Hakone 箱根: Sightseeing in Hakone Day 1

Source: Odakyu model sightseeing website

I borrowed this map from the Odakyu website because our travel follows this route. We departed from Tokyo in the morning, to make it in time for our baggage to be forwarded to the hotel. For day 1, our transportation mode was bus, foot, ship then bus again. This was where that map that I borrowed from Hakone Tozan Bus works wonder. Here goes, in travel order.

Hatajuku Yosegi Kaikan (Wooden Craft Hall)
Station: Hatajuku bus stop

It displays and sells wooden items made in "Yosegi-zaiku" style. This handicraft is an art where pieces of wood are joined together. We didn't take any photo inside the craft hall but I got myself a little magnet, the rest of the things are not cheap. Granted, good art are expensive.

Amazake-jaya (Amazake Chaya)
Station: Amazake-jaya bus stop

Little P said we will have tea break at Amazake-chaya (Tea House). I heard the word tea break and food, I'm sold. We hopped on the bus again, and got off at Amazake-chaya bus stop.

It was a beautiful tea house by the road side. After we took enough photos at the front of the tea house, we went inside and feed our tummies. The popular dish on menu are of course, Amazake and Chikara-mochi. It was said that the traditional tastes has been unchanged since historical times.

Four cups of Amazake 甘酒 and iced green tea 冷たい抹茶 for Little P

Chikara-mochi 力餅 in 3 flavours. From furthest away: 'Isobe' - soy sauce flavour, 'kurogoma' - 'uguisu' mixed with black sesame and 'uguisu' - sweet young soy bean powder

L: Miso-oden 味噌おでん - Konyaki balls with miso and sesame.
R: Tokoroten ところ天 - agar-agar in noodle like strips with seaweed and sesame topping

Next to Amazake-chaya (teahouse) is an Old Thatched Wooden Traveller's Rest House. Though I think part of it could be Hakone Kyudo Shiryokan 箱根旧道資料館 as there were some exhibits portraying times in Edo period.

We even crossed the road and check out what was behind some trees / bushes, which was a dead end but nice trees. :P

Thereafter, we started our walk on the Old Hakone Highway.

Old Hakone Highway
Hakone was once a checkpoint on the Old Tokaido Highway in the Edo period. This highway connected the shogun's capital in Edo (now Tokyo) with the imperial capital Kyoto. I was glad we did at least parts of this highway on foot.

It was a fairly short trail as we only do a small part of it, from Amazake Chaya to Moto-Hakone bus stop which is approximately 45 minutes, according to this map. If we had started the walk from Hatajuku or Hakone-Yumato, we would have to go through a much more ascending course.

I enjoyed the walk, it was good to have a good trail walk and enjoy the greenery.

Moto-Hakone
Moto-Hakone is located by Lake Ashi (Ashinoko), I think if fengshui is as easy as having both mountain and sea, this must've been a prime spot. Lake Ashi with Mount Fuji sitting at the end of it.

It had passed 3 pm by the time we reached Moto-Hakone and time for a late lunch. We walked along the street and went in one where all agreed they can find something they would eat.

View from the food place

Tempura Moriawase - to share

I opted for yuba soba (buckwheat noodles with tofu skin) - somehow it sounds much better if you don't breakdown what it means...

The initial idea was to walk all the way to Hakone-machi and take the ferry there but after our leisure walk and late lunch, it might be a little risky to get there timing wise. If we missed the ferry, we will need to find other ways to get across the lake because it was the last ferry that we aimed for, so we get nice sunset along with lake and mountain. Timetable for ferry can be obtained here.

It really wasn't hard to spend about 15-20 minutes at Moto-Hakone, but it also means I'm going to put more photos to make this post even longer. :P

Quack quack quack

Then came the ship, it looks very much like any touristy ship but it was a very enjoyable cruise, to top it off we did have a very good weather day.

The day ends with a bus ride to the lodge we made reservation prior to arriving in Japan. Dinner was simple izakaya affair, I had a tonkatsu curry rice though it was a pleasant surprise to hear Mongol 800's Chiisana Koi No Uta during the midst of dinner, over CD player of course.

Side note: Where can I find thin kuih kapit...?

Hakone 箱根: Transport, Stay and Orientation

We travelled to Hakone from Tokyo (Shinjuku Station) via Odakyu Line.

If Hakone is in your travel radar, you are most probably know of Hakone Free Pass. It is call free pass because it gives unlimited use of selected trains, cablecars, ropeways, boats and buses.

There are a couple of options in terms of Hakone Free Pass, so you would need to decide a few things before you get the pass.
1 - a 2 day or 3 day pass
2 - if you are doing a round trip from Tokyo or in other words, do you need a pass that include the train ride to and fro Hakone from Tokyo.

