Hakone

We arrived in Tokyo around 7ish Wednesday evening, and found our way easily to Jamie's flat opposite the Russian embassy, for 6 nights of free loading (see Tokyo entry). The plan was to head out early the next day for an overnight stay in the Hakone area unencumbered by our bags.



Hakone is a large, geothermically active area, with mountains, a lake, and plenty of onsens (Japanese natural hot spas). Mount Fuji looms over the area, although you need a particularly clear day to see it; we saw its silhouette from the train, but that was the last of it for that day.


















After arranging accommodation through the tourist office in Yumoto, we boarded the switchback train to take us up the mountain to Gora. From here a fairly long funicular takes you to the first cable car station. My plan was to start hiking from here, but Kirsten overruled, and we took the cable car to Owakudani first. As the car comes over the ridge, you are presented with a view of a scared mountainside, devoid of life due to the toxic gases spewing from the earth. From here we hiked up the hill, through some very sickly looking trees. Every few minutes we past signs warning of the toxic gases, and to get off the mountain ASAP if the siren started – the eye stinging and stench of rotten eggs was bad enough already. We hiked for 90 minutes (and saw no one after the first 20) to a peak that I hoped would give us great view of mount Fuji – we couldn't even work out what direction it was meant to be in.














The plan was to hike the remaining hour or so to the Komagatake ropeway, then get this down to Lake Ashi. However, after a well marked and obvious path up, the route down quickly became tough going, and at times we found ourselves in muddy ravines with six foot banks. Only the sight of the occasional footprint convinced us we were going in the right direction. Safely down, and after some bus catching incompetence we made it to our hotel, where I dined on two cartons of mirco-chips from a vending machine (they were really bad).



Japan is famed for its onsens, so we decided to spend the next morning in a large complex across the road. This place (in Kowaki-en if you fancy it), is onsen meets Butlins - tacky, but fun. There's a coffee onsen, plus a green tea, and a red wine one. Each had a sign warning you not to drink the water, but in the interests of scientific discovery I had a go – while the coffee smelt of coffee the taste was altogether different. Other notable areas were the Dead sea Bath and Rodeo mountain, with slides for 32 year old kids. But the oddest thing there, was a small pool full off little fish. You sit on the side, dangle you feet in, then cringe uncontrollably as fifty fish descend on you and start picking dead skin off your feet. It's not a nice feeling, but the Japanese seemed completely unphased by it. We chicken out of a second go.




After lunch we got a bus back down to the lake, where mount Fuji had decided to make a brief, if somewhat hazy, appearance. The transport up the lake is by way of mock pirate ship (I was pleased to see Coity on the map of Britain). By the time we'd boarded the cable car back to Owakudani, Fuji had all but disappeared, leaving us only with postcards of “here's what it looks like on a (rare) clear day”.