Hina Cafe

Chances are you wouldn't stumble across this gem of a cafe on your own. Not only is it located in a fairly out of the way location, but it's also hidden from view from the street. I'm happy that my colleague took me to lunch here once so now I can share it with others.

One of the nicest things about Hina Cafe is the interior. It's really unique--there are random antiques strewn all over the place and cool raw wooden furniture. When the weather is nice you can eat on the patio.


The place is run entirely by a couple. Service can therefore be a bit slow at peak hours but it's worth it for the delicious food and attention to detail. It's open for lunch and dinner and there are a range of beers and cocktails as well. It's located here, close to Hina Station on the Gakunan Tetsudo line.

Tsuke Napori

This is the signature dish of the Yoshiwara section of Fuji City. It's basically a Japanese take on Neapolitan pasta. You use chopsticks to dip your pasta in the tomato sauce. It's very yummy. Many different cafes and restaurants in Yoshiwara offer their own versions of the dish. The one above has sakura ebi (tiny shrimp) in the pasta. My favorite is from Sofarii Cafe. Here, you can order onigiri (rice balls) to mix into the sauce you have left over at the end. So good!

You can find tsuke napori anywhere you see the red, green and white tomato sign in Yoshiwara.

Kappazushi restaurant

Also also called kaiten sushi or conveyor belt sushi. It's cheap and fun. Just grab whatever you want from the belt as it goes around.


You can also order exactly what you want by using the computer screen next to your table. In that case, your order will come straight to you on a plastic shinkansen :) It's very easy to use the computer screen even if you don't speak Japanese because the pictures show you what you're getting and the prices are clearly marked.

Plates at this particular restaurant are mostly between 100 and 200 yen and green tea and water are free. When you finish, the waitress will count your plates to determine your bill. In addition to sashimi and nigiri, you can get soups, desserts and fried dishes.

The restaurant is open from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm. It's about a 10 minute walk from from Fuji City Office. Click here for a map.

Horse karaage is surprisingly tender

Cannery Row Italian restaurant

This may be one of the best restaurants in Fuji City . It was certainly the one that came most highly recommended. After walking along the path lined with olive trees, rosemary and basil and glancing at the beautiful decor, I sat down to look at the menu and was shocked at how reasonably priced everything was.

First off, if you miss really good pizza, go to this place. They do pizza really well and there's a fantastic variety on the pizza menu, including Italian style and Japanese style choices.

And if you're a pasta junkie like me...again, go to this place. I recommend the spaghetti with smoked salmon cream sauce. Best of all, you can get lunch sets where you choose a main dish (pizza or pasta) and get unlimited salad bar and drink bar. And let me say that the salad bar alone is worth the price of the entire meal - rices, seafood, potatoes and a vast array of vegetables. And all of this will cost about 1200-1400 yen! I'm not sure if dinner is more expensive.

Finally, you can add TWO dessert choices to your lunch for a mere 240 yen or THREE for 340 yen. Cannery Row is well known for its great desserts. The momblan (Mont Blanc) cake is particularly good.

Cannery Row is located close to Fuji High School. See here for a map.

Land of Oz bar

In every Japanese city, there's at least one gaijin-friendly joint where foreigners go to sip familiar beer and speak English to each other. Land of Oz is Fuji City's. It's made up like a kitschy Australian bar and serves a pretty good selection of international beer and liquor, including Guinness on tap. Plus you can get food like tacos, nachos and chicken wings and meet cool people from all over Shizuoka.

It's just about a five minute walk from Fuji Station's North exit. See here for a map or here for their Facebook page with upcoming events.

AEON Mall Fujinomiya

Fuji City has its own AEON Mall, but AEON Fujinomiya is bigger with a lot more options. A main feature is the huge JUSCO department store where you can get just about everything for your home and bigger sizes of clothes and shoes to fit the foreign frame. Prices at JUSCO are quite cheap for Japan.
There are several restaurants and fast food joints, an impressive Dojima electronics store, purikura and Kaldi Coffee - a chain store that sells foreign foods. There you can get treats from the US, Australia, the UK, Canada, China, Southeast Asia and other places. There are also ingredients to cook Mexican and Indian food. You can pick up real hot sauce and real cheese too (a luxury not available in the average Japanese grocery).

AEON Mall Fujinomiya is a short walk from Fujinomiya Station. If you arrive by train, exit to the left and go down the stairs. The exact location is here.

