Hakone 箱根

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On November 6 we took a day trip to Hakone for a day of fresh air and Fuji-gazing. Hakone has long been a tourist area, as it is famous for its many hot springs. Being that we only had one day we didn't get to bathe in the springs, but we did plenty of other activities in the course of our day.
My knowledge of Hakone originates from the Hiroshige print of the station on the Tokaido road, which runs through the area. The Tokaido Road ran from Tokyo to Kyoto during the Edo period, with 53 stations, or checkpoints, along the way (for an interactive map of the road click here, Hakone is station #11, Joe passes near #6 on his way to work each day). The above print, dating from 1833-4, has long been one of my favorites, so I was pretty excited to see what the actual area looks like.
After an hour train ride to Odawara, passing through Hiratsuka (sister city of Lawrence, KS) and spotting Mt. Fuji a few times, we purchased the Hakone Free Pass, which gave us access to all manner of transportation within the Hakone area for the day. We took another train to Hakone Yumoto, where we boarded the Hakone Tozan Railway. This train took us up the mountain to Gora, actually switchbacking along the way and curving through tiny tunnels and tight curves. Apparently the train covers some curves that are so tight that they spray the tracks with water to reduce friction. Even though it was a Friday, the train was really crowded with retired travelers, so we had to stand for about half the trip, preventing us from seeing much.
At Gora we switched to a cable car (below), which took us 10 minutes up the mountain to Sounzan.
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At Sounzan we switched to the ropeway, and it was here where we began to understand the packaged feel of Hakone. While the scenery was beautiful, we were following a designated route together with a stream of lots of other people and tour groups, which gave the area somewhat of a theme-park feeling.
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The ropeway is the busiest in the world! This isn't really surprising, considering that 13 people fit in each car and they were leaving every minute or so, definitely not your average ski gondola.
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The gondola took us high above the surrounding communities, providing nice views of the mountains and the fall color in the area.
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A gondola on the way down...
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At one point the gondola crested over a hill and in a dramatic moment, Mt. Fuji was visible in the distance. The other people in our car erupted into a chorus of 'すごくきれい!' and we all took lots of photos.
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We continued up to the gondola station at Owakudani, where we paused to view the sulphur hot springs and eat some black eggs.
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Above are the smelly springs. Below, Joe near the gondola station, springs in the background.
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Black egg Kitty chan at Owakudani!
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Yet another Fuji view....
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The eggs are boiled in the sulphur springs which makes them black and lends them a slight sulphur smell. This is our package of five, which we bought for 500 yen (about $5).
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The eggs are essentially just hard boiled eggs, but they made a nice afternoon snack, and according to local lore, are said to increase longevity.
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After Owakudani it was back onto another gondola, which took us down to Lake Ashi (Ashinoko).
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The scenery on the lake was lovely, but for some reason the boats have a pirate theme, which gave the 30 minute boat ride a slightly bizarre feeling.
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Me on the boat with the hills of Hakone behind me.
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We disembarked at Hakone machi, where we could faintly see Mt. Fuji in the distance. The reason we went to Hakone on this particular Friday was because the weather was particularly clear. Even so, it is often difficult to spot Fuji through the haze.
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At Hakone machi we visited the Hakone Sekisho, or checkpoint. This open-air museum recreated the Tokaido road checkpoint and included some objects found in archaeological digs done at the site. During the Edo period all travelers had to stop at these checkpoints to show their paperwork and have their belongings examined.
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The recreated checkpoint included buildings for living and those for the processing of travelers, as well as a holding cell, stable, and guard tower.
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Looking out of the Tokyo-side gate from inside the checkpoint.
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An overview of the checkpoint from the guard tower, Lake Ashi in the background.
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We next walked about two kilometers along the Tokaido road from Hakone machi to Moto Hakone, between huge old cedar trees.
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The actual Tokaido road, for which I completely geeked-out. It was neat to think about travelers walking this path for the past 400 plus years, and also to make the comparison between the two week long walking journey that people used to undertake between Tokyo and Kyoto and the two and a half hours that it now takes via bullet train. I do have a thing for trails though, both in my love of hiking and my interest in travel. As a kid I played the Oregon Trail computer game for countless hours, and I was always intrigued by the fact that our street in Lawrence was part of the Oregon Trail. Interestingly, we were alone on the path; all the tour groups and other travelers used either the bus or the boat from Hakone machi. This was probably my favorite part of the day.
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Some fall color along the road...
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While we were walking we came across a small public boat house overlooking the lake. The building had a great view and we were able to sit on the roof deck and watch the sunset on Mt. Fuji.
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More sunset on Mt. Fuji, with the red tori of Hakone Shrine at the lower right.
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We continued walking into Moto Hakone where we ate dinner at a small Japanese restaurant before boarding a bus back to Odawara, making our journey full circle.

