Mt Fuji Panarama - Not

Tuesday, October 08, 2024
Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan
Tuesday 8th October warm morning 23C and heavy cloud deteriorating to rain and cold 13C early afternoon. 
Our day began with a traditional Japanese breakfast, I enjoyed the soft boiled egg, the miso soup and the coffee. There were steamed vegetables, oily fish with rice, green tea and a variety of other small dishes with chicken, fish and pickled vegetables, not quite the usual cereal and toast.
We caught the 8.35 bus to Lake Ashi and although the forecast was for rain it was still fine just cloudy. Our first new adventure was the Hakone ropeway. This is what we would typically call an aerial cable car, however it's called a ropeway here and I can assure you there is no rope involved. Just huge cables two at the top of each car. These take around 16 small people, but as we were early with few crowds our car was 1/2 full. It is necessary to get off and change direction at a small town near the crest of the mountain, then onto its final destination of Sounzan. 
At the changeover you are hit with the smell of Sulphur, the towns around here all have thermal pools but where we are staying there is no smell. This trip takes around 30 mins.
Once we were off the aerial cable car we hop onto the next form of transport which is a 2 carriage cable car called the Hakone Tozan Cable Car. This is very similar to the one in Wellington NZ. It takes us down a steep incline into the town of Gora that's another 10min trip. 
From Gora to our destination of Hakone-Yumoto we hop onto the Hakone Tozen Train. This is a significant trip which has 3 switchbacks where driver swaps ends of the train and exits on a different line. It turns some sharp bends on its journey down to Hakone and it would be particularly pretty during summer with hydrangeas lining a lot of the tracks. The train is often referred to as the Hydrangea Train. This takes us around 40mins with many stops.
We eventually arrive back at Hakone where our train pulled in from Tokyo yesterday.  There are many tourist shops selling cakes and biscuits.  One in particular caught our eye as they were baked like a donut machine in front of you. Very tasty.
After, we find a coffee to wash down the cake, then we are off to see the Hakone Open Air Museum.   This was at the 2nd stop when we got onto the train, so we are now going to reverse our journey.
The Museum is very well set out with many art installations. We try to see most but the rain begins after about an hour and it becomes unpleasant. 
We continue our journey back on the cable cars and are amused when the commentary suggests we look to our right to view Mt Fuji. All we can see is cloud, thick and we are up in it.
As we board the bus for the short ride back to our accommodation the rain begins to ease and we hop off one stop early to visit the Sengokuhara Pampas Grass Fields.
There is a one way track leading up the side of the hill with the Pampas grasses towering over the pathway. Yesterday there were crowds walking up and back, today we are the only 2 making the trip. The grasses are 7ft or more high and we disturb some pheasants as we wander past. Just as we complete the round trip the rain starts, back on the bus and we are in our room in minutes.
Our Ryokan room has its own private hot bath and it's perfect to warm us up after our day out. We have a delicious dinner, not nearly as filling as last night. I decided to taste the wine but perhaps the glasses are washed with fish? Who knows everything smells and tastes of fish!
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