Day 6 Hakone (Mt. Fuji views)

We were planning on going to the mountain town of Hakone tomorrow, but after checking the weather we decided that we had the best chance of seeing Fuji by leaving today. We jumped on a train headed to Odawara. It took about an hour to get there from Yokohama. When we arrived, I was super confused. I presumed we were going to the mountains, but there weren't any! We were just at the gateway to the mountains. We had to get on another local train to take us in to Hakone-Yumoto. Now we were definitely in the mountains!

After doing some limited research we figured our best option for getting around was to buy the Hakone Free Pass. It bought us our transportation from Odawara station and all around the Hakone area. The pass included unlimited transportation on the Hakone-Tozan train, cable car, buses, Kanko Shisetsu-Meguri sightseeing bus, a sightseeing cruise, and a bus replacement for the Hakone Ropeway which was unfortunately closed due to the increased risk for volcanic activity in the area. If you have some time to plan out your trip well, you don't need the Hakone Free Pass. But we didn't take the time and effort to plan the most efficient, cost effective route, so this was the best choice for us. It was 4000 yen per person, which we easily spent on taking the buses around the entire Hakone area. Definitely worth it.

From the first train stop, we hopped on a bus and took a mountain highway to Moto-Hakone-Ko to see the ancient cedar trees. We thought this first bus ride was scary and winding, but we had no idea what was coming up later in the day. Everything we saw was so lush and green!

We didn't actually see any monkeys, but apparently they cross the road!

Moto-Hakone-Ko is the south entrance to Lake Ashi, a crater lake along the caldera of Mount Hakone. Yes, a real life volcano. No worries though, the last time it erupted was roughly 3,000 years ago. I heard that even in the cold winter months the lake doesn't freeze over. It had beautiful clear deep blue waters.

Here's some shots from the little town.

This is one of the most iconic places to view Mount Fuji. It should look something like this:

However, we were there on a pretty cloudy day in June. Meaning that the snowcap has already melted. Here's what we saw:

Still beautiful, just no Fuji views.

After walking around the little town we walked under a bunch of really old cedar trees to catch our boat to Togendai.

Then we jumped on a pirate ship and sailed across Lake Ashi.

 Saw the Hakone-jinja Shrine from the water.

We had some lunch in Togendai, which we washed down with Melon Soda.

Since the Hakone Ropeway and Owakudani (where they boil eggs in volcanic sulfur water that turns the eggs black, eating one is supposed to add 5 years to your life) were closed due to increased seismic activity, we took a bus through the area. Here's what I could see from the bus.

Then we hopped on a super steep cable car that took us back down the mountain. It was like the Pittsburgh Incline on steroids, except I think the view from the Pittsburgh Incline might be better!

We saw the hydrangeas blooming. And found some hydrangea candies.

Wandered through the little town for snacks. Found some cool interesting only in Japan things.

Bought some filled Koala cookie snacks. Does anyone else remember these from their childhood? I remember eating them as a kids. Ps: They're just as good as I remember. We had some chocolate and strawberry Koalas.

This was while we were waiting for our bus to take us to the onsen. This bus ride was INSANE. I've never experienced anything like it in my life. We were on a full sized tour bus, going 40kph, whipping around hairpin turns for almost a full hour. 

But we got to our onsen safe and sound. An onsen is a natural hot spring bath. I'm going to do a separate post on how to do an onsen, so go ahead and look forward to to that. After our nice relaxing volcanic bath, we were ready to take the train back to Yokohama and sleep like babies!