Mt. Hakone and Mt. Fujisan

It's been a few weeks since I updated my blog and I still want to write about my last 3 days in Japan. My memory is already getting foggy and I need to get the details down for posterity.

After breakfast, we get our overnight bags ready to leave on a road trip. We're leaving around noon and it's about a 3.5 hour drive on the other side of Tokyo. I have no idea where we are going except that we're going into the mountains to a hot spring.

I mentioned to Tsu about digging out my bathing suit and he told me that bathing suits were not allowed. Surely he mustn't have understood what I was saying. What do you mean bathing suits aren't allowed in a hot spring? I guess I really didn't trust that he understood me so I asked Mrs. Tsugawa if I should bring my bathing suit. It was obvious that she didn't really understand what I was saying... I wrack my brain trying to think of other words to convey my question. Ahhh... swimming suit. Yes! I look up the word in one of the three dictionaries that have found a somewhat permanent home on the dining table since I arrived and I translate "swimming suit" into Japanese. I ask Mrs. Tsugawa if I should take my swimming suit and she affirmed that bathing suits were not allowed. Oh geez... I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable about this get-away. The only nakedness I've ever done was to change in the women's only change room area of a public swimming pool. I've certainly never lounged around in the buff with strangers.

I enjoy the car ride through Tokyo once again. It's becoming familiar to me now as this is my 3rd trip to Tokyo in the past few days. But it's mid-day and we've never traveled the Tokyo roads mid-day: bumper to bumper and we come to a standstill for close to an hour, barely moving 1/2 mile in that time. Unfortunately we can't even take in any view as the sides of the bridge we are stopped on are walls of cement so that's what we stare at all the while. Eventually the traffic lets up and we're on our way through a myriad of tolls. We barely slow down for the tolls. Tsu picks a lane and slows down to about 30 km/hour and a split second before I think he's going to drive right through the gate, the arm lifts up, we pass through and the arm drops back down. There is a card reader on the dash of the car with a credit card looking thing sticking out of it. That is how the tolls are read. Not the greatest technology really as the card reader needs a cord to be plugged in hence there is a cord tucked in along the roof and it hangs down the side of the window. Tolls are pricey: $4, $5, $7. Sometimes we go through three tolls on one car trip, and then you have to pay on the return too. Argh!

We haven't been gone from home too long, probably two hours and we pull into a massive "truck stop" for lunch. The parking lot is vast. It appears to be the only place around for miles and there must be 200 cars in the lot. It's a really odd dining establishment: full of souvenirs, delicious looking bakery items and a restaurant fast-food type kitchen. Like most things in Japan, speaking with the worker bees is unnecessary here. We order our noodle soup from a vending machine -- yup, a vending machine! It has dozens of selections to choose from. Tsu orders for me. We find a seat, then our number is called and we go up to the kitchen window to pick up our soup. I enjoyed my ramen soup. I think it's very tasty. Mrs. Tsugawa leaves about 2/3 of her soup as she says it's too greasy. Obviously I don't know much about what constitutes tasty Japanese soup as we each ate the exact same dish. I thought to myself that perhaps this place was a cousin to an American greasy-food truck stop (do such places even still exist, who knows?).

Mr. and Mrs. Tsugawa ordering lunch from a vending machine.

Ramen ordered from the vending machine at the truck stop

We're back on the road in about 30 minutes or less. At some points we can see Mt. Fuji(san) and I snap photos through the car window (not realizing that I'll have much better photo opportunities in only a couple of hours from now). Then the bullet train whizzes past us. Man... that thing was flying down the track. A bullet train leaves Tokyo about every 15 minutes. It was neat to see it in motion. I was already thoroughly impressed with the Tokyo train system so I can only imagine how enthralled I would be if I had the opportunity to ride the bullet train.

We pass through the cities of Yokohama and Udawara and soon thereafter we're driving up the side of Mt. Hakone. There is snow on the sides of the roads and I'm getting an idea of just how high up we've driven from sea level down in Tokyo.

Tsu adjusts the GPS in order to find our hotel. The roads are very narrow and switch-backy up here. I'm thoroughly enjoying just taking in the scenery along the way. This area markets itself as "the Swiss Alps" of Japan and they aren't fibbing one iota. It really did remind me of what I imagine the Swiss Alps to look like.

The road we traveled to Mt. Hakone

We somewhat easily find our hotel: the Mt. Hakone Hotel. We check into our rooms, drop our bags, and then head back outside where the hotel's shuttle van drives us up to a tram. 

We ride the tram up the side of Mt. Hakone. WOW! We have perfect photo ops of Mt. Fujisan. I can't stop "wow'ing". Never, ever in my life did I ever dream that I would see Mt. Fuji in person. Obviously I had heard of Mt. Fuji but it never impressed me and I never longed to see it -- but my "wow'ing" doesn't even give it justice. It is monolithic and pops off the geography, way, way above the clouds, unlike anything within its vicinity. We have an excellent view of it from the glass tram. The tram ride is a good 10-12 minutes from the base. We land way up on Mt. Hakone and it is winter up here. Lots of snow. I am like a kid in a candy store. I am beyond thrilled to be up here. What an amazing surprise for me and a memorable gift that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Mt. Fujisan

The sidewalk is cleared of snow and is bare. Mr. Tsugawa (at age 79) can't join us in going any further up the mountain as he has had open heart surgery a few years earlier and the sulphur and the by-products of the gases are dangerous for people with his condition. He waits for us in the gift shop area. It really does smell like rotten eggs up here! Tsu, Mrs. Tsugawa and I walk further up the mountain, Mrs. Tsugawa leads the way and I actually lose sight of her at times because I keep stopping to take photos. For a 76-year-old lady, she is in very good shape (did I tell you that she has been a student of Hula for 4 years now?). I am in awe. What looks like small clouds floating about are actually steam clouds from the hot bubbling water just below the rock surface. Mt. Fujisan is gorgeous! Mt. Hakone is gorgeous! I'm pretty much in awe of the entire experience. I take a bajillion photos and post some video so my friends and family can see what I'm doing at this moment.

Mrs. Tsugawa

We walk back down toward the gift shop where Mr. Tsugawa is waiting for us. I buy some souvenirs and then head back to the tram loading area. Before I know it we're back at the base of the mountain; our shuttle van is waiting for us.

Mr. Tsugawa with eggs cooked in the hotsprings.

On the tram

When we get to our hotel, Mrs. T. and I change into our "kimono-type" outfits. The hotel supplies these things that we are supposed to wear to the Onsen: it's like a kimono with a second layering of kimono overtop. I was impressed that the hotel supplied these outfits. The outfits are actually quite nice and I wished I could take one home with me. Mrs. T. ensured that I had mine on properly; we put on the house slippers (also supplied) and headed downstairs to the Onsen (hot springs). They are segregated by gender. Mrs. T. and I are the only people in the women's Onsen. We disrobe and then enter through a door. There are about a dozen or more showers.... not like our North American showers though. The shower heads are at about knee level! We get wet and then gingerly wade into the very hot, hot spring ("Onsen"). Whew... it is smoking hot but once you get used to it, it is very enjoyable. It's nice but I am completey self-conscious sitting there in my birthday suit. Ugh! Mrs. T. gets out first, after less than 10 minutes of soaking, and I follow her lead. The shower area is fully stocked with whatever high-end "Shiseido" products you could ever want and more (want a facial mask, this is the place to do it!). We exit the Onsen area into the change room. This area is also fully stocked: hairbrushes; razors; facial products; hair products; etc. I've never seen anything like it.

Dressed for the