Hakone - Day 1

A short hour-and-a-half to two-hour drive outside of Tokyo is the town of Hakone. This town is known for its hot springs and a type of woodwork called yosegi-zaiku. Hakone is close enough for an overnight trip, which is what we did January 19th to the 20th. We left in the morning and arrived around lunchtime. We stayed at The Prince Hotel Hakone, right on Lake Ashi. After a quick lunch, we walked to the shore and took in the beauty. And Addison loved all the swan paddle boats standing at the ready.

We found that the public transportation system runs infrequently in this area. So, we returned to the car and drove to the Hakone Shrine. This shrine includes an "Ancient Cedar Tree Avenue", a 2-km (1.24 mile) stretch of towering cedars planted in 1618 and a "floating" Torii in Lake Ashi.























From the shrine we drove to nearby Hakone-machi and took a "pirate" ship across the lake. It was chilly so we stayed inside during the trip.














When we arrived at Togendai on the other side, we transfered to the Hakone Ropeway. This station and the entire facility seemed very new. The Ropeway gave us partially-obscured-by-clouds views of Mt. Fuji and views of "ham" too.

Here's the ham.

Exiting the Ropeway station at Togendai we could see the mountain exhaling its steam.
Addison has developed (and we've fostered) a love for Hello Kitty (Kitty-chan). Kitty-chan is everywhere. This country really loves her. And each area dresses her in a way that symbolizes what the area is famous for.

Addison with kuroi tamago (black egg) Kitty-chan.

Addison with yosegi-zaiku Kitty-chan.

Ian captured this gorgeous view of Mt. Fuji and the Ropeway.
Togendai is famous for its volcanic hot springs and that's what we were there to see. There were many warnings along the path. Such as "A lot of injurious volcanic gas are drifting around" and "Please don't stop and stay here long". Yikes, a little scary. A short walk up the mountain side brought us to an open spring, where the steam poured out. The water was not clear, but milky in appearance. And yes, it's a sulfur spring, so it smells like a sulfur spring. Someone, sometime (probably) long ago, decided to hard-boil eggs in this spring. The result is a hard-boiled egg with a black shell. The inside is the same as any other hard-boiled egg. According to lore, eating one egg gives you an additional seven years of life. Two eggs - 14 years! After two eggs though, there's no benefit. :P




















We bought a half-dozen eggs (the smallest quantity) and headed back to the Ropeway station. In the Ropeway car Addison announced she was hungry. Kuroi tamago was the only snack to be had. She tried them! We all had some and hopefully, will live longer for the experience.

Addison holding tightly to the black egg.

Ian poses with his black egg.

The sun was beginning to fade as we went back down the Ropeway to catch another pirate ship back across the lake.


One last look at the floating Torii from the boat.
We ended our day with dinner out and then a trip to the onsen (a special bath, we told Addison) at the hotel before bed.