The Wandering Chocoholic

Planes, trains and automobiles

A very long day today, as we started out from Hiroshima, made our way up to Hakone, and then headed uphill to Owakudani to try to see Mount Fuji. We spent almost a dozen hours in transit, a good part of that hauling our luggage around, and wow are my feet tired. Altogether we took twelve – yep – count them – twelve forms of transportation today.

First, we took a streetcar to a shinkansen train back to Osaka. From there, we connected to another shinkansen train to Odawara, where we caught a bus to Hakone (nicknamed the “Bento Bus” because of our attempts to wedge all of us and our luggage into it, like a Bento box). There was a short bus ride from Hakone station to our Ryokan, where we finally dumped the luggage and set out to see Mount Fuji. From the station again, we took a train with switchbacks to climb the mountain, to a cable car, to a gondola, to another gondola, to a pirate ship (yes, a pirate ship), to another bus, to another bus.

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Hakone

Hakone is a famous resort town for the Japanese, thanks to its proximity to both Tokyo and Mount Fuji, and its natural hot springs. As such, it was completely packed with tourists. Built at various elevations, getting around is tricky at best and downright frustrating at worst, but people flock there at all times of year.

Fuji-san in the clouds

It was rainy and drizzly, and very overcast, so we weren’t too optimistic when we set out to view Mount Fuji. It’s not climbing season at the moment, so the viewing was the main reason we came to Hakone, but I knew ahead of time that it’s rare to see it on a clear day, so I wasn’t expecting too much. Sure enough, it was just about possible to kinda-sorta-make out the mountain behind the clouds. Still, it was pretty cool to be so high up, and the long journey to get up there was an experience in and of itself.

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of sake

Coming down on a gondola, we took a “sightseeing boat” on the lake to get more views. Unfortunately, it was dark by then, so the main views we got were inside the ship. It was decorated like a pirate ship, and sure enough, there was a Japanese guy dressed up like a pirate walking around and taking pictures with tourists. He was wearing a ridiculous costume complete with sunglasses, and was good for a few laughs.

The ryokan experience

In Hakone, we got to stay at a traditional Japanese inn, called a ryokan. Beds were once again futons on tatami mats, and meals were served also on tatami mats in an eating room. The ryokan was quite beautiful, though I’m told that it’s nothing compared to some of the ritzy places that rich people stay.

For dinner, we had a massive spread, served traditional style on Tatami mats. The fish heads were a bit disconcerting – I don’t eat food that looks at me – but most everything else was delicious.

The ryokan also had onsen, traditional Japanese baths using water from the volcanic hot springs. After all the hiking, walking, climbing and pack-carrying that I’d been doing, it was a real blessing to be able to just soak. The onsen baths were outdoors, but there was so much heat that you end up completely surrounded in steam and don’t even notice the cold. There was a whole ritual on how to use the baths, and the instructions were all in Japanglish, providing us with some of the best laughs on the trip so far.
Up next: Fuji-san, again.