SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2023

A PEEK AT MOUNT FUJI AND ONSEN REJUVENATION

Today we left Kyoto for our last ride on the Shinkansen, heading to the hot springs town of Hakone outside of Tokyo.

I have to admit, I was starting to look forward to Shinkansen station Japanese Starbucks. 😄 Never did try the Starbucks Cola or Melon Melon though.

At one point on the train as we were getting close to Hakone, there were gasps and oohs and has coming from the other side. Apparently people were seeing Mt. Fuji!

I got up and walked to the window of the door area, and almost fell over as it was not what I was expecting.

My only knowledge and expectation of Mt. Fuji came from the famous Hokusai “Great Wave” woodblock print. And in that, Mt. Fuji is distant and tiny. That was what I was expecting to see when Mt. Fuji was on our itinerary.

Instead, this is what I saw out the window:

Even in this grainy window photo it’s pretty jaw-dropping

Really incredible!

Arriving in Hakone, we met a bus driver who would take us to our first stop: the Hakone Ropeway.

Other side of the world, but this felt like such a similar vibe to Aguas Calientes, the base town for Machu Picchu – also a hot springs town.

The Hakone Ropeway is a gondola sky ride that passes Mt. Fuji, offering a great view on a clear day. There were a lot of clouds that day, so we were iffy, but ended up being able to see the faintest outline. The ride was fun (though harrowing for a few non-heights-loving people), and took us to Owakudani, a crater formed during the last eruption of Mount Hakone 3000 years ago.

You can kiiiind of see Mt. Fuji’s outline - tough between the clouds and the window reflection. Definitely there, though. Hiding.

Getting to the crater, we had some time to walk around and see the view as well as a very large gift shop haha. The whole area smells of sulfur as it is still an active volcanic zone made up of hot springs, hot rivers, and sulfurous fumes.

Owakudani is know for its eggs cooked in the hot spring pools, their shells blackened by the sulfur, and eating one is said to prolong your life by seven years. Helen took one for the team! And said, not surprisingly, that it tasted no different from any other hard boiled egg.

Not every day you see a volcano safety sign

Mt. Fuji hiding behind a cloud, though you can see the snowy peak peeking out a little. I waited for a little while hoping the cloud would move, but no luck. Still, so majestic!

Our bus driver met us at Owakudani, and drove us to the ryokan where we’d be staying the night.

Ryokans are traditional Japanese-style inns that are found a lot around hot springs areas, some big with hundreds of rooms, some smaller like a B&B. The rooms are usually very simple with tatami mat floors and futon-style beds, and you’re expected to take your shoes off and wear the provided slippers around.

In Hakone (and other hot springs areas), ryokans are also known for their onsen, hot springs baths that are either communal or private. Nakedness is mandatory so I can’t say I was ecstatic about the big group bath, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this ryokan offered private outdoor onsens in each room.

One interesting note is that tattoos are typically forbidden in communal onsens, because they’re associated with the Japanese mafia. (They’re frowned upon across Japan in general for that reason, though in non-traditional places they’re understanding of tourists coming from different cultures.) But I can’t help but wonder if that’s why Flash Pack decided on this particular ryokan with the private baths. I don’t have any tats, but a lot of people on the trip did, so I’m sure they were relieved to get to enjoy the relaxing hot springs regardless.

Getting to my room, it was late afternoon and we had a few hours before dinner. I dropped my luggage, checked out the room, and almost immediately went outside to enjoy the natural hot spring onsen. The outside air was cool, the water temperature was absolutely perfect, and I settled down in the bath to relax with my book for a couple of hours. It was honestly bliss.

It’s tradition to wash yourself with the outdoor shower before getting in the onsen

It’s pretty typical at a ryokan to have a traditional Japanese dinner, and this was no exception. So after I convinced myself to get out of that rejuvenating hot springs water (a tough sell), I met the group at the communal restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised to see that in addition to the expected variety of seafood and other kaiseki delicacies, there were plenty of meat and veggie options as well.

The part of the meal I ate was shabu-shabu, which is where you cook your own very thinly sliced meat and vegetables in a boiling broth. (The name comes from the sound – "swish swish" – when the ingredients are stirred in the cooking pot.) It was really delicious, and nice to have a meal I could eat and enjoy! I even tried a bite of fish – the whole cooked bream that’s a specialty of the ryokan.

A very fun evening with (most of) the group! There was a group of four that went off and had a lot of their meals throughout the trip by themselves for whatever reason. A little odd, but their loss!