This year`s Winter break provided my family with the great chance to travel in the beautiful Japan. We decided to fulfill the wish of our son Kentaro and visit Fuji Q Highland （富士急ハイランド）in Yamanashi （山梨県）. Fuji Q Highland is located on the North side of Mount Fuji just next to the picturesque lake Kawaｇuchi (河口湖） in the middle of the five lake district. Fuji Q Highland is famous for its breathtaking roller coasters. It is very conveniently located for visitors from Tokyo, but if you come from Osaka, you need to change to bus in Mishima on the other side of Mount Fuji. Now, you might why my three year old son wants to visit an amusement park with world famous roller coasters. Actually, he is really in “Thomas” right now (Thomas the tank engine from the famous English books “Thomas and Friends“) and Fuji Q Highland features Japans “Thomas Land” as well.Anyways, our trip proved to be full of excitement for a Thomas and train loving young boy. 
It was the first time to ride the Shinkansen新幹線 as well, so the adventure started right in the Shin Osaka station 新大阪駅. What a great experience to see these aerodynamic trains so close and even better riding one!
Weather was nice and there is so much to see and do for a little adventures boy like watching for cars and other trains from the window and walking up and down the whole long train, so time went by in no time. In Mishima (三島）, we were really worried about the long bus ride to Fuji Q Highland, but Kentaro was very lucky again as the direct express bus was in Thomas design, with images of Thomas and his friends on the bus, on the curtains, on the seats, just everywhere. So he was quite positive about the ride and everything went fine. His parents used the time to make some photos of Mount Fuji as soon as we could see the majestic mountain, but the pictures we could take from the bus are no match to the view from our hotel in the morning, as you can easily see in the picture above.
I could go on about all the Thomas-rides we went on, like getting into Rusty and having our picture taken, of meeting Hero and Percy. But I guess that everybody who is not blessed with a young little boy who loves Thomas and friends will not have a clue what I am talking about, and we just walked past all those famous roller coasters. I just want to add that it was very cold with a low temperature of -8 C in the first night. So if you plan to visit Mount Fuji, Winter is a good time to see the mountain, but pack warm clothes!
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