Very early in the morning, 5AM to be precise, we get up to go to the Fuji observatory of the hotel, and watch as the sun comes up and lights up mount Fuji. More guests have taken notice of the time of sunrise, and the early morning is spend with lots of cameras taking lots of pictures. The low clouds of yesterday are gone, and a very nice view of mount Fuji is presented by the weather conditions.
After a little more sleep, and a good breakfast, we head out again to curve back along the lakes, and visit Nemba. This town was wiped away by a mud slide, and has been rebuild in the original style, giving a unique glimpse of how villages must have looked before everything was made of concrete.
Afterwards we drive up further to the town of Takato. As we get closer, the roads are getting more and more crowded with tour-busses. The entrance to Takato itself seems to be closed off, although as soon as we approach the guards with our bikes, we are quickly waved through, and head up to the town. Here, more guards are guiding the traffic, as the roads around the town have been turned into oneway streets, to handle the enormous amount of people that have come to watch the cherry blossoms here. Once more, the guards seem to think a motorbike is something special, as we are waved in through roads that they clearly closed off, to a parking spot right at the edge of town.
As we walk about, it is clear why so many people come here for Hanami. This town doesn't just have a park with a couple of cherry trees, the place seems to actually be covered under the pink canopy that the trees form over the roofs and parks of Takato.
We drive further into what is called the Japanese Alps, and as we climb, it is starting to get colder. We end up in the postal town of Naraijuku, which preserves the view of an older mountain town, where we visit a minshuku.