foot of Mount Fuji, where its groundwater is most abundant. The water from the snow melt that runs off the mountain takes nearly 100 years to filter through the earth’s underground layers, leaving the water extraordinarily pure.

Following an enlightening tour of the brewery, where you will watch rice being turned into sake, you will be offered a selection of Fuji Takasago’s rice wines. During the sampling, you may notice that the Mount Fuji water imparts a mild taste to the sake. Being high in amino acids, these sakes are also rich in umami, a flavor associated with rice wine.

You will gain a different perspective of Japan’s most celebrated peak at the Mount Fuji World Heritage Center nearby. Its exhibitions include Japanese art and literature that the mountain has inspired and paper screens that show Mount Fuji changing with the seasons. Another highlight is the building’s inverted lattice cone sculpture that mimics the shape of Mount Fuji when viewed in the reflecting pool.

The center was named to recognize UNESCO declaring Mount Fuji to be a World Heritage site for its solitary beauty, iconic shape and deep impact on Western art. It may well be the world’s most famous stratovolcano.

Browse a waterfront market where an extraordinary variety of seafood is displayed and prepare your own lunch of sushi at a nearby venue. You can’t help but be awed by the sheer volume of seafood that comes right off the docks at the Kashi-no-Ichi market. Although you will see familiar items such as whole tuna and oysters in the shell, chances are you will see an abundance of other items that you may not recognize. Not to worry. The guide will translate their names on the signage, which are in Japanese. As an introduction to the history of sushi, you will stop at the Shimizu Sushi Museum and then sit in on short lecture by a sushi chef, a position that typically takes up to 10 years of rigorous training to earn in Japan. The chef will demonstrate the basics of preparing fresh fish so you can make your own delicious sushi lunch.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Wander among the countless stalls of fresh seafood on display at the Kashi-no-Ichi market.
• Learn about sushi at a museum dedicated to it and from a veteran sushi chef.
• Watch the chef prepare sushi and then try it yourself by following the chef’s instruction.
• Dine on the fresh sushi that you have just prepared.

HELPFUL HINTS
• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

Delve into the world of tea through hands-on experiences that will reveal the cultural importance of the beverage in Japan. Your immersion will begin at a green tea plantation, where you will head into the fields with a wicker basket and pick tea leaves. You may be surprised by which ones are ready to harvest. During the workshop that follows, you will learn how to properly brew green tea, which is known as sencha. Factors that ensure a perfect cup of tea include water temperature, the proportion of leaves to water and not disturbing the tea while it is steeping. Visiting a factory where tea is processed will enhance your understanding even further as you will watch the workers perform each step. Later, during a traditional lunch – served with tea, of course – you might reflect on how tea is more than a beverage in Japan.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Enjoy hands-on experiences that involve picking, processing and brewing green tea leaves.
• Gain insight into the world of tea that is so ingrained into the Japanese culture.
• Relax at a restaurant while savoring a traditional Japanese lunch accompanied by green tea.

HELPFUL HINTS
• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

Delve into Japanese culture by visiting an art museum, enjoying a ritualistic tea ceremony and admiring one of the most spectacular views of sacred Mount Fuji.

Visit the Tokaido Hiroshige Art Museum in the fishing village of Yui. More than a thousand woodblock prints from Utagawa Hiroshige, a 19th-century master of the ukiyo-e genre, are beautifully displayed here. As you will discover while browsing the works of art, the ukiyo-e genre typically depicts subjects of everyday life that include landscapes, birds and flowers.

Hiroshige’s genius for landscape composition and color in works such as The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido influenced European painters such as Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh.

At a tearoom in a nearby park, you’ll enjoy a tea ceremony. You will be served traditional green tea, but the ceremony involves more than merely the beverage. It is a ritualistic art form in which the tea must be prepared and presented in a certain manner known as the Way of Tea.

Drive to the seaside pine grove Miho no Matsubara. The grove consists of more than 50,000 pine trees, including a 650-year-old tree thought to have mythical powers. The view from the shore with Mount Fuji lording over the scenery has been rated one of the top three views in Japan.

OVERVIEW

Marvel at glorious Suruga Bay while riding a ropeway to a hilltop Shintō shrine and then delve into the Japanese culture by making chopsticks. While some people climb the 1,000 or so steps leading to the Kunozan Toishogu shrine, you will ride ropeway. More wonders await you within the shrine complex, a collection of brightly painted ornate buildings dedicated to the shōgun that unified Japan in the early 17th century. Be sure to notice the well-armed guardian statue near the Romon gate. Stop at Nihondaira Park outlook, which offers a glorious view of Suruga Bay and majestic Mout Fuji. You will experience Japan’s creativity at Sumpu Takumi Shuku, a cultural workshop where artisans produce traditional crafts using centuries-old techniques. There you will have the opportunity to create your own pair of lacquered chopsticks by grinding and polishing.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Ride a ropeway to hilltop Shintō shrine while admiring the views of Suruga Bay.
• Browse the shrine, which is dedicated to a revered shōgun that brought peace to Japan.
• Create your own lacquered chopsticks at a workshop for traditional artisans.

