20 February 2013, Wednesday
I had an early start to the day today. After a surprisingly good night’s sleep in my tiny pod, I woke up at 5:30am, packed my things and checked out of my Shinjuku Green capsule hotel an hour later. I then had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s before walking to Shinjuku train station at 7am.
After the train pulled in at the platform and all the guests disembarked, I observed how the workers tidied up the train in a systematic, machine-like manner. The Japanese are well-known for their efficiency and trains in Japan are famous for arriving and departing like clockwork. After the cleaning was done, one of the workers pushed a button and the seats rotated 180 degrees to face the direction of outgoing travel. It was my first time witnessing this so I was very amazed by the rotating seats. How brilliant!
For my trip to Hakone, I purchased a 2-day Hakone Free Pass, which provides unlimited use of Odakyu-affiliated buses, trains, boats, cableways and ropeways in the Hakone area and discounted admission to selected tourist attractions. As of March 2013, the Hakone Free Pass cost JPY 5,000 (S$68). However, there was a Chinese New Year promotion at the time of my visit so I got it at a special price of only JPY 4,100 (S$55.76).
The Hakone Free Pass includes a round trip ticket for the Odakyu line from Shinjuku, but it is for local or express trains only. I opted to pay an additional JPY 870 (S$11.83) for the Romance Car, which is a limited express train with reserved seating. The 78km journey to Hakone would take around 80 minutes on the Romance Car compared to 120 minutes on the regular train. The Romance Car also comes with plush, reclining seats so it is more comfortable than the bench-type seating on the regular train. You can find out more about the differences here.
At 7:28am, my Odakyu Limited Express Romance Car departed promptly from Shinjuku. After a zippy ride, I arrived at Hakone-Yumoto station at 9:01am. From there, I took the #3 bus to my accommodation, alighting at the Senkyoro-mae stop. The bus ride took 26 minutes and I arrived at Fuji-Hakone Guest House at about 10am.
Fuji-Hakone Guest House (click here) is a minshuku, or a family-run establishment offering home-style accommodation. It is less luxurious (and cheaper) than a ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese inn offering luxury accommodation. For my one night stay, I paid JPY 5,925 (S$80.58) for a single room, exclusive of meals.
Besides the favourable price, the other reason I chose Fuji-Hakone Guest House is because it is equipped with a private onsen. The indoor onsen is included in the room rate but you can also pay JPY 500 to use the outdoor onsen for 30 minutes. The hot spring comes directly from Owakudani Volcano.
As the official check-in time was 3pm, I could not access my room yet so I deposited my bag at the lobby before heading out again. Everywhere I turned, it was winter wonderland. There was heavy snowfall the day before so all the trees and plants were covered with a thick coat of snow. However, the roads here were free of snow so it wasn’t totally white like what I experienced at Yumoto-Onsen in Nikko two days earlier, but it was still magical to see so much snow around.
A few days earlier, my university hostel mate WC reached out to me on Facebook when he saw that I was in Tokyo. He was also in Japan, touring around before taking part in the Tokyo Marathon on 24 February. Coincidentally, he was also visiting Hakone and our dates overlapped. He was staying at a hotel in Gora so we arranged to meet there today.
From my guest house, I took the “S” line bus to Gora train station, arriving about 20 minutes later. I didn’t have any trouble meeting up with WC at the station entrance, though I arrived later than expected. While waiting for me, he found a restaurant beside the train station so we went there for lunch.
I ordered a soba lunch set. It was pretty pricey but it was good. However, I still prefer hot ramen over cold soba noodles though.
At 12:52pm, we took the Hakone Tozan Cable Car from Gora to Sounzan. In Singapore’s context, this cable car is actually a funicular railway, similar to a tram, as it is not suspended in the air but firmly attached to the ground via railway tracks. However, the tram car runs on electricity and it is attached to an overhanging cable, hence, it is called a cable car.
The ride from Gora to Sounzan took only around 10 minutes but it was very pleasant. At Sounzan, we transferred to the Hakone Ropeway to take us up the mountains. The Hakone Ropeway is what we call a cable car system in Singapore, because it comprises of individual cabins suspended on a continuous moving cable. I found it quite confusing at first but I’ve since gotten used to the different terminologies when travelling in Japan.
