Our 195th entry in this blog is our trip to Gotemba Premium Outlets in Shizuoka, Japan. This is Ate Rei and Sai’s first time to visit this shopping area, but of course, this is not me and Papa Dave’s first time as we love to come here for the view, unfortunately not for shopping as we don’t have much money for it. hehehe. What we only like to buy here is Gap, Nike, and Adidas. 🙂

The Gotemba Premium Outlets are Japan’s most popular outlet mall, located in Gotemba City at the base of Mount Fuji, not far from Hakone. The mall features around 300 stores and restaurants, a food court, a 50 meter high Ferris wheel, a hotel and a public hot spring bath.

The stores found at the Premium Outlets are the outlets of internationally known brands of fashion, sports, food, household goods and electronics, and range from everyday items to luxury goods. The prices are not ridiculously cheap, but they are better on average than what you will find at regular retail shops in Japan. Overall it is a nice place for a day of shopping, with a lot of variety and reasonable prices. – japan-guide.com

Ate Rei and Sai was at first worried about coming here. They hate shopping as they are not interested in any of the things sold. But thankfully, there is a mini play area with rides, and with the perfect view of Mount Fuji.

And when they realized it has a Lego outlet shop, as well as Pokemon shops, then they now love going here and wants us to go back soon. Gotemba Premium Outlets is located at the base of Mount Fuji meaning there is a beautiful view of the iconic mountain top from the mall. While shopping in the stores in this open-air mall you can take in the scenic view of Mount Fuji at the same time.

The food is also great. This mall have a big food court area, with the perfect view of Mount Fuji. It was so nice eating outside, with the cold and sunny weather, while looking at Mt. Fuji. Indeed, a view you do not see every day. 🙂

The mall itself is well-designed and makes for a comfortable open-air shopping experience. There are two wings (east and west) which are connected by a bridge overlooking a river. This view helps to create a peaceful and calm experience for the visitors. We also went to another food court area to look for ice cream. And, some ice cream we found. 🙂

This place is only one bus ride from our place in Yokohama. But the ride takes around 2 hours. Enough for us to still sleep while inside the bus. 🙂 We started going here around 9am, arrived at 11am. A quick tour around the malls. Then went home by 4pm, arrived around 6pm. Just in time for dinner. Perfect schedule. 🙂

And that’s our quick trip to Gotemba. What we bought? uhm.. some shirts and pants from Gap. haha. Next time I’ll save more to do actual shopping. Until next time Gotemba! 🙂