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Published: January 25th 2010
Hakone
The small city of HakoneHakone is a small, quaint town with lots of character. This is where we stayed in our second Ryokan (our first was in Koyasan) and despite how fancy the hotels were, the traditional was my preferred accomodations. Upon arriving and dropping off our bags, we headed into town for a quick meal before making our way to the ropeway that led up to Owakudani. Owakudani is the area around a crater created during the last eruption of Mt. Hakone some 3000 years ago. Today, much of the area is an active volcanic zone where sulfurous fumes, hot springs and hot rivers can be experienced. Owakudani has good views of Mt. Fuji on clear days. Luckily for us it was a semi-clear day. The clouds blocked our view momentarily, but we were able to see Mt. Fuji in all of its glory! It was pretty amazing.
There was a short walking trail that led us past a number of steam vents and bubbling pools. Here you can purchase eggs, cooked in the naturally hot water, whose shells are blackened by the sulfur and which are said to prolong one's life by seven years. I ate two eggs, but while eating the
Hakone
A cute restaurant in Hakone second one, a piece fell out of my mouth and landed on the ground. I breifly considered it; then decided I was good with about 10 years prolonged life and went on with my day. Next we decided to try this Wasabi ice cream we'd been hearing about. It was a very unique tasting ice cream; it was sweet at first, then that wasabi aftertaste came through with a little kick on the end. It was kind of good. But I wouldn't buy a tub of it or anything.
We made our way back down the mountain by ropeway, then headed down to Lake Ashi where we boarded a boat for a ride back to Hakone. It was a nice journey and I was satisfied with my views of Mt. Fuji and the photos that I was able to take. By the time we got back to the Ryokan, we were all pretty frozen and were ready for some food and some warmth. This ryokan was more of an inn, where the last one was a Buddhist temple with accomodations, so I was looking more forward to our prepared meal this time around knowing that it wasn't going to
Hakone
The ropeway up to Owakudani be all vegan. It turned out to be one of the more amazing meals of the trip. I had a hot pot, sushi, sashimi, fresh fish, miso soup, pickled veggies, a tofu dish, plus my pregnant roomies sushi and sashimi and a few desserts all for myself! It was delicious and I definitely ate it all!!
After dinner, I decided to brave the traditional Japanese Onsen (Hot Spring). I say brave, because there are very strict etiquette rules in Onsens. Here is the step by step:
1) Take off all your clothes in the changing room and place them into a basket together with your bath towel. Coin lockers for valuables are often available.
2) Japanese hot springs are enjoyed naked. Swimming suits are not allowed in most places. However, it is the custom to bring a small towel into the bathing area, with which you can enhance your privacy while outside of the water. Once you enter the bath, keep the towel out of the water.
3) Before entering the bath, rinse your body with water from either a tap or the bath using a washbowl provided in the bathing area. Just rinsing your body is usually
Hakone
Japanese symbol for the word big burned in the mountain side sufficient unless you are excessively dirty, in which case you want to use soap.
4) Enter the bath and soak for a while. Note that the bath water can be very hot (typical temperatures are 40 to 44 degrees). If it feels too hot, try to enter very slowly and move as little as possible.
5) After soaking for a while, get out of the bath and wash your body with soap at a water tap, while sitting on a stool. Soap and shampoo are provided in some baths. Like in private Japanese bathrooms, make sure that no soap gets into the bath water. Tidy up your space after you finished cleaning your body.
6) Re-enter the bath and soak some more.
7) After you finished soaking, do not rinse your body with tap water, for the minerals to have full effect on your body.
Now you can see why I read the directions a few times over before heading in! I didn't want to offend anyone or do anything wrong and I was insanely uncomfortable with the whole situation anyway. But I thought...when in Rome...or naked in Japan I guess.
It turned out just fine. I enjoyed
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View of a cloud covered Mt. Fuji from the ropeway the experience and it felt great to soak in the super hot mineral water after such a long, cold day. As a result, I had a very relaxing sleep and was looking forward to getting to our final stop of the journey...Tokyo.
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Steven
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PICTURES!!!