Taishi-kan — Local services in Fujiyoshida

A very tiny room with no door, just a tarp to cover the entrance. Which means no sound proofing. I couldn’t sleep due to all the noises made by other guests. I still remember someone’s phone that keep vibrating throughout the night every 3 seconds, not only sound but the physical vibration itself traveled through floor and into everyone’s ears.

There are no pillows, just a very hard small rectangle which owners of this place want you to use as a pillow. If you try placing your head for 5 minutes you might dislodge your neck. I had to improvise a pillow by pulling some of my clothes together. Also, there are no blankets, just a sleeping bag. It was so incredibly cold at night that I had to demand some kind of blanket, and instead what they gave me was just a second sleeping bag. By putting one bag into another and then using my breath to breathe into that layered nonsense was thankfully just enough to get me warm.

As I was climbing the mountain before I stayed at this hut, rain wet my shoes. I didn’t take any spare shoes and so I was very eager to dry them out. I went to the reception and asked for that service, but instead what they did is just put shoes into a garbage bag and directed me to keep it next to me as I sleep in my room. I was flabbergasted to say the least. Of course, when I woke up in the morning shoes were just as wet, but now also stinky. I had to put those same shoes back on as I continued climbing the mountain. Throughout the next 2 weeks I had severe running nose because of that.

And the icing on the cake is that it costs 20 000 yen for just about 10 hours of this disgusting experience. Checkout is 5AM. You must pay 200 yen every single time you go to a toilet, even though you are already paid for the room. Also, not a toilet room, nor the hut itself has a sink, so you can’t even wash your face or brush teeth.

Result of my stay – I was barely able to sleep and rest. I was also very frustrated by the way they run this place. Frankly speaking, if I knew about the half of all those inconveniences, I would’ve just chosen to continue climbing the mountain without staying in the hut. I remember my adrenalin was pumping when I reached the 8th station, and I could’ve totally reached the peak straight away as a lot of other...

I had read all the reviews saying it’s basic or decent or whatever.. I’ll tell you what after climbing for 4 hours and the rain is starting to pick up I’m thankful as heck that we had this hut. We passed others along the way and this was by far the biggest and I believe it’s the newest on the mountain? You walk in and check in, out your boots in a bag and are shown to your bunk. When we visited on the last week of the season only one of the 4 main bedroom areas was being used. We were a group of 8 and we all slept on the top bunk section. There was probably 20-30 people total staying there but they just be able to accommodate a couple hundred I would say. After we settled in and hung some of our stuff up the staff came to collect our fee for the night (10000 yen per person). After awhile they came and got us for dinner which was curry, rice, fish, some pickled vegetables and tea. Everyone was nice and we conversed a bit with the fellow hikers about waking up the next morning and climbing. They give you your breakfast at this time so be sure to save it. We all went to bed around 8 or so and with the wind howling I was constantly waking up and having to use the restrooms which are outdoors and jam packed full of idiots that weren’t prepared and had no where to stay during the night. The bathrooms were decent, you have to throw away all toilet paper and flush with a water gun and they ask for a 200 yen donation every time which racks up very fast. They’re well maintained though. At 3 or 4 am the weather was so bad we asked the advice of the staff there and they suggested just climbing back down, so we did. They kick you out at 5am so there’s no sleeping in and no hanging out for better weather without paying more money. It was sad and disappointing but it was so foggy and windy I doubt we would have seen anything up top anyways. Luckily there’s a different path down than there is up so you don’t have as much rocks and crowds to fight through. Overall I really enjoyed staying at Taishikan. It was warm and welcoming and it even had outlets to charge your phone or electronics. If I were to climb Fuji again I would definitely stay here again as it’s a pretty good halfway point....

I had read all the reviews saying it’s basic or decent or whatever.. I’ll tell you what after climbing for 4 hours and the rain is starting to pick up I’m thankful as heck that we had this hut. We passed others along the way and this was by far the biggest and I believe it’s the newest on the mountain? You walk in and check in, out your boots in a bag and are shown to your bunk. When we visited on the last week of the season only one of the 4 main bedroom areas was being used. We were a group of 8 and we all slept on the top bunk section. There was probably 20-30 people total staying there but they just be able to accommodate a couple hundred I would say. After we settled in and hung some of our stuff up the staff came to collect our fee for the night (10000 yen per person). After awhile they came and got us for dinner which was curry, rice, fish, some pickled vegetables and tea. Everyone was nice and we conversed a bit with the fellow hikers about waking up the next morning and climbing. They give you your breakfast at this time so be sure to save it. We all went to bed around 8 or so and with the wind howling I was constantly waking up and having to use the restrooms which are outdoors and jam packed full of idiots that weren’t prepared and had no where to stay during the night. The bathrooms were decent, you have to throw away all toilet paper and flush with a water gun and they ask for a 200 yen donation every time which racks up very fast. They’re well maintained though. At 3 or 4 am the weather was so bad we asked the advice of the staff there and they suggested just climbing back down, so we did. They kick you out at 5am so there’s no sleeping in and no hanging out for better weather without paying more money. It was sad and disappointing but it was so foggy and windy I doubt we would have seen anything up top anyways. Luckily there’s a different path down than there is up so you don’t have as much rocks and crowds to fight through. Overall I really enjoyed staying at Taishikan. It was warm and welcoming and it even had outlets to charge your phone or electronics. If I were to climb Fuji again I would definitely stay here again as it’s a pretty good halfway point....