Hakone

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Hakone is at the base of Mount Fuji, and is the prettiest place I’ve seen so far. The town is built in a valley not far from the coast, and to me felt very “Japanese”, in it’s architecture and style. Everything is so green, unlike anything I’ve seen in Australia for so long. Houses jammed in together, with the road barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other. Being near to Fuji-san, it’s set up for tourists with quite a few inns and hotels, but in no way tacky or loud. Plenty of people make the day trip from Tokyo it seems, too.

We stayed in a ryokan here, which was built on a hill, so most of the rooms were separated by stairs and corridors. We ate dinner in two different rooms on each night, and breakfast was served in another. JP and I had the deluxe suite, it seems, as we had lots of room, and we all ended up here each night discussing the day and our photo skills with a few Asahis.
Being a ryokan, we were provided with robes, jackets and slippers to wear around the hotel, and to the onsen. Tatami mats on the floor, and futons were put out for us each night. We quickly found where the extra futons were stored, and stacked up three of them!


The dinners were presented as about ten different dishes, at different times and different temperatures. All beautiful, and helped down by some warm sake. It took us all ten minutes to get started because we were all busy photographing our meals…




Visiting Hakone is an all-about-transport day. Going back to the station, you take a switch-back railway that climbs the hills about 500m. Cut through forests, the railway has been around for 100 years, and uses Swiss/Japan made cars. There were posters everywhere promoting a sister railway in Switzerland, but my Japanese wasn’t good enough to work out exactly where… There were plenty of stops and things to see along the way, including a temple built into the tiny valley where one station was.



Then at the end of the railway, a funicular (cable pulled) railway took you straight up an even steeper part of the hill, right to the cablecar (gondola?) ride over the top of the hill. It was all coordinated, and could have been like Disneyland, but it all seemed to be there for more than just the tourists. There seemed to be a village full of houses at each stop.
The cable car then took us up the hill and over the top of a sulphur mine, and down to a lake to some waiting pirate ships. OK, this bit was like Disneyland! All of this journey was to enable you to see Fuji-san. I’d like to say it was just like the picture, but I’m told the micro climate here keeps it hidden from view more often than not.
From the end of the lake, you could take a local bus back to Hakone, or as we did did, back up the mountain to catch the switchback railway back down again.

At one of the stations just above Hakone, there was a shrine in the small valley where the station was wedged. So carefully tended and cared for.

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