On Saturday, June 15th, Myself and 5 of my exchange student friends (Kellie, Matt, Anna, Daniel, and Cash) finally managed to escape the grasp of Tokyo and head out into the countryside/mountains. It was a long day, full of many new sights and experiences, and worth every penny!
This trip required me to wake up earlier than I ever had before since arriving in Japan… 6am! I groggily got up, shambled my way down to the public bath, where I got clean and shaved before getting dressed and meeting my friends at the dorm entrance. We then hopped on the train to Shinjuku to meet up with the girls so we could head out to Hakone. The previous day we had all bought our “Hakone Freepass”, which was definitely not free as we paid $50 each person. The Freepass covered all transportation out to Hakone and back, including trains, cable cars, rope cars, boats, and buses. Because of all that, it’s definitely worth the price. The train ride out to Odawara took about an hour and a half. The journey wasn’t terribly eventful, but after about halfway our group had nearly the whole train car to ourselves, which was a nice change of pace from normal.
At Odawara, we left the station and headed for Odawara Castle. The castle is in great shape and operates as basically a museum/gift shop. Photographs are not allowed inside the castle, so unfortunately I couldn’t take a picture of any of the weaponry or historical artifacts, but I could take pictures of the great view from the top floor of the castle. I particularly enjoyed how the floors were labeled. There was a first floor, a second floor, a third floor, a semi-fourth floor, and a fourth floor. The castle grounds also had a great flower garden area, as well as a place for festivals/events with musical guests (it also had some sad looking monkeys in a cage).
After Odawara we hopped on another train and headed for Hakone. The railway up the mountain was interesting, as it made use of several switchbacks. I caught a few glimpses of the windy, curvy roads for cars/buses to make the ascent on, and it made me REALLY miss my motorcycle. That road would have been the most amazing motorcycle road of all time. After the railway, we next had to take a cable car up a very steep section of the mountain. This was a short ride of maybe 10 minutes, and we soon made it to the next part, the rope cars! The rope cars were amazing, and the view was spectacular. I would not recommend this method of travel for anyone afraid of heights, as we were quite a ways above the forest canopy. For anyone else I would definitely recommend it. After the first summit, we then glided over the sulfur vents region, which was beautiful in its own way after I realized that wasn’t a strip mining operation (which was my first thought upon seeing it).
At the next station we got on our next rope car which would lead us over another forested mountain to our next destination, natural hot springs (温泉/onsen). Our温泉 was located at a resort that has rooms ranging from $150-300 per night per person. For this reason we skipped the overnight stay and simply went for our hot springs experience which only cost $16 a person. The girls and guys groups split up into our separate温泉 areas and we stripped naked, washed up at the showers, and then got in. The water felt amazing, and the experience was extremely relaxing, especially as I was sore from working out the night before. On a sunny day, we would have been able to see Mt. Fuji from our 温泉. Unfortunately, we had a cloudy day instead. There was a fun bit of awkwardness when I climbed out of the springs, and my friends were getting ready to get out, when the female employee showed up to get things set up for a meeting of some sort. She had trouble sliding the door open, and I felt like she might not have appreciated a fully nude American man helping her fix the door, so I just stood there waiting until she figured it out and then did what she had to do. She must have liked what she saw, because she came back in a few minutes later to do something else. After she left the 2nd time, I quickly went back out to the温泉 to snap a photo.
After our relaxing soak in the hot springs, we reunited with the ladies and headed to our final rope car destination, Lake Ashinoko. Lake Ashinoko is a huge, blue, beautiful lake surrounded by forested mountains. Small boats are rentable from the harbor there, but we opted to use our Freepass again and take the pirate ship out to the other side. The journey was very relaxing and beautiful. On the side of the lake we could see temples, golf courses, traditional Japanese buildings, and a whole lot of trees. The small food stand inside the boat was interesting as well. You could buy Mt. Fuji beer, Mt. Fuji Kit-Kats (blueberry cheesecake flavored, very tasty!), other assorted Mt. Fuji ‘flavored’ items, and Ritz Crackers.
After enjoying the short cruise, we headed into the small town (Moto-Hakone) at the far side of the lake to get a bite to eat. We opted for a traditional, family-run Udon/Soba/other noodle shop. Upon entering, the mother offered us a place in the standard seating section. We insisted on sitting on the tatami mats in traditional Japanese style instead. This was a decision I frequently regretted during the meal. The traditional way of sitting in this type of setting is called the seiza position. The rest of my friends and I are incapable of doing this for more than a few minutes. However, they can all comfortably sit in other positions, like cross-legged. I, on the other hand, wasn’t able to find *any* comfortable position and had to switch every minute or two. Not the easiest way to eat a meal.
After eating, we walked over to our final sightseeing destination of the day, Hakone Shrine. I’m not particularly religious, but the experience was still great. We took a roundabout path to enter the shrine, rather than the main entrance, which lead to us coming upon the main building of the shrine fairly suddenly without any warning. The fountains, statues, and architecture were really a sight to behold. Everything seemed to have symbolic and religious value, from the dragon fountains, to the gates and walkways. People frequently come to these temples to leave prayers or wishes on small wooden plaques in front of the temple. I particularly liked one that was pretty clearly written by a young child. I don’t know what this kid wished for, but I hope it works out. Before leaving the temple, we headed out to the lakeside gate, where we took a lot of pictures.
After visiting the temple we wandered around for a few hours in Moto-Hakone. We stopped by a convenience store and got some food and drinks. A stray cat came running over to us when we sat down by the lake. She wouldn’t let us pet her, but she did appreciate Kellie feeding her a bag full of potato chips. The fog was rolling in, and the town was pretty deserted, so we let our minds focus on horror movies and zombie stories while we waited for the last bus of the night to arrive. We got on the bus and most of our group fell asleep until we made it back to Odawara station. From there it was another long train ride back to Shinjuku. By the time we got back into Tokyo, we had to catch what was nearly the very last train of the night in order to make it back to Hiyoshi and our dorm. It was a long, full, interesting day.
Fin. Casey
