Ian Lewis' Blog

Yesterday, Reiko and I got back from Hakone. Reiko planned a nice trip for my birthday. We left on Saturday and came back the next day. Hakone is about two hours away on the Odakyuu train line. We went to Hakone for the nature scenery, but most people go there for the Onsens (hot springs/hot baths), and health spas, since they are all over the place. It seems every other bus stop is named 'something something onsen'.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Here's the rundown of the first day,

After we arrived at Hakone Yumoto Station we changed to the Hakone Touzan (Mountain Climbing) Line and rode that to Goura. The line zig zags it's way up the mountains, often stopping and going back the other direction.

After we had lunch at Goura, we got on the Hokone Touzan Cable Car. There is only one cable "train" with two cars so it was quite crowded. Standing room only. The train itself is slanted and hard to keep footing. There also isn't much to see so, while the fact that it's a cable car that gets pulled up the mountain is interesting, it wasn't much fun to ride it.

After we arrived at Souunzan station, we changed to the Hakone Ropeway. The ropeway runs from Souunzan to Tougendai, where our hotel is. It's nice since you can see a lot of scenery from up high. It's also too dangerous to have a lot of people in one car so it was a lot more comfortable ride than the cable car.

Halfway to Togendai is one of our touristy destinations, Oowakudani (大(Big)涌(Boiling)谷(Valley)). Essentially, it's exactly as the name says. About three thousand years ago the mountain erupted in a big explosion leaving an empty valley or crater that continually vents sulfuric gas. You might wonder why you would ever want to go there but it's actually pretty interesting seeing the water boiling out of the and the gas jets. They also have a tradition of making black eggs which if you eat will lengthen your life by 7 years (or so they say). Though it must be kind of an Asian thing since there were TONS of foreigners around but all of them were Koreans, Chinese, and Indian. Very few westerners. I saw a Russian or Eastern European group of about 3 but that's about it.

I don't like eggs, and after not too long we couldn't stand all the people and the smell, so we continued on to Tougendai and checked into the hotel. The hotel is a nice Japanese style Ryokan. We had a tatami floored room and they set out a tea set so you can have green tea. We arrived a bit early, so after check in, we went for a walk in a nearby park next to Lake Ashi until dinner. Traditional breakfast and dinner are included per-usual for Ryokans.

Well that's it for now. I'll get to day two, when we take a sightseeing boat across Lake Ashi and check out Hakone Shrine, later.