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I'll be renting a car on January 2nd in Tokyo, to escape into the countryside for a day. Starting in west Tokyo, my choice is pretty much Yamanashi-ken. The question is, how many people's choice will it be at the same time?

I'd really like to go for Asama-jinja in Kawaguchi and/or Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Jinja in Fujiyoshida; but those will probably be teeming with people, and I'll spend half the day in a traffic jam.

So I'm eyeing the northeast corner of Yamanashi instead. Perhaps the onsen in Kosuge in the morning, and then loop around Lake Okutama and stop by a few smaller shrines there, then back to Tokyo.

Someone mentioned that Okutama is widely popular as well and the streets there and especially back may see a lot of traffic. Does anyone have a good reckoning if that will be the case?

deceze
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Well, I can report the following: the Chūō Expressway was fine in the morning outwards, so after double checking Google Maps’ busyness indicator, I went to the Arakura Fuji Sengen shrine in Fujiyoshida. Unfortunately low hanging clouds, so didn't get to see much of Mt. Fuji. Went up the mountain to Tenka Chaya, then ambled around Kofu until I found something to eat (not that easy on January 2nd), then drove around Lake Okutama with some stops here and there and back into Tokyo through Ōme-kaido and partially the Kan-etsu Expressway. Only on the latter one was there a bit of slow moving traffic for a few minutes, but no stopping at any point. Meanwhile the Chūō Expressway into Tokyo seems to be pretty backed up as I'm writing this.

So yes, Okutama and Kosuge were mostly devoid of people. There were some, but by no means peak activity. It was fairly touristy at Arakura in the morning, but also nowhere near peak level. Would do again, and hope for better weather next time.

map of itinerary

deceze
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