The ride on the Hakone Ropeway was marvellous. The entire mountainside was filled with trees and they were all blanketed with snow. It was an amazing sight.
Soon, we glided across the volcanic valley of Owakudani. The entire valley was also covered with snow and it was beautiful. We alighted at the ropeway station to explore the area.
Owakudani is the area around a crater created during the last eruption of Mount Hakone about 3,000 years ago. It remains an active volcanic zone with a number of sulphuric steam vents and bubbling pools. Indeed, there were fumes emanating from the ground, and the smell of rotten eggs was heavy in the air.
I also saw a signboard carrying a warning about how sulphurous acid and hydrogen sulphide gas can cause strong reactions against the eyes and respiratory organs, advising guests against lingering in the area for too long. People suffering from asthma, bronchitis or heart disease and under the influence of alcohol are forbidden from visiting.
One of the highlights of Owakudani is the famous black eggs, or kuro-tamago. We saw a man submerging a basket of eggs into a bubbling pool to be cooked naturally by the volcanically hot water. The cooked eggs were then transported via a dedicated cable ropeway to the shop downstairs.
The shells of the resulting hard-boiled eggs were blackened by the sulphur. They were sold in a packet of five eggs for JPY 500 (S$6.80). I’m not a huge fan of hard-boiled eggs but eating them is said to prolong one’s life by seven years, so of course I had to try some! Only the shell was black. The egg inside was white and tasted like any other hard-boiled egg.
With an elevation of 1,050m, you can get a glimpse of Mount Fuji from Owakudani. When we were there, the skies were already clearing up but unfortunately, it was still cloudy so we didn’t get to see Japan’s most famous mountain.
We also passed by a shop selling custard egg-flavoured soft serve ice-cream. Everyone else seemed to be eating it so we decided to try it too. The ice-cream was super yummy, no wonder so many people were having it despite the cold.
After spending about 50 minutes at Owakudani, we hopped back on to the Hakone Ropeway to continue our journey to Togendai, located on the shore of Ashinoko, or Lake Ashi. From Togendai, we boarded a fanciful pirate ship called the Hakone Sightseeing Boat, which is included in the Hakone Free Pass. Note that there is another sightseeing boat operated by a company called Izuhakone but that is not included in the Hakone Free Pass.
Ashinoko is a lake formed in the caldera of Mount Hakone after the volcano’s last eruption some 3,000 years ago. You can see Mount Fuji during the boat ride, but apparently, you have to be very lucky to get a clear view of the mountain because it is often obscured by clouds or fog. Needless to say, we didn’t get to see Mount Fuji that day.
The boat ride across the lake lasted about half an hour and it was very enjoyable. Up on the open-air deck, we had a nice view of the calm waters and the snow-peppered slopes. The ship stopped briefly at Hakone-machi before terminating at Moto-Hakone, where we alighted at 3:40pm. As it was getting late, we didn’t hang around to explore further.
From Moto-Hakone, we took a bus to Hakone-Yumoto station, arriving at 4:15pm. There, we transferred to the Hakone Tozan Railway back towards our respective accommodations. As such, we completed the Hakone Round Course, by utilising the Hakone Free Pass to circle the region using five different modes of transport – train, cable car, ropeway, boat and bus. The Hakone Free Pass allows you to experience the best of Hakone in an efficient and value-for-money manner.
I decided to alight at Miyanoshita station for dinner before heading back to my guest house. I bade farewell to WC as he would be continuing the train journey back to Goya. It had been nice meeting up with him and having a companion to explore Hakone together. I wished him all the best for the marathon in four days’ time.
Right beside the train station was a small restaurant called Mori-Meshi (click here). It looked really cosy and quiet so I popped in for a meal. I ordered ginger pork rice and it came with a bowl of hot miso soup, which was very tasty and welcoming in the cold weather. The restaurant was surrounded by trees and it was very peaceful. I loved the ambience and the simplicity of it.
After a satisfying dinner, I took a bus at 6:13pm back to Fuji-Hakone Guest House. After a day of being out, I revelled in the warmth of my abode. My private room was very spacious and it came with a tatami mat and a futon bed, like a traditional Japanese home. I dropped my bags and headed straight for a bath before soaking in my private indoor onsen. No better way to unwind and wrap up Day 7 of my trip!
