There's Nothing Like a Mountainside Train Ride in Haokne!

We checked out of our hotel in Kyoto at 7:30am and headed for the train station. Our plan today was to head to Hakone and (hopefully) get to see Mount Fuji. Luckily, Hakone is only a few hours away from Kyoto by train. We used our Japanese rail passes to take a bullet train once again. The ride today was about 3 hours in total, as we had to switch trains once. Before we even arrived in Hakone, we had already spotted Mount Fuji! We had some great views right from the train.

Perhaps our best view of Mt. Fuji from the shinkansen.

Once we arrived at the train station in Hakone, we had to take a bus to get to the hotel. We arrived at the Ryokan Shunkoso around 12pm, and because it was too early to check in, we left our bags at the hotel and headed out to explore Hakone.

In order to get anywhere in town, we had to head back to the train station that we had just left! Instead of taking the bus, we walked down part of the mountain and jumped on the train that went up the side of the mountain. The train ride was about 45 minutes long as the train stitched up the mountain (went back and forth). Once we arrived at the train station, we had to get into a cable car in order to go up the mountain even further.

Tabitha prepares for the Hakone cable car ride.

James, Erin and Tabitha (in her backpack carrying spot) on the cable car.

The Hakone cable car high above the sulfur mines near Mt. Fuji.

As we headed for the cable car, we noticed the distinct unpleasant smell of sulfur. Our tour guide explained to us that there are a lot sulfur springs in the area, and it fills the air. He also explained to us that Hakone is known for its “black” eggs. The eggs are boiled in sulfuric water and they turn black. Before taking the cable car up the mountain, we decided to try the eggs. Supposedly, if you eat one egg, you “earn” an extra 7 years of life. We'll see about that...

Who dares brave the black sulfur egg?

It's no surprise - James gives it a try.  It was quite good.

We took 2 separate cable car rides up the mountain before reaching our final destination. We were lucky enough to see Mount Fuji from cable car and the top of the mountain, so we were pretty happy!

Tabitha with Mt. Fuji visible in the distance.

After our viewing session, we boarded a pirate ship! No, really, we did (but think Disney pirates, not present-day). At the bottom of the mountain, in the Fuji-Hakone-izu National Park, there is a beautiful lake and we crossed it via a pirate ship. During the ride, we also enjoyed some last minute views of the mountains.

Prepare to set sail!

Another view of Mt. Fuji across Ashinoko lake.

On

One more spectacular view across Ashinoko lake.

We finished our time in the park around 4pm and caught a bus back to our ryokan. We finally checked in, and weren't sure what to expect. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel. We knew it would probably be similar to our experience in the monastery, because that was traditional as well. Again, we were sleeping on the floor in a room covered with tatami mats. The rooms have a heater in them, but the rest of the building is not heated, so it tends to get a little cold. The ryokan provided us with Yukata (traditional Japanese robes) for us to wear around. The hotel also had sulphuric hot spring onsens. After having tried them once in Koyasan, we weren't scared of them anymore.

We had dinner together in the ryokan, and like our experience with the monks, we at a shojin-ryori style dinner.  It featured fresh sashimi (sushi) directly off the fish, and some other sashimi that had been treated with lime juice (really, fresh lime slices) in the ceviche style of South America.  Most of our tour declined the sashimi, leaving James and our tour guide Brett to eat the lion's share.

A view of part of the traditional meal, with pickled vegetables in the forefront.

Sashimi sushi can't get much fresher than eating it directly off the fish!

After dinner, there wasn't much to do, so everyone in our tour group decided to hangout together and watch a movie on someone's laptop.  It was fun to relax, and we ended up making it a pretty late night together. Soon, we'll be in Tokyo, and we cannot wait!

Finally, we've noticed a lot of traffic coming from Japan in the last couple of days.  Konichiwa to everyone joining us from the Land of the Rising Sun!