Subashiri 5th Station (Subashiri Trail)

What to know

Subashiri 5th Station (須走五合目, Subashiri Gogōme) is one of four 5th stations, located halfway up the slopes of Mount Fuji. It is served by buses during the climbing season.

Like the Gotemba 5th Station, the Subashiri 5th Station is far less developed than the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station, consisting of only a parking lot, toilets and two small shops and restaurants. Coin lockers are not available. The 5th station is reached by a winding road through Mount Fuji's forests, which gets closed to private vehicles during the climbing season (July 10 to September 10, 2025) when there are shuttle buses between a parking lot at the base of the mountain and the 5th station. The road also gets closed during winter, usually from late November to late April.

The first section of the Subashiri Trail is below the treeline and leads through forest. The trail is not as crowded as other routes up the mountain until it joins up with the Yoshida Trail around the 8th station, from where it can get very crowded on busy days. The ascent from the Subashiri 5th Station takes about 5-8 hours and the descent about 3-5 hours. Note that with an altitude of 1950 meters above sea level, the Subashiri 5th Station is a few hundred meters lower than the Fuji Subaru Line and Fujinomiya 5th stations.

Besides the trail to the summit of Mount Fuji, the Subashiri 5th Station offers an alternate, much shorter hiking trail to a small peak called Kofuji ("Little Fuji"). Kofuji is a 1979 meter high secondary peak that formed on the side of Mount Fuji sometime before recorded history. It can be reached in a 20 minute walk from the 5th station along a nature trail through the forest.

Buses operate between Gotemba Station and the Subashiri 5th Station every 1-2 hours during the climbing season (see timetable), but there is no service outside the climbing season. The ride takes about 60 minutes and costs 1800 yen one way, while round trip tickets are available for 2500 yen. Seat reservations are not possible.

Take the JR Tokaido Line from Tokyo to Kozu (75 minutes, frequent departures) and change to the JR Gotemba Line to Gotemba (50 minutes, 1-2 trains per hour). The entire journey costs 2050 yen and is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass.