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.