Geleeun's Coffee House

This beautifully decorated brick house turned cafe offers a nice selection of coffee, tea, dessert and light meals at reasonable prices. Opening hours are 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. It's located here, close to Fuji City Hall, so may be a good place to relax after you pick up your gaijin card.

Anmitsu and cream hotcakes

A glimpse at the menu

Yoshiwara Gion Festival

This festival is held on the second Saturday and Sunday in June every year and apparently has been taking place for the past 250 years. It's a pretty big event for Fuji City. The main street in Yoshiwara (Yoshiwarahoncho) is completely transformed as floats and mobile shrines are pulled by colorfully dressed Fuji City denizens and the sound of drums and flutes takes over. It's fantastic to see your solemn neighbors letting loose and drinking beer in the streets. And of course, the usual matsuri fare of fried foods on sticks is available for purchase.






Here's a short video of the fun. Seriously, this is the liveliest I've ever seen the locals of this city.

Taiyou No Cafe (Organic Restaurant)

This is a nice little find of a restaurant in the Rose Theater district. The sign outside says Natural Restaurant because, as I found out, they use organic ingredients. I'm not sure if it's 100% organic. The name Taiyou No Cafe means sun cafe. The all you can eat parfait bar is a great deal - lots of candy, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, cake and soft serve ice cream to choose from.

And you can keep going back as many times as you want. It only costs 630 yen.


The food is also quite good and fairly affordable. I recommend the fries and any of the pasta dishes.
Taiyou No Cafe is located here, about a 15 minute walk from Yoshiwara Chuo Station.

Namaskar Indian Restaurant

Good Indian food in a town like Fuji City? I hadn't any hope until a colleague's rave review sent me to Namaskar. A two minute walk from Fuji Station, this tiny place is manned by a true odd couple: a smiley Indian chef and a severe Japanese proprietor/server. The decor is cool but you may have to double over to fit through the elfish bathroom door.

The curry is damn good! And it ain't expensive either. A lunch set includes a choice of curry, salad, drink, and naan or rice for only 950 yen. Add a portion of tandoori chicken and it's just 1200 yen. Dinner is a little more expensive but there's a very nice set with rice/naan and your choice of TWO curries and salad for 1280 yen. Oh and the chai tea seems to make me high. I hope you have the same luck.

Here is the location in case you're ever close to Fuji Station and are fed up of the usual fare.

Cafe Sofarii

Located on Yoshiwarahoncho, very close to Yoshiwara Chuo bus station. The cafe owner lived in Hawaii for a while so there's usually a lot of relaxing island music in the background as well as unique world music tracks. They have live music shows sometimes, as well as hula dancing.

An entire wall of books includes a fair amount of English reading material. Overall, great worn, cosy cafe feel. Fantastic deserts and coffee. There's also a selection of wines. Food is mostly pasta, soups and sandwiches. Prices are about mid range - lunch will cost around 1500 yen and dinner 2000 yen.

Here is the exact location and here is their website (in Japanese).

Bishamonten Daruma Festival

This Sunday, February 21, 2010 was the annual Bishamonten Daruma Festival in the Yoshiwara neighborhood of Fuji City. I'm not sure if it's held on this day every year. Possibly it's always on the third Sunday in February.

Just take the JR train to Yoshiwara Station and, after you get off, follow the masses of people. You can eat any manner of food on sticks including choco-bananas and candied grapes. There are also yummy grilled festival favorites like okonomiyake, yakitori and yakisoba.

First, make your way to the shrine, where you can throw a coin into the offering box and say a prayer.

Or, you can rub the statue of the Buddha for good luck, get your fortune, or bathe in smoke from the sacred fire.

Some people even bring their pets to be blessed.

But you've come here for Daruma dolls and there are plenty of those. They come in various colors that signify different things. Red is the color of the traditional Daruma, but I'm told that pink, for example, is for luck in love.
As you can see, the eyes are blank. You have to fill them in yourself with a black felt tip pen or whatever - the first when you make a wish, the second when the wish comes true.

I think the beauty of the Daruma may be about focus and goal setting rather than believing that actual power lies in the doll. But I don't know enough about it. I've read that it's tradition to take the dolls back to the temple where you got them at the end of the year to be burned.

Local residents work at the festival

A Japanese family takes a picture in front of the shrine