Yamanakako Shuzanso

I glanced through the other reviews before I decided to write a review, in case I missed something. People clearly had a different experience than I did. The best thing I can say about this hotel is that the dinner was outstanding. There was a lot of food, too much in fact, including succulent beef, an entire fish on a stick (not appealing to look at, but tasty), plus a variety of other distinctly Japanese dishes. So, if you stay at this hotel, come to dinner hungry. As for Mt. Fuji: If the weather is pristine, then indeed you can see Mt. Fuji from the 3rd floor via a tiny little "observatory room." If the weather isn't perfect, you'll see bits of the mountain as clouds slowly drift by. The room is very standard Japanese, meaning: tatami mat floor (fake tatami, real would be impossible to maintain), green-tea colored walls, futons that you must lay out yourself, a small flat-screen TV (you won't be able to get anything except local channels), and a separate toilet room and bath, plus a tiny sitting room with a view of whatever is available (we were on the first floor and could see some trees and a walkway). Note: if you are used to sleeping on a bed, you will not wake up feeling well rested. I have lived in Japan for 29 years and I originally slept on a futon, but unless you are used to doing so, you will not have a restful experience, so it's best to be exhausted when you go to sleep. The "sento" (public bath) is very small and nothing to write home about. Yes, the water is hot and it feels good, but the entire room is small, and at full capacity, 10 people can use it, except -- it would be extremely uncomfortable with that many people in it. The location of the hotel: If you have a car, you'll be sitting pretty, whizzing around hither and on. If you do not, and you make the mistake of walking from the hotel to cross the main road so you can get a better (possibly) view of Mt. Fuji and surrounding nature areas, you risk your life. I repeat: you risk your life. Traffic is coming from both directions and you do not really have the proper amount of time to gauge the traffic coming from both sides. We were lucky we didn't get killed. There is no crosswalk, no signs, no nothing. You have been warned. Yes, the staff will pick you up from the station or bus stop, or wherever the agreed upon place is, and take you back. However, despite what some other reviews have said, I did not find the staff to be remotely friendly. Not at all. And I can speak fair Japanese. The hotel seemed short-staffed, certainly at the front desk. And of the three "front desk men" that I encountered, not one of them smiled the entire time, except once, when I realized that one of them actually understood what I was saying in English when I spoke to my partner. Otherwise, they were very business-like, which is fine for a corporate meeting, but not for a hotel. Likewise, the staff at the restaurant, except for the two foreign men who were working there, was not fri