A very long travel day to get from here to there. We are heading back towards Tokyo, in anticipation of our flights home in a few days, so had to traverse much of Japan today. The first train, from Hiroshima to Shin-Osaka was 90 minutes long and since we hadn’t reserved a seat, we had to stand most of the way, and the aisles were crowded. Made more difficult with large backpacks and suitcases, we were glad when that leg ended and we had seats reserved on the next train — 2 1/2 hours to Odawara.
Because Hakone is in the mountains and off the main line we had a choice of a public bus or a hotel shuttle, but had to wait for the latter at the Odawara station. It was well worth it, as the route climbed up from sea level to about 2,500 feet through the Hakone Pass and along mountain ridges. This road would give the Road to Hana a run for the title of most curves, but adding the elevation gain made it even more of an amazing journey. And occasionally through the trees you could catch sight of Mt. Fuji!
Notoriously shrouded in a layer of clouds, it was bright and sunny and the top of the elusive mountain was in full view for the entirety of the later afternoon/evening of light. Our hotel is right on Lake Ashi, the southern end of the lake with a straight on view of the mountain. There are views throughout the region, some better than others (our view has a smaller mountain in front which takes away from the main one just a bit). Tomorrow we will chase down some additional views and visit the town of Hakone, on the north shore of the lake, and probably take a cable car or bus or whatever other tourist views are recommended. I’m so looking forward to some mountain time.
We had a teppan-yaki dinner in the hotel which was excellent, and had an interesting chat with a couple from Tokyo about our time in Japan. It’s lucky that their English was quite good, as despite my best efforts I’m still limited to about 10 phrases in Japanese!
