Otsuki or Odawara Station?

I am thinking of renting a car to visit Lake Kawaguchiko, Fuji Yoshida 5th Station and Gotemba Outlet Mall. I will be coming from Tokyo by train (have a JR Rail pass) and would like to maximize time as I have only one day.

Could I have advice on which is the best option:

a. Take the train from Tokyo to Otsuki Station and rent a car from there; or
b. Take the train from Tokyo to Odawara Station and rent a car from there.

Any other option?

Visiting Kawaguchiko, Fuji 5th sta and Gotemba premium outlet mall in one day from inner Tokyo is impossible.
You must be a superman to do that.

Typically, you need to rent and return a car to the same location - so rent in Fujiyoshida (not Otsuki), visit Kawaguchiko and Mt Fuji, then drive to Gotemba and back to Fujiyoshida.

Odawara has none of the places you want to visit.

Not sure if you can still drive to the 5th station, or if you need to park it and take their shuttle bus. If you must use their bus, there would be additional time wasted matching to their departure schedule.

Even with my suggested route/rental location, two days is required UNLESS you do not plan to get out of the car at any of those stops. And even then, it would be a very long day.

Thank you for your replies.

Guess I was too ambitious. But if I were to skip Gotemba Outlet mall and just visit Lake Kawaguchiko and Fuji Subaru 5th station, is this doable instead? I will still come from Tokyo and return the same day.

In this case, where is the best place to rent a car? Kawaguchiko, Fujiyoshi or Otsuki?

Yes - that is doable. Otsuki is a small town that is squeezed between two mountain ranges - maybe 3km apart, so it is really a mountain pass. The station is of course at the narrowest point, so I do not know about car rentals there (maybe difficult or time consuming if you need to take a taxi to a rental lot).

If it were me... I would rent a car in Tokyo (I presume that is where you would spend the prior night), and drive it. That lets you get a very early morning departure - taking shy of 2hrs to Fuji-san/Kawaguchiko. It is expressway all of the way, just do not miss the Otsuki junction, or you will find yourself heading toward Kofu.

Any reason why the Fuji Subaru 5th station is so important? I'm guessing you are not climbing the mountain as you are there for only one day. So why go?

https://rent.toyota.co.jp/eng/shop/yamanashi.html

There is a Toyota rental place right out the front of Ostuki Station.

I agree with hakata14 about 5th station if you're not going to climb Mt. Fuji. You didn't mention what date you plan on going but there is not much to do on 5th station except for a few souvenir shops.

I wouldn't rent a car in Tokyo just to go to the lakes, even being a Japanese resident in Greater Tokyo. The roads are just too busy and tricky unless you're used to them, and driving for hours is just too stressful. Additionally, I love the scenery you start to get from the rail as you get closer to Otsuki or Fujiyoshida for that matter.

By the way, my understanding is that you can usually drop off your rent-a-car at another branch of the same company, if you pay an additional fee.

Thank you for all your responses.

I may now skip the 5th Station. The reason why I thought of going there is that many day tours out of Tokyo to Hakone or the 5 Lakes stop over there for about 30 mins. So I thought could be worth making a trip.

Japan is such a lovely country and with such glorious food. Each time I make a trip there I visit new places . This time I really look forward to visiting the Ama divers before that profession disappears. But in my 6 trips to Japan so far, I have yet to see Mount Fuji -always been cloudy- so this time in early Apr I hope to be lucky.