Japan

We spent day 5 and 6 in Hakone. We took the Shinkansen from Kyoto. We saw Mt. Fuji from the Shinkansen, which was nice because we were not able to see it from Hakone.

Hakone is an extremely beautiful town, surrounded by gorgeous mountains (our guest house happened to be on top of one, to my dismay). We were able to purchase a pass, which enabled us to use all the boats, cable cars, and trains in the city for one set price. We went to a beautiful garden and art museum, and ate eggs cooked from the steam vents near a volcano’s sulfur pits. Unfortunately, the biggest draw of Hankone is to see an excellent view of Mt. Fuji – and the day we went the weather was too foggy.

Our hotel in Hakone was definitely the nicest – we got ukatas and tea sets, they even had an Onsen! We were treated to a very grand Breakfast and Dinner, which was worth the high price.

It turns out that Hakone is on the same line that I used to use weekly when I lived in Japan – the Odawara line. I recognized all the familiar stops – Odakyu-Sagamihara, Hon-Atsugi, Sagami-Ono, and Machida. I called Kega-San very excited, but we were unable to fit a meeting into both of our schedules. I was a little sad that I could not make it back to see the area I lived so many years ago, but who knows – there is always next time!