Today was a reminder that a flexible mindset is key to staying positive during travel. For months prior to our departure I had planned the FUCK out of this day trip out of Tokyo, so on the surface this day looks like a failure.
Early in our travel planning I learned about Hakone as a popular option. There were several YouTube videos and online resources for the beautiful area, detailing the variety of experiences and transportation options for the day. japan-guide.com had my favorite video and blog post and helped me craft our plans.
So we set off early on this day for a journey that I was excited about. We’d move about on trains, busses, a cable car, a tram, and even a pirate ship. We’d walk through a forest, walk on a mountainous volcanic area, and sail on a lake. We’d drink local beer, buy local handicrafts, hike a historic pathway, and (fingers crossed) get an epic view of Mt. Fuji.
We had bought our Hakone Freepass and Romance Car upgrade tickets the previous day at Shinjuku Station at the Odakyu counter for an 8:30 am departure. The pass included all of the transportation for the day, covered some of our activity costs, and gave us discounts on other things we planned to see and do. Some blogger (I need to do a better job of recording who my sources are during planning) had suggested not booking the return ticket ahead of time to maintain flexibility. This was such an excellent tip, for a reason I did not anticipate!
The 80-minute train ride was super enjoyable. Large window to enjoy the scenery, ekiben and snacks, laptop time, and knitting time.
At the exit of Hakone-Yumoto Station we came upon this lovely river and were happy to breathe in some fresh nature air!
As a popular domestic and foreign traveler destination, the signage, staffing, and organization at the Hakone-Yumoto Station was excellent. We found our “K” route bus quite easily to head to our first area destination – Hatajuku, known for their wood marquetry handicrafts called Yosegi Zaiku.
I say “area” but Hatajuku was just a lovely little street, and only one of the stores was open (as far as I could tell). Despite the popularity of the Hakone area, we seemed to be the only tourists in this little hamlet. The store we entered was two-thirds workshop and one-third shop; clearly the items in the shop were hyperlocal. The pieces they were selling were plentiful and gorgeous. If we led a normal life on a normal trajectory I could have spent a lot of money in there. Instead I purchased a small keychain in the form of Mt. Fuji, thinking it would be a lovely, meaningful, functional souvenir of the day I saw the great mountain.
From Hatajuku one could join the Old Tokaido Road trail to hike down to the lakefront, and that was the plan. A 3-mile walk on the Edo-period road that joined then-capital Kyoto with then- and now-business center and port of Tokyo. As we headed toward the entry point it started to sprinkle, but it was hot and we live in Seattle so we were not deterred. I was thinking this would be a great preview of possibly a future multi-day hiking trip?
I don’t know how much of this historic road/current trail looks like the point at which we entered, but our section started with large, uneven boulders with a fair amount of moss and an upward slope. Add worsening rain and this was a slippery obstacle course. I sometimes refer to Scott as a mountain goat because of how sure-footed he is, but even he was slipping and sliding. It was like ice. We made it about 50-feet on the mild upward slope of our entry point and I said HELL NAH. This was a fall waiting to happen, possibly with an injury. We could either go back down the 50 feet or continue up maybe another 50 feet to the next exit point. It felt safer to go up.
Our exit from the trail was at a 2-lane, curving mountain road without a shoulder. By this time it was pouring rain. We scampered back down the road to the point in Hatajuku in which we had disembarked the bus earlier. We waited about 10 minutes in the pouring rain for the next bus and took it down to Motohakone on the shore of Lake Ashi.
We got off the bus and scurried through the rain to Bakery & Table. We enjoyed tasty coffees and pastries in a warm, dry environment with a lovely picture-window view of Lake Ashi. It was pissing and gray, but we could still see the famous torii gate from our seat and it was a vibe that I just adore.
During our time in Bakery & Table the rain had subsided but the visibility across the lake and up towards Mt. Fuji remained very poor. We had planned to get on a sightseeing cruise from Motohakone, but noted we hadn’t seen any of the famous (and silly but that’s OK) pirate ships come into the dock while we were at the coffee shop. We could have looked for an alternative transportation option towards Togendai Station for our cable car ride up to Owakudani, but given the visibility issue it just didn’t seem worth it. So we decided to cut our losses. I even used the phrase “sunk cost fallacy” to Scott. #personalfinancenerdalert
Before heading back to towards the train station, we did enjoy a stroll along the shopping street in Motohakone. Scott found himself a little snacky snack at food cart called Dandy Kitchen – kind of a Spanish/Japanese fusion of churro balls in local flavors. Also, he likes the word “dandy”, because he’s an 87-year old man trapped in a 47-year old’s body.
We hopped on a bus back to Hakone-Yumoto Station with guidance from one of staff at the bus depot. At the Station we picked up our return train ticket for a 2:30 pm departure back to Shinjuku Station (yay flexibility!).
When we return to Tokyo in the future, during a season other than summer FOR SURE, we plan to spend a couple of nights in Hakone. Even though we didn’t get to do most of the planned activities for today, we saw enough to know that a short stay would be super enjoyable. We will get back on that Old Tokaido Road trail, we will get on that cheesy pirate ship, we will ride the gondola, and we will get an epic view of Fuji-san.
Back in Tokyo we found our way to Tokyo Aleworks and enjoyed excellent burgers and beers.
Afterwards we made sure our last night in Tokyo included visiting the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station to enjoy the illuminated architecture.
Tomorrow we head to Kyoto. Seven nights in Tokyo and we barely scratched any sort of surface. We will be back, and we will figure out how to stay for a month or more. A most excellent and intriguing first impression.
Kjar-ied Away 