Our next stop was about two hours northwest of Tokyo by train, to the hilly little town of Hakone—famous for its hot springs, mountain air, and if the weather’s kind, glorious views of Mount Fuji. We arrived around midday, grabbed a quick bite, and headed off to explore nearby Odawara Castle. “Castle” might be generous—it looked more like an elegant, oversized house—but it came with moats and a video explaining all the clever medieval tricks they used to keep invading armies out. Apparently, those pretty gardens were actually tactical traps, and the chunky doors weren’t just for dramatic entrances…
There were some were some volunteers in front of the castle fighting with swords but I’m not sure how authentic their attire was. Luckily there was also a fun exhibition on samurai armour inside, showing how it really looked and how it evolved over the centuries—some of it genuinely quite intimidating! I also got to stick my head into a cut-out to see what I’d look like as a samurai. I must say, the results were… Slightly less intimidating than the real thing. All in all, not a bad way to spend a drizzly afternoon.
Dinner was simple but satisfying: some crispy gyozas, juicy wontons, and edamame beans. A very respectable trio to round out the day.
The next morning, we had a whole day in Hakone and were determined to squeeze every drop out of it. We kicked things off early by hopping on the switchback train up Mount Hakone. It’s an adorable little train that zigzags up the mountain, switching direction each time it gets too steep. Very scenic, very charming.
At the top, we wandered into the Hakone Open-Air Museum, and luckily the sun was out for us today. The whole place is a sculpture park filled with strange and wonderful artworks, including a stained glass viewing tower, a colourful underground maze (which I wisely let Grace attempt solo—I get lost on straight roads), and many beautiful and strange sculptures. There was also a Picasso exhibition to wander around. It was a brilliant morning topped off with an ice cream in the sunshine with our feet dipped in a warm river—because we are on holiday, after all.
Then it was on to the Hakone Ropeway—a cable car that whisked us higher up the mountain to Owakudani, a dramatic volcanic valley that smells aggressively like rotten eggs with steaming vents and bubbling pools, and best of all, it redeeming feature, a spectacular view of Mount Fuji. And yes, we took about 500 photos of it from every angle. None of them do it justice though!
Once we managed to tear ourselves away from Fuji-viewing, we rode the ropeway down the other side of the mountain to Lake Ashi. Along the way we passed a huge traffic jam snaking up to Owakudani and smugly congratulated ourselves for taking the cable car.
We stopped for a late lunch at a restaurant by the lake that smelled incredible—and it didn’t disappoint. Their specialty was some kind of mystery pork schnitzel in a delicious red sauce. Possibly Japanese, possibly German—we may never know. Either way, it was enormous and extremely tasty. Our next stop was meant to be the famous Hakone-jinja Shrine, which is over a thousand years old and traditionally brings good luck to travellers. In hindsight, maybe we should’ve started our day there… because our luck was about to run out. We got on a bus that looked right, was at the right place at the right time—but was actually going in completely the wrong direction. Back up the mountain. Into the very same traffic jam we’d felt so smug about earlier. Cue two hours on a bus crawling along a mountain road with no chance of escape. We never made it to the shrine, so that’s officially been added to the “Japan round two” list.
We did manage to redeem the day slightly with a visit to an onsen on the way home—our first one in Japan, and boy was it an experience. This one busier than in Taiwan, here we could follow the locals lead on when to get naked. Always a fine line between confidence and catastrophe when you’re not sure which locker is for shoes before walking through communal areas and which are for clothes right before the onsen.
We followed the local women’s lead, stripped down, and sat on little plastic stools scrubbing ourselves clean. Then, tiny towels on heads (for reasons still unknown to us), we wandered out into the garden and picked our hot (or freezing) pool of choice. Once you get over the initial “ah yes, I’m naked with strangers” moment, it’s actually lovely. And kind of freeing sitting around relaxing with women of all ages. Plus, we both agreed it’s probably good for younger girls to see what real bodies look like—far more uplifting than the plastic surgery billboards we saw plastered all over Korea.
Afterwards, there was the mildly surreal experience of sitting fully dressed on a train next to people we’d just been naked with, but you get used to it. We skipped dinner—we were still full of mystery schnitzel—and grabbed some of Japan’s seasonal strawberries instead, which are honestly so sweet and delicious.
Then it was time to head back to the hostel and start packing for another travel day. Next stop: Matsumoto.
More adventures (and probably more gyozas) coming soon!
Love, Alice x