Interesting Japanese Products II

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The longer we have lived in Japan, the more we have become accustomed to the variety of products available here that aren't readily available in the U.S. Things that once seemed exciting to me, such as aloe flavored yogurt, nori (roasted seaweed) flavored potato chips, or yuzu flavored tea, are now commonly a part of our diet. Occasionally though, something will stand out, which is what happened when I saw Azuki flavored Pepsi. Azuki, or red bean, is a popular addition to desserts, often you will find it ground into a sweet paste and used as a filling for mochi, bread, or other confections. Personally I find it to be ok in small amounts, but I don't like to eat too much of it at once because I feel that the consistancy of the beans is too pasty to eat in large quantities. When we saw the Azuki Pepsi we tried it out of curiosity, thinking that it would not be very good, however it was pretty tasty. The sweetness of the azuki was slightly reminscent of cherry flavored sodas, and the red color also conjured up this image (visible in the photo). Although, as I don't drink soda very often, about 1/3 of the bottle of the sugary carbonated sweetness was as much as I could take.
Another yummy product that I had recently was the Meiji brand Rich Matcha candybar pictured below. I love anything matcha (powdered tea leaf) flavored, so this combination of matcha and white chocolate was definitely a favorite of mine. I'm also a huge fan of matcha lattes, matcha ice cream, and matcha cake, as well as my favorite guilty pleasure beverage to study with, Starbuck's Matcha Frappucinos.
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Fall 秋

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It's been almost a month since I've posted anything, how the time flies... Things have been pretty busy, during the week about all I do is go to class and do homework, with small breaks for eating, sleeping (though never enough), checking email, and showering. On the weekends we usually take Friday evening to relax, spend Saturday afternoon studying at a coffee shop, chat with family on Skype, and the rest of the time is studying for me, for Joe studying or working on music. Not too exciting of a routine...
Outside of the usual activities, last month I attended a series of lectures given at the Meiji Art Society meeting at Tokyo University on a Saturday afternoon (in Japanese of course). It was a nice change of pace and a strong reminder of why I'm spending so much time memorizing vocabulary. The lecture I was most interested in addressed ukiyoe (Japanese prints) at the 1910 London International Exhibition, other lectures discussed line in Meiji period Japanese-style painting and a newly discovered painting from WWII. On Halloween we went trick-or-treating with some of Joe's students at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, one of the few places in Japan where kids can participate in the American tradition of Halloween. It was facinating to see groups of Japanese kids wandering around the military base collecting candy from military families. I had the first week of November off of school (but with plenty of homework), and took the time to see the Treasures of the Imperial Collections special exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum and the Great Port Opening 150th anniversary special exhibition at the Yokohama Art Museum. Joe and I also took a day trip to Hakone, which I'll post more about soon.
The weather has remained pretty warm in Yokohama, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s throughout October. While we're still waiting for fall color, seasonal autumn foods have arrived at the grocery store, including persimmons (above) and nabe (below). Like most grocery stores, ours stocks a variety of nabe (Japanese stew) broths, which we have been methodically trying. We purchased our nabe pot in Kamakura a few weeks back, and have been making the dish once a week. So far we have tried regular, kimchi and creamy tofu sesame flavors, of which regular is my favorite. Veggie nabe is pretty healthy and inexpensive to make; although this recipe includes chicken (an environmental and health hazard) it's easy enough to substitute tofu or wheat gluten. If you aren't aware of the atrocities of eating chicken, click here for a good PBS Frontline video on how farm run-off is killing our waterways and adding to reproductive disorders, cancer, and hormonal problems in children.
Back to studying....
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