The interminable transport (and terrific onsen!) of Hakone, Japan

TUJ was good enough to subsidize a trip for the class to visit Hakone, which is a two-hour train ride from Tokyo and famous for its mountain views and hot springs, and in my opinion, infamous for its tricky transportation situation. The day consisted of a crowded two-hour train ride to Hakone, a 40-minute slow-moving train which moved back and forth to get up the mountain. Usually I like the recommendations of the online Japan Guide but it is neither a "spectacular mountain train line" nor a "treat."

After the treat, we went on cable car rides totalling another 20 minutes, followed by a half-hour ride on a pirate ship (yes, a pirate ship) and another 20 minute bus ride back to the train station for the two-hour ride back home. Yup. So if anyone is planning on doing a trip to Hakone, I would recommend staying overnight or just not going at all. While many of the sights were pretty, there was nothing there that absolutely took my breath away, though perhaps it was because it was a kind of cloudy day when we visited.

First stop was Odawara Castle, which was originally built in 1495, but reconstructed only in 1960. Thus, it's a little disappointing and antiseptic inside, with a yawnfest museum with old armor, weapons, clothing, and the like. On one of the floors are photos of all the castles in Japan, which was a bit disheartening to see other castles that were probably nicer than the one you were standing in! The top floor had an observation deck that would have been interesting if they hadn't decided to erect a photography inhibiting fence for safety's sake. Yeesh.

Thank goodness it's sakura (cherry blossom) season, so the presence of the beautiful trees really redeemed what could have been a pretty disappointing visit. I've been able to take so many beautiful shots of the sakura so I will save my further descriptions for yet another post. And yes, that is in fact a real elephant that shares a home on the grounds of Odawara Castle with some peacocks and other exotic birds. Very strange. You could also rent kimono or samurai costumes. Check out these happy guys in their Triforce samurai get-ups! I was pretty amused to find the Triforce symbol on everything at Odawara Castle, but later found out that it is based on the symbol of the Hojo clan, which claims that the triangles represent the scales of a Shinto dragon.


























After the cable car ride, we visited Owakudani, the home of the hot springs, where the air smells faintly of rotten eggs due to the sulphur emanating from the mountainside. Capitalizing on the smell, you can visit the food vendors outside of the cable car, who sell hard boiled eggs that have been cooked in the hot springs. Because of the mineral content of the water, the shells have turned black, but the egg ... well, it tastes like a normal egg. But it is said that the eggs are supposed to extend your life by seven years, so I had to give it a shot. I only ate half an egg, but 3.5 years ain't bad either, I guess. The area around Owakudani can be seen below. While it is said that you can see Mt. Fuji on a clear day from the lookout spot, it was cloudy, so alas we did not get our view of Fuji-san, as they call it here in Japan. We saw a faint outline of Fuji-san when we took the ride in the pirate ship, so it was gratifying to get at least a little taste of what the large mountain looks like!






Our ship awaits! It started to get really windy at this point, so it was nice to sit below deck like a true landlubber and keep warm. Wow, I really am sounding cynical, ain't I, mateys? Yarrr!

But wait! Thar it is, the faint outline of Fuji-san! See it, there!

By far the best part of our visit was a trip to the onsen (温泉), the public hot springs bath. Hakone is known for its onsen due to the volcanic activity, which naturally heats the water. Onsen are very popular in Japan, and while I was a bit shy to walk around and bathe stark naked, it was definitely a terrific experience. (And yes, the onsen is segregated by gender!) The onsen we visited had an indoor hot tub, a sauna, two individual hot bubbling baths outdoors and a larger outdoor jacuzzi-type bath as well as a cooler bath and a bench for lounging between dips.

There is a strict regimen at the onsen. First, you take your shoes off and place them in a locker. Then you buy your ticket for the baths and collect your towel and get a key to another locker. That's where you strip down! If you think this is when you jump right into the baths, you are wrong. The Japanese scrub themselves clean before heading into the water, so there are individual stations for soaping down, lathering up, and scrubbing away. It is only after completing the cleaning ritual that you can hit the tubs. It was an incredibly relaxing experience to sit outside in the hot water and breathe in the mountain air and it (almost) allowed me forget the hours of the day spent on some form of transportation or another.