Walking the Black Dragon

Walking the Black Dragon

The Narusawa Hyōketsu Ice Cave

You can travel almost anywhere in Japan by bus or train, and it’s surprisingly inexpensive. A single ticket on the Fujikyū Express Bus from Busta Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko costs about USD 15. We could have taken a bus all the way to our rental in Narusawa, but it would have meant waiting — so we opted for a cab. There are plenty of cars on the road — cabs, service vehicles, cargo vans — but getting around without owning a car is easy.

We celebrated our arrival with some fruit-box sized cartons of Oni Koroshi (“Demon Killer”) brand nihonshu (日本酒) — what most foreigners call sake (酒), though the word actually means alcohol in general. At about USD 0.75 per box, it’s an excellent beverage — just don’t confuse it with Johnny’s Capri Sun when packing lunches.

In the morning, we walked to the nearest bus stop to catch Fujikyū Bus Line 80, which serves Narusawa Hyōketsu (Ice Cave). For ¥170 (about USD 1.15), it’s a 15-minute ride through the hilly Aokigahara plains. Try to have exact change; once you’re further into rural Japan, English speakers become fewer and fewer. Or better yet, learn a few key words — arigatō (thank you), sumimasen (excuse me), Kudasai (please). It goes a long way.

At the ticket booth, we were greeted by a sign depicting the cave as the “Cave of the Black Dragon”, along with the local lore. The dragon’s image vaguely mirrors the shape of the cave itself — eerie and a little intimidating. Then come the warnings: the narrow passages, the health advisories, the reminder that it is indeed a cave. It took us about fifteen minutes to work up the courage to go in, but we didn’t regret it at all.

The entire cave took maybe thirty minutes to walk through. It was indeed cramped, but the experience was worth it. Unlike the Wind Cave, helmets weren’t required, and there were several spots where you could stand comfortably. The stairs are steep in places, but by now we’d accepted that steep stairs are simply a fact of life in Japan.

As we were leaving, a group of locals came through with children who couldn’t have been more than seven or eight — in flip-flops, no less. Then an obaasan (grandmotherly figure) zipped past us with no hesitation at all. That’s when we realized we had completely overthought this trip.

Solid 10/10. I’d gladly do it again. Just don’t overthink it — embrace the chill and the quiet of the cave.

Next stop: finding the bus to the Wind Cave.