I’m nearing the end of my Japan entries! On 11/05, my husband and I left Kyoto. We packed a small bag, and then sent the rest of our luggage to arrive the next day in Tokyo. We weren’t heading to Tokyo yet though; we had a little stop planned in the small and quiet town of Hakone.
We went to Kyoto station to catch a Tokyo-bound bullet train that stops at Odawara on the way. While waiting for the train, we bought two ekiben which are “railway lunch boxes”. They’re commonly sold at Japanese train stations and often feature local specialties. They’re tasty to-go meals, so you can eat on the train!
It took 2 hours to get to Odawara, which seemed like a busy station. However, as we used the local train towards Hakone, it became a lot quieter. Hakone is beautiful – probably the prettiest place we visited while in Japan. It’s surrounded by mountains and just has a peaceful and relaxing air about it. My photos don’t even do it justice (especially since it was a cloudy day).
We went to Lake Ashinoko first. It’s commonly visited by people who want a view of Mt. Fuji. It can only be seen on a clear day though, so it wasn’t visible this time. (We didn’t mind since we had seen Mt. Fuji previously.)
The real reason we were here was because I wanted to stay in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. Though many Japanese cities have them, I really wanted one that wasn’t in the middle of a city. I wanted one in a quiet scenic area, and thus, I chose Hakone.
