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| Hakone |
With the coming of fall comes the call to go outside and enjoy the decent weather before winter arrives.
This year, we decided to go see Hakone. We went once in the middle of winter, and subsequently saw very little of the area. This time, it was near the beginning of October, and the weather was fantastic.
The leaves were no where near changing, but you still could feel autumn in the air.
Below, I offer a mini guide to some of the things you can do.
About Hakone
The number one fact that shocked me about Hakone is that the entire thing, like Yellowstone National Park, is on top of a caldera. While I was assured the volcano hasn't erupted in thousands of years, I was not assured.
That being said, because it's on top of a caledera, there are tons of natural hot springs for you to enjoy, and there's even a cable car that takes you to some spots that will remind you of Yellowstone with steam rising into the air all around you.
Most Japanese love going to Hakone for its nature and for its hot springs.
Getting to Hakone
My personal recommendation is just to drive there. It's entirely possible to get there by train and to go around on foot or by bus, but when everything is spaced out and everything closes by 5pm, a car really comes in handy.
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| One of the trails available |
Hakone is great for all of its little hiking courses. We chose one from a Japanese guidebook, and it started off amazingly enough. It was this path made up of stones through the woods, and then suddenly it comes up to a freeway, and you're walking alongside passing cars. For the first ten minutes or so, though, the trail was fantastic. We went back to our car, drove up that freeway, and saw that the trail dipped back into patches of forest every now and then. So I think the best way to enjoy this particular path is half walking, half car. There were parking lots along the way for your car.
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| Hakone Shrine |
Just because Hakone is on top of what would appear to still be an active volcano doesn't mean there's no ancient shrine to enjoy. You can see one part of it in the first photo I put in this post, and here's a photo of the top of a massive set of stairs you have to climb to reach the main point of the shrine. As you can see from the line, it appears to be a really popular shrine.
If you're into shrines and getting your goshuin, then I recommend going here. Otherwise, it's a shrine you'd see anywhere else. It's worth going down to the lake to see the shrine's entrance right up against the water (photo opportunities galore) but that's about it for those mildly interested in shrines.
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| The pirate ship |
I saw this ship in the Japanese guidebook and completely glazed over the part that said "it's a pirate ship knockoff." I was under some hopefully deluded impression that it was an old, wooden ship you could actually ride on. There's such a ship docked in Minato Mirai in Yokohama, and I've always wanted to take a ride on it. Now was my chance.
So imagine my grand disappointment to realize that this is a ship made of plastic, and it has fake pirate stuff all over the place.
The good news is that you can take a boat trip that literally lasts 10 minutes and costs less than 400 yen on this thing, which is what we did. It was enough time to take photos (which is how I got that first photo in this post) and enjoy the scenery, and not enough time to realize just how cheesy the whole ship was.
There are, of course, longer courses available, and if you like cheesy stuff or have little kids with you who love pirates, then that's be worth it. If you just want to take a few photos from the lake without paying a fortune for a boat, take the 10 minute trip.
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| Climbing up to see more susuki |
I didn't know what these stalks were (wheat??) but it turns out they're called susuki, which is roughly translated to "silver grass" or "Japanese pampas grass." I'd never seen anything quite like it, so visiting a hillside covered in them was quite the sight to behold. There's a path available (for free) that takes you up the hillside right among the susuki.
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| Photo opportunities abound on the trail |
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| Lounge of the Hyatt Regency Hakone |
Having some tea
After all of your hiking, photo taking and riding fake pirate ships, there's no better time to sit down and have a nice cup of tea. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready for that, it was past 5pm, and everything in Hakone shuts down around then.
Fortunately, we managed to find a hotel with a lounge that offers tea well past 5pm. The Hyatt Regency in Hakone.
I thought they wouldn't let us into their lounge because we weren't hotel guests, but the entire staff treated us like we were, and while we parked our car, the staff member manning the front door had already called the lounge to alert them of our presence, and we had a table and waiter on hand by the time we got down to the lounge. It was all impressive staff work.
The lounge was truly magnificent. If there was snow, I imagine you would never want to leave there, with its wooden interior, glowing fireplace and wall-high glass windows. The place was made for enjoying a hot cup of tea while looking out at the snow falling outside. It was peaceful enough for us in the beginning of October, so I hate to imagine December or January. We'd probably still be there, trapped in our extremely comfortable chairs, asking for another round of tea.
As we left (the bill, by the way, was astronomical for two orders of tea and one order of sandwiches...but such is the Hyatt Regency), the staff outside seemed concerned that we wanted to leave.
"You'd like to leave...now?" said the staff member to us.
"Um, yes," I said.
Was this like a hotel of the damned, where you could never leave? Maybe that was why it'd been so comfortable - to render you unable to leave.
The staff member fiddled with his hands while he looked out into the darkness beyond the hotel. He had a look of deep distress on his face.
"Ok, well you can go to your car quickly, but please be careful. There's an inoshishi out there."
"A what?" I said.
The staff member struggled for the English.
"A...um...a wild boar. Big one."
Oh.
He guided us to our car in the parking garage as we saw two larger staff members trying to dissuade the wild boar from making itself at home near the hotel.