We stayed a night in Hakone, and would be travelling back to Tokyo to get to Nikko. Little P's cousin, R and two friends (T and Y) was to continue to Osaka. Little P and I bought the 2 days ticket, departure from Shinjuku (¥5,140) while R, T and Y got the 2 days ticket departure from Odawara (¥4,000). We bought both types of ticket from Shinjuku Station.

We are not romantic people and went with the non "Romancecar" option. The difference between the 2 type of trains was about ¥890 and 30 mins. After all, the "Romancecar" was limited express train. Train to Hakone goes to Odawara (小田原) and in Odawara, changed to another train to get to Hakone-Yumato Station (箱根湯本駅). Here's the link for Transfer/Fare search on Odakyu Line. The search function includes "Use Limited Express "Romancecar" or "Do not use Limited Express "Romancecar".

At Odawara Station, train times towards Hakone-Yumato/Gora, as of 4th Nov 2014

At Hakone-Yumato Station, train times towards Odawara/Shinjuku as of 4th Nov 2014

Our destination was Hakone-Yumato and we wanted to utilise the baggage delivery service. Please be noted that the baggage checking is accepted till 12:30 pm. Handling cost depends on your baggage size and you get a ¥100 yen discount for Hakone Free Pass users. According to information on their website, if you want to forward your baggage from hotel to Hakone-Yumato station, the baggage checking is accepted till 10 a.m and checked baggage can be picked up from 1 pm to 7 pm of the same day. However I saw this poster at the baggage forwarding office in Hakone-Yumato stating that the cut off time is 12:30 pm. So I think better to reconfirm. :)

We also found NTIEast free wi-fi service in Hakone. We wanted to get the card upon arrival in Tokyo but they have none in stock. To be honest, somehow we didn't really find a lot of hotspot to utilise the free wi-fi.

As we took the normal, non romantic train, there wasn't any reserved seats option. We didn't sit together so it was harder to share food. Also, it did feel a little strange to eat in normal train (non Shinkansen). We were starving and only had our breakfast by the time we reached Odawara. Nothing fancy, just bread bought from Family Mart.

I was so hungry that while everybody was busy checking out the free wi-fi hotspot, I went and grab a packet of hazelnut cookies.

Here's a map I borrowed from the Hakone Tozan Bus website. I really like this map, very informative and easy to read, especially since we took the public transport that was listed here too.

Source: Hakone Tozan Bus

After leaving our luggage at Hakone-Yumato station to be forwarded, we went around a little before checking in the evening. The hotel we (actually Little P did all the leg work) reserved in Hakone was Fujimien (ロッヂ富士見苑), 2-3 minutes by bus from Togendai Station. Based on the map above, you might think it is was far from Hakone-Yumato station but it worked out just fine after the sightseeing we did (that's another post...). We took a bus from Togendai station to Minami-onsenso station.

Clockwise, from top left: Our room, lounging area with free wi-fi (only at reception area), at reception counter - the smallest and cutest working post box I've ever seen, souvenirs sold at the reception area. 

The main attraction in Fujimien itself goes to the onsen! There are two public hot spa bath, separated by gender. It overlooks to the beautiful outdoor area. In fact, all the rooms in Fujimien overlooks the view of the majestic Mount Fuji.

Onsen in the morning, followed by a cold milk from vending machine overlooking the Mount Fuji, and then yummy buffet breakfast. Such a bliss~

Side note: The cheese & onion chips is so evil... 

Tokyo: Harajuku 原宿 - Shimbashi 新橋 - Akihabara 秋葉原

By the time we reached Harajuku it was already dark. We were looking for a place for dinner but can't resist having snacks before that either. I shared a crepe with Little P, I think the one we had was the "banana caramel custard whipped creme ice cream" crepe.

Straight right after that, we got the freshly made chips from Calbee Plus - maple syrup and cheese flavour.

Then, we still had dinner at some ramen shop we found. It was a ramen shop but I feel like rice, so I ordered a plate of gyoza and a simple egg rice. I left for Shimbashi for another chance to see the really big clock in animation but I heard from Little P that the shop owner wasn't too happy that we didn't order more ramen. :|

Little P and the rest had a longer dinner while I took the train off to Shimbashi. As I was a little earlier, I walked a little around the train station before walking towards Nippon TV Building. This must've been where all the clubs are located as I can see people giving out pamphlets but only to men.

After successfully catching the last scheduled time for the clock, I went to Akihabara... because I wanted to try my luck in hunting for a plaid skirt my size in Uniqlo and hoping to get a photo of 'maid' working in maid cafes. My colleagues find the concept interesting after watching a documentary about it on TV.
Both missions were a success v(^_^)v

Side note: I kept on seeing people wearing plaid skirts in Tokyo and I wanted one too but it feel strange when I am wearing it in Melbourne because nobody does = ="