HELPFUL HINTS

• Dress in weather-appropriate clothing.
• Wear flat comfortable walking shoes.

This mostly panoramic tour affords you magnificent views of Mount Fuji from both a hilltop outlook and a beautiful coastal pine grove so stunningly scenic that artists have captured its beauty for centuries.

Head to Nihondaira Park Outlook, which offers a glorious view of Suruga Bay and majestic Mount Fuji. You might also catch a glimpse of Kunozan Toshogu Shrine, perched high above the outlook.

Your scenic drive takes you to the seaside pine grove - Miho no Matsubara. The grove consists of more than 50,000 pine trees, including a 650-year-old tree thought to have mythical powers. The view from the shore with Mount Fuji lording over the scenery has been rated one of the top three views in Japan.

See a beautiful shrine complex built to honor one of Japan’s feudal lords and savor a seafood lunch at a bustling fresh fish market. Kunozan Toshogu Shrine perches above the outlook, which you will reach via ropeway. Dedicated to the feudal lord Tokugawa Ieyasu, who unified Japan in the early 1600s, the shrine is a complex of ornate bright-red buildings constructed in the Shinto style. While browsing, be sure to notice the guardian statue near the Romon Gate and the drum tower. The three main halls within the complex are elaborately decorated, but vary architecturally. The carved ceiling in Honden Hall is particularly interesting. For a bit of entertainment, you might select a random paper fortune from a box and then tie it to a string in hopes that the fortune will come true. This common practice at Japanese shrines is known as omikuji. Stroll through Kashi-no-Ichi, a large fish market on Shimizu’s waterfront. While the signage will be in Japanese, the guide will translate the names of the seafood that you may not recognize. Afterwards, you will enjoy lunch at a restaurant within the market before returning to the pier.

Explore a park built around a nearly 400-year-old castle, an unusual shrine complex and a coastal pine grove that offers a stunning view of Mount Fuji. You will drive inland to Sunpu Castle Park, an expansive oasis developed around the ruins of a castle where the legendary Shogun warrior Ieyasu once lived. While the moats and walls are original, some of what you will see is a reproduction, including the main gate and the structure from which heavy stones were dropped on invaders. Inside, you will find a bronze statue of Ieyasu with a falcon on his arm.Visit nearby Shizuoka Sengen, a shrine complex that consists of three main shrines and other smaller ones. The architecture is Momoyama, which extensively uses lacquer, wooden carvings and gold leaf. Although the large worship hall and some of the corridors are currently undergoing renovation, the guests can see the beauty of the vermilion lacquered lacquer in the romon gate and the corridors after the renovation is complete. The worship hall offers a spectacular view of snowcapped Mount Fuji looming in the distance (Weather permitted) . Mount Fuji also plays a dominant role as the backdrop for the seaside pine grove Miho no Matsubara. The grove consists of more than 50,000 pine trees, including a 650-year-old tree thought to have mythical powers. The view from the shore with Mount Fuji lording over the scenery has been rated one of the top three views in Japan.

Gaze upon sacred Mount Fuji from several perspectives that include a hilltop shrine and a coastal pine grove so stunningly scenic that artists have captured its beauty for centuries.

Stop at the Nihondaira Park Outlook, which offers a glorious view of Suruga Bay and majestic Mount Fuji. Kunozan Toshogu Shrine perches above the outlook, which you will reach via cable car.

Dedicated to the feudal lord Tokugawa Ieyasu, who unified Japan in the early 1600s, the shrine is a complex of ornate bright-red buildings constructed in the Shinto style. Ieyasu’s son Hidetada, the second shogun of the Tokugawa government, built the temple to honor his father. The three main halls within the complex are elaborately decorated, but vary architecturally. The carved ceiling in Honden Hall is particularly interesting. For a bit of entertainment, you might select a random paper fortune from a box and then tie it to a string in hopes that the fortune will come true. This common practice at Japanese shrines is known as omikuji.

For a different perspective of Mount Fuji, you’ll drive to the seaside pine grove Miho no Matsubara. The grove consists of more than 50,000 pine trees, including a 650-year-old tree thought to have mythical powers. The view from the shore with Mount Fuji lording over the scenery has been rated one of the top three views in Japan.