A day in Hakone and a night in Roppongi

You can't see Hakone in a day! But we got a quick overview of what it might be like for the visitor yesterday with our short visit. It involved a lot of transport: local trains, fast trains, a boat, a ropeway and a few bus trips too.

Our day started with the short trip on the Yamanote line to Shinagawa Station - another chance for us to be part of the "human river" that's always a feature of this busy, crowded railway station.

 We caught the Shinkansen to Odawara about 35 mins SW of Tokyo through Yokohama. Here we bought our Hakone "Free" Passes (which actually cost about $50 each). The pass enabled us to travel pretty much anywhere, by any means, all day at Hakone.

Haruko and I spent a while figuring out our day's plan of action!

 We caught a local train to Hakone-Yumoto Station, where the real transport fun began. The train from Hakone-Yumoto to Gora Station has to climb steep mountains and pass through 2klm of deep tunnels. It's so steep that the train has to reverse direction three times in a very clever switchback manoeuvre.

 We crossed bridges over deep ravines too and passed lots of attractions along the way - like Hakone's famous open air museum and sculpture park. 

 We reached Gora feeling so happy that the sun was out and the clouds were clearing. We were hopeful of a good Mt Fuji viewing! Feeling optimistic we didn't catch the ropeway at this stage of the day deciding instead take a sightseeing bus so we could see the beautiful fields of Suzuki grass at Sengokuhara.

 There were quite a few "alpine resorts", beautiful gardens and the famous Pola Museum of Art along this road.

 The fields of grass at Sengokuhara only look like this for a short time in Autumn (right now). It's an area of wild grassland, quite unusual in densely populated Japan..... and looking beautiful today.

 The same colour as my hair!

 It's very popular with Japanese tourists and day-trippers too!

 The grasslands are near the small village of Kogen. We took advantage of the stop to enjoy some local soba noodles for lunch .

 Our bus tour took us to what is usually the end of the ropeway ride at Togendai-Ko. We joined the queue and took a ride back to its highest point at Owakudani.

 Harrison Redford on the cable car - with heavy clouds forming!

 and not just clouds in the sky - clouds of steam too - we were over an active volcano!

 emitting clouds of hydrogen sulphide and sulphuric acid (among other gases)

 We were feeling cold and windswept by now and reconciled to having no view of Mt Fuji today. We made our way back to Togendai-Ko on the ropeway with the light rapidly diminishing.

 Where we caught the "pirate ship" (?) for the cruise on Lake Ashi, our final transport adventure for the day at Hakone.

 In the gathering gloom this was as close as we were going to get to the famous Hakone Jinja Shrine today.

We had such a brief look at Hakone today. You would need at least 3 days to get a fuller experience. Hakone is so diverse in its geography and its offerings. We didn't even experience any of the hot spring onsens for which it is famous too!

Instead, for us, it was one last bus ride back to Hakone-Yumoto from Motohakone-ko (on the lake) then two more Shinkansens back to Tokyo Station, where we met up with Haruko's brother Shin (at his office building right near the station).

We walked to nearby Nihonbashi where Shin knows a lot of great eateries. With some difficulty (because most places were booked out) he found a great sushi place where we enjoyed a fantastic meal. This was the starter. I think was whelk (?) with wasabi flavoured gingko nuts.

 then appetisers .... sashimi tuna, foie gras of fish and fish eggs .......

 then main course.  Such an amazing meal for us - but probably not so unusual for Shin and Haruko. The standard of Japanese food, and its presentation constantly amazes us.

 We caught a taxi then to the upmarket district of Roppongi with Shin pointing out the Imperial Palace and the Parliament buildings on the way. Kyoko met up with us at Roppongi. She'd just finished her work day (at after 9pm).

Lucky for us Roppongi was lit up in preparation for Christmas already - making a fabulous glittering scene with Tokyo Tower in the background. Tokyo Tower is very close to where we're staying at Hamamatsucho - but on the other side of it!

 Roppongi looks very glossy at night.

 We felt sad to say goodbye to this lovely couple tonight. It has been wonderful to spend more time with them this visit and get to know them better. They could not have been more generous and welcoming to us.

 We had another Tokyo Tower sighting at the end of the day back at Daimon - Hamamatsucho Station. The place was alive tonight with this street band playing the coolest, rocking-est, improvised jazz with incredible skill!