Name: A Classic Day Trip To Hakone from Tokyo | japan-guide.com
Uploaded: 2021-11-15T17:45:14.000Z
Duration: 8 min 38 s
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Approximately eighty minutes west of Tokyo

Hakone is easily accessible from central Tokyo

In this trip, we will be showing you how simple

and easy it is to enjoy a day trip to Hakone

So follow me, Raina Ong, as I go on a day trip to the mountainous region of Hakone.

From Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo, I take the Odakyu Romancecar

all the way to Hakone-Yumoto at the entrance of Hakone

and then explore the region on a circular route,

using bus, ship, ropeway, cable car and train.

The Hakone Freepass is a convenient discount pass offered by Odakyu Electric Railway

that allows for a round trip from a station on the Odakyu Line,

and unlimited travel on all Odakyu-affiliated transportation

in the Hakone area for 2 or 3 consecutive days.

The pass can be purchased at ticket counters and ticket machines

or ticketless in digital form on your smartphone.

The process of purchasing a digital Hakone Freepass is quick and easy,

just access the Odakyu website on your smartphone,

select the Hakone Free Pass and purchase the pass with a credit card.

Afterwards, just show the ticket on your smartphone to the staff at the ticket gates.

I've got my digital pass on my phone and I'm all set for my trip to Hakone.

My day in Hakone starts with a bus ride to Amazake Chaya.

The Amazake Chaya is a traditional tea house where visitors can take a break

The tea house was established in the Edo Period and has been family-run for generations.

Now, a drink not to be missed at the tea house is amazake,

which is a non-alcoholic, sugar-free drink made from rice which was fermented with koji yeast.

Amazake is naturally sweet because of the sugars in the rice, and can be drunk hot or cold.

I head off to walk part of the preserved old Tokaido.

The old Tokaido was Japan's most important highway during the feudal times,

connecting Tokyo, then known as Edo, with Kyoto along the Pacific Coast.

Two checkpoints were built to control traffic along the road,

and Hakone was one of these two checkpoints,

My walk leads over about one and a half kilometers from the Amazake Chaya

While the old Tokaido path continues along the lakeshores

I end my walk here in the small lakeside town of Moto-Hakone

from where some of the best views of Mount Fuji can be enjoyed when visibility is good

See the red torii gate in the water over there,

Located in the woods, Hakone-jinja Shrine is a peaceful,

atmospheric shrine surrounded by many tall trees.

A couple of large torii gates lead towards the shrine,

but the most iconic one has to be the torii gate which stands in the lake.

From the torii in the water, I make my way to the main shrine building.

The spacious shrine grounds and surrounding forests give the shrine a hallowed feel

and I pay my respects there before returning to the the lake.

one of the fun things to do in Hakone is to take a sightseeing cruise on a pirate ship across Lake Ashi

Various pirate ships sail the waters of the lake,

and one can even do pirate ship spotting from land.

The cruise is fully covered by the Hakone Freepass

and is a scenic and entertaining way to move

and while I'm not too sure about the  of pirates on the lake in the past,

what I do know is, the views along the way are pretty scenic

and you can even see Mount Fuji when the weather is clear.

The sightseeing cruise took me from Motohakone-ko to Togendai-ko

at the northern tip of Lake Ashi in about 30 minutes.

From there, I transfer to the ropeway to Owakudani,

a volcanically active area on the slopes of Mount Hakone.

Owakudani was formed almost 3000 years ago

and today, visitors can look forward to volcanic scenery

as well as views of Mount Fuji when the weather is clear.

Owakudani is also one of the major sources

and its waters are piped from here to various hot spring facilities.

black eggs are a local specialty at Owakudani.

I got a bag of black eggs which were cooked

in the steaming vents you can see behind me,

and eating one of these is said to extend your life by seven years

Aside from the black eggs, other local dishes include black

soft served ice cream made with bamboo charcoal, which I had to try.

Next, I make my way to the Hakone Open Air Museum,

A visit to the museum is like walking in an art forest,

where one can experience the seasons, life and art in nature.

The spacious grounds contain both indoor and outdoor exhibition areas

filled with a large variety of sculptures, installations and paintings.

Back on the train, I head to Hakone Yuryo,

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A Classic Day Trip To Hakone from Tokyo | japan-guide.com

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