So, for our last day in Japan, we decided to head to Hakone, which is a small mountain town. A comparison that I would make would be comparing this to Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, which I’ve been to recently. However, I doubt anyone has ever went to that place. Since we already bought the JR pass, which allows us to go anywhere, we decided to take the train headed to Tokyo to see Mount Fuji on the way, and Hakone is also a great place to see Mount Fuji, so we decided to go that. At first, I didn’t want to go there, and would have liked to have left it for a future Tokyo trip, through some convincing, I decided to follow along and enjoy it. In addition, there was the relaxing cool air to look forward to after days of walking in the hot sun.
Going on the Shinkansen bullet train.
Going through Japan on train.
Here is Mount Fuji on our way there. As you can see, we didn’t have any luck seeing it because it was a misty day, but perhaps we can get a better view when we go up Hakone. You can still see a sihouette of it though.
Reaching Odawara station.
Long bus ride ride up Hakone.
A picture I took of the nice view of the mountain. I was a bit tired when I was going up the mountain and my phone battery was low so I didn’t take too many photos. Still, the views going up the mountain was great and I personally recommend buying a day-pass, as just paying for every trip on the bus is expensive. The way I most recommend traveling up and down Hakone is through car, but most people aren’t going to rent a car.
Arrived at our hotel, which was the Palace Hotel Hakone.
View of the road. Hakone was the most relaxing highlight of the trip because of the cooler weather and the calm atmosphere.
Picture by Danny Choo
Since we arrived at the hotel, it was evening and we were quite tired so we took a shower and walked around the are.
We went to the convienient store to buy some food for breakfast. It would seem that when we went there, Hakone had an Evangelion theme to it with items sold with characters from the anime. I took at picture at the right time of a guy looking at Makinami and thinking to himself, “What the heck is this?” After that, we went back to eat dinner in the hotel.
At night, we went to the hotel onsen (温泉) to relax. Bathing in hot water really is relaxing and it’s something I recommend you try if you come to Japan. While Hakone is famous for its hot springs, we didn’t find time to go to them so we had to go to the hotel one. The experience was made better when there was a bath outside so that you can feel the cold air while you enjoy yourself in hot water.
Going back to our hotel room for some sleep.
The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel. Great selection of items and very healthy breakfast.
We decided to go see some sights. Here we were waiting at the bus stop with some other people.
We decided to take a cruise on Lake Ashi, which was supposedly the best place you can see Mount Fuji.
It appears to be a cloudy day today.
Here’s where Mount Fuji is supposed to be, I think. Sigh…it’s a shame that we came here and yet we still didn’t see it. Oh well, I’m still not disappointed by Hakone though.
Picture by Danny Choo
On the other side of the lake is a small town. Now time for the story. When we were here, the landlord of the apartment in Osaka called us and said he was returning today and we would be moving to another apartment on the same floor. He already notified us prior a few days ago, but we had forgotten. So, we had to take the boat all the way back to the other side, go to our hotel and take our luggage (since we had already checked out), go down the mountain and to the train station, and take the Shinkansen all the way back to Umeda, Osaka. After that, we had to take the subway to Namba and walk back before finally reaching our apartment. So, it was really a rush all the way back.
On our way down, we stopped at one of the tourists towns. I spotted a store selling items with Evangelion on it. It would seem Hakone really had an Evangelion theme. The reason we stopped here was not to see more sights, but because this was the final stop of our bus. We were a bit worried about how long we would have to wait to get a bus that takes us to the train station. However, to our relief, we found that there was a train from here that directly goes to the train station. So, we went on the train and all the way back to Osaka. And that was the end of our trip in Hakone. Still though, we were not disappointed by the trip here, as we needed some peace and relaxation after a few days rushing and walking around. Upon further research once I got back to Hanoi, I found out that there are many sites in Hakone that we missed, as we didn’t do enough research and didn’t have enough time. However, Danny Choo has been to Hakone, and has taken some great pictures before. So, I will let his pictures show some of the places we didn’t go to.
Pictures by Danny Choo
One of things that I did not see, nor did I know about, were the fields of tea trees. You can see that he visited Hakone when it was spring, and the weather was fresh and the tea leaves were vibrant green. You can also see Mount Fuji in the background.
Picture by Danny Choo
Here is a picture of Mount Fuji when he was driving on the way to Hakone.
Picture by Danny Choo
A valley in Hakone. I also didn’t know about this, but it looks beautiful. Overall, my trip to Japan was memorable and gave me a deeper understanding of Japan. While it was a fun and enjoying trip, I know and understand that Japan is not a perfect country. From the perspective of a tourist, it would seem really fun and exciting, and it is. Due to my own curiosity, I also researched about Japanese society, history, culture and economics, among many other things. While I didn’t go to in-depth, it was enough for me to understand that even though Japan is considered a first-world country, there are still problems that it faces as a country and as a society. Coming from a person whose grandparents didn’t have the best view of the Japanese because of their invasion of Malaya during WWll, I know that they definitely have done some terrible things.
However, from my knowledge, many Japanese people are still in guilt about that, and the Japanese government is still seeking reconciliation with other countries, those whether or not that has been effective is another question. Within the country, there are still problems within it that I won’t touch upon due to my own lack of enough knowledge and understanding. However, I still really enjoyed my trip in Japan, and it was definitely among the best trips I’ve ever experienced. I also really enjoyed writing about what I saw and went through in Japan, as it allowed me to reflect on what I have learned and experienced. I also really hope that you enjoyed reading my posts, and you learned something from it. Once again, I would like to thank you for reading this, and until next time, goodbye!
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