Oshino Hakkai
| The Good | The Not-So Good |
| Great Views of Mt Fuji | Full of foreign tourists |
Main photo source here (Hans Johnson).
Reading down the 1 star reviews of Oshino Hakkai on the popular Japanese hotel booking website Jalan, a common theme of “stupid numbers of foreign tourists” stands out. Here is a pretty representative review.
Too many foreigners! The staff are foreign, the tourists are foreign. I have no idea where I am. The place has been ruined.
Jalan customer, December 2018
In fairness there has been a lot of development over the last 10 years to cater to the increasing number of tourists from Asia, which has led to overcrowding and a transformation of the once peaceful village into a bit of a tourist trap. Great for Instagram but not so great if you want to relax and enjoy a pleasant walk around an historic site.
They also have to content with people throwing coins into the pools for good luck (a normal custom in some places but not pristine sources of natural mineral water). People dropping phones into the water is also a problem according to Google.
Access to Oshino Hakkai
You can take a bus from Lake Kawaguchiko or Gotenba Premium Outlets. However there is really no reason to go. Spend time elsewhere.
