Tokyo > Hakone > Tokyo

Today we went to Hakone, which is a geothermal area of Japan. It turned out to be a log day full of different types of transport. We started by catching a taxi to the train station, then the Shinkensen to Odawara station. The trip on the Shinkensen took about 30 mins and both Robin and I slept for most of it. We then boarded a small train to go to Hakone-Yumoto, which was a short trip through a valley and up a hill a bit.

The next train was pretty old, and didn’t have air conditioning, being that it was 35 degrees today, it was a bit uncomfortable! The journey was about 40 minutes, and really really beautiful. We zig-zagged up through the mountains, and the whole area was covered in Hydrangeas blooming. They were all sorts of shades of blue, purple and pink, everything from almost white to bright magenta, soft blue, deep purple and lavender. This train took us to Gora, where we caught a cable car up the mountain to Sounzan.

At Sounzan, there is normally a “Ropeway” (suspended gondola) to take us through the mountains, but due to volcanic activity, part of the route has been suspended. Instead, we took a bus to Ubako, and got the Gondola from there.

The Gondola ride was really great, it first went to Owakudani, were we could see steam rising from the side of the mountain, and a lot of dead trees. The station was closed, and you couldn’t get out because of the volcanic activity in the area. On the way back from Owakundani to Ubako, we got our first glimpse of Mount Fuji! It towered above the surrounding mountains, and due to the clouds, it looked like it was a mountain floating in the sky.

We also started heading some distant thundering booms. We considered that it might be volcanic activity, but pretty unlikely, and it was probably something else. We continued on the gondola down to a lakeside town called Togenda-Ko. We’d been looking for somewhere for lunch, so set out to look at the town. There was hardly anything there, but more than the other stations we had visited, that really only had a toilet and a souvenir shop. We stopped for some rice and chicken before heading back to the station for he next leg.

The next part was on a “pirate ship” that took us across the lake and to a dock on the far side. Again, it was quite hot and poor Robin was getting restless. I fed him and took him out on the deck where the wind was a bit cooler. We docked in Hakone-machi-ko, where we got another view of Mount Fuji. We could also still hear the booming, and noticed that in front of Fuji was a mountain with plumes of smoke rising from it. The noise was in fact an eruption and we could see the smoke rising from the area. There was no need for concern though, it was just spectacular to see.

Next we walked through the old town checkpoint, with large gates, then though the “old freeway”, which was a small path surrounded by forest. It was lovely and serine. This path took us to Moto-Hakone-Ko, where we boarded a bus back to Hakone-Yumoto. From there we went back on a train to Odawara, and went for a walk to find somewhere for dinner. We had soba noodles for dinner and then boarded the Shinkensen back to Tokyo, before getting in a taxi home! Phew, what a day!