Mount Fuji by the Yoshida Trail

The Yoshida Trail’s huts, buses and summit facilities operate from early July to early September. Outside those dates the mountain is closed in every practical sense — no huts, no services, and genuinely hazardous conditions.

The two-day rhythm depends on a bunk near 3,100 m, and beds sell out — sleeping on the mountain outside the huts is discouraged. Book the hut before anything else, then fit buses around it.

In season, buses run straight from Tokyo (Shinjuku) and Kawaguchiko Station to the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station at 2,305 m. No car needed — and the 5th Station is a far better start than any lower trailhead.

You arrive by bus at 2,305 m in one jump. Spend at least an hour at the 5th Station eating and walking around before starting up — it measurably reduces altitude misery higher on the mountain.

Ascent and descent follow separate paths on the Yoshida route, and partway down the Yoshida and Subashiri descents fork. Miss the signposted split and you end up on the wrong side of the mountain — the classic Fuji mistake.

The trail’s own summit gate is not the top of Japan: the highest point, Kengamine at 3,776 m, sits across the crater rim loop. If weather and energy allow after the goraiko sunrise, walk the rim — it’s the actual roof of the country.

Even in August, waiting for sunrise near the summit is bitterly cold and windy. Warm layers, gloves, a headtorch for the pre-dawn push and cash for the huts cover the essentials.