Having problems uploading pics so can’t do a proper entry — oh wait, I ran out of disk space on the server.

That’s better.

So today I went to Hakone. The reasons for going are twofold, and equally nerdy.

1) There is an old PC game called Microsoft Train Simulator. You drive trains. One of them is the Romance Car, from Odaiba to Hakone. This is where I first heard of Hakone, and I thought “I want to go there.”
2) I only found this out the other day, but Hakone is also the location of Tokyo-3, the fictional city from Evangelion.

Woke up at 7:45am: oh, so early! and caught the train to Shinjuku. Which was absolutely packed. I’m not joking. Japanese people may be polite but they have no reservations when piling on to trains, squashing all inside.

Anyway, switched to the line to Hakone-Yumoto. Nearly got the wrong carriage: it’s the first six carriages I needed to be on. The journey took about two hours. I fell asleep in Tokyo and woke up in Tokyo: that’s how big Tokyo is. Near the end, we decoupled from the rear carriages and went off without them, onwards to Hakone…

At Hakone, I decided I might as well follow the travel plan in the blue booklet. First stop, Moto-Hakone, a small town by Lake Ashi. Got the bus there, and arrived to find a pleasant little lakeside town:

…served by a pirate ship.

Onwards, down the Ancient Cedar Grove, a preserved part of the ancient Tokaido highway running from Kyoto to Edo (old Tokyo). The illusion of times gone by is ruined by the fact that it’s next to a busy road, but it’s still nice.

Through a replica Edo-period checkpoint:

To Hakone-machi, down the edge of the lake. And on a PIRATE SHIP!

Across the lake… I was assuming it went to Togendai, on the other end, but to my horror we went back to Moto-Hakone.

Luckily, it then went on to Togendai:

Shades of Evangelion, there…

To the cable car!

Is that Mount Fuji? It looks kind of small…

No. That’s Fuji. It is, in a word, gigantic.

So, to Owakudani, highest point of the ropeway cable car thingy. (Incidentally, it’s also featured in Evangelion.)

The mountain is on fire.

I head up to the car park to see if I can get a better view of Fuji, and there it is… gigantic. Rising out of the clouds, not through them. So unimaginably giant.

Eventually I drag myself away to go check out the hot springs.

I get some eggs. Boiled in the hot spring itself, they are said to add 7 years to your life each. And you get 6 for 500 yen! Bargain.

Black on the outside, but peel off the shell and it’s a pretty tasty boiled egg. Bit of a volcano-y aftertaste, though.

So, I ride the ropeway down, and then get a cable car to Gora.

Eventually I work out which bus I need for the guesthouse I’m staying at. A short trip listening to Gram Parsons, I find the place, go in, get shown around. My room is rather big.

There’s no less than three hot spring baths. Outside, it’s a charming collection of traditional Japanese-style buildings. Inside, it’s all sliding doors and tatami mats. Relaxing in the outdoor hot spring, by myself, under the stars, is a real treat.