Experience the Extraordinary Bounty of Mount Fuji with a Guided Tour Featuring Wine, Sake, and Craft Beer

A Private Guided Tour Around Mount Fuji with a Uniquely Local, Personal Touch

Satoshi “Chiyo” Chishiro knows a thing or two about Mount Fuji. As a qualified alpine guide, he has scaled the mighty mountain over 50 times, including several full ascents all the way from the foot to the summit. As Chiyo has continued to work and live alongside the mountain, he has come to appreciate more fully how it contributes to the natural diversity, rich agricultural production, and unique culture of the region. Your full-day tour with Chiyo will shed light upon all of these different aspects of Mount Fuji and the surrounding area.

Along with stunning views of the mountain from varied vantage points at different times of day, the tour includes several opportunities to taste Yamanashi sake, beer, and wine and learn about their production. A visit to the area’s most sacred shrine will introduce you to traditions and beliefs about Mount Fuji, while a walk through the Sea of Trees and lava caves of Aokigahara Forest will help you appreciate the many ways that nature and geography contribute to the incredible vitality of this land.

A Mobile Tasting Room and a Visit to the Only Sake Brewery in the Area

If you have ever toured a winery or brewery before, you are probably quite familiar with conventional tasting rooms. For this tour, however, Chiyo has come up with a clever twist on the concept, creating what he calls a “mobile tasting room.” After he picks his guests up at the start of the tour, he provides small cups of sake from the Ide Sake Brewery paired with light locally-grown snacks. This will be followed by a brief orientation introducing the spiritual, agricultural, and cultural importance of Mount Fuji to the region.

A short drive then takes you to the Ide Sake Brewery. Unusually for Japan, the area of Yamanashi around the Fuji Five Lakes is much better known for producing fine wine than sake, with Ide Sake Brewery being the only one of its kind in the region. While touring the brewery, you will learn about the role that Mount Fuji’s pristine spring water plays in producing high-quality sake. Take your time during tasting at the brewery to reflect on any differences from your initial impressions in Chiyo’s mobile tasting room.

If Ide Sake Brewery is closed, the tour will instead visit the Seven Cedars Winery for an introduction to the region’s long history of wine production. This visit includes wine tasting.

Visit Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine, Spiritual Gateway to Mount Fuji

Located at the base of the Edo-period trail up the northern face of Mount Fuji, Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine was constructed during the Edo period (1603-1868) and became known as the official starting point of the climb. A small stone torii gate at the back of the shrine signifies the first step of each pilgrim’s journey up the mighty mountain. While the Japanese word for mountain-climbing nowadays is tozan, in former times it was referred to as tohai, which roughly translates to mean climbing while praying, thinking, and reflecting on one’s relationship to the spiritual world.

“Mountains across Japan were considered sacred,” explains Chiyo. “To climb Mount Fuji was seen as stepping into another realm, one inhabited by the spirits and gods known as kami.” While Chiyo acknowledges that the religious elements of the practice may be unfamiliar to most people these days, he hopes to convey the essence of tohai: appreciating where you are in the moment, not just where you are going. He also explains the way that this mindset reflects the deep connection between people and nature in this region, including gratitude for the clean water that feeds their crops—and fills their sake bottles.

After visiting the shrine, you will proceed to a nearby restaurant where you can enjoy lunch featuring delicious Yamanashi-grown ingredients that showcase the best of the local area. Before heading to your next destination, enjoy a second taste of sake from the mobile tasting room paired with tuna, a much beloved delicacy in the landlocked prefecture of Yamanashi.

Explore a Sea of Trees with Caves Forged by Molten Lava　

Stretching across a bed of hardened lava from a major eruption of Mount Fuji in 864, Aokigahara is a lush, dense forest known as the Sea of Trees. When the wind blows, the trees sway together, resembling waves rolling across an immense green ocean. The porous volcanic rocks underfoot are said to muffle sound, adding a deep and mysterious silence beneath the thick canopy of branches and leaves.

But it is under the ground where Aokigahara hides its greatest secrets, clues to the extraordinarily pure spring water that nurtures the surrounding terroir. As Chiyo explains, while the mountain has no permanent rivers or streams, snowmelt flows down from Mount Fuji each year through caves, tunnels, and porous rocks. As you explore Aokigahara, you will visit one of the caves shaped long ago by molten lava to better understand the unique geography of this place.

The Best Pairing for a Glass of Wine is a Mount Fuji Sunset

Having worked up a thirst during your visit to Aokigahara, you will head next to AIM Beer LAB, a craft beer brewery and taproom near Lake Saiko. This is the perfect opportunity to ask Chiyo any questions you might have about the day so far while you enjoy a flavorful glass or two of locally-brewed craft beer.

The tour concludes with a final drink courtesy of the mobile tasting room, which parks itself in a particularly scenic spot selected by Chiyo. Glasses of wine from one of Yamanashi’s vaunted vineyards soon appear, hoisted in a last toast with a glorious backdrop of lake, sky, forest, and Japan’s most famous mountain. At the end of the day, it turns out that there is no better pairing for a glass of wine than a Mount Fuji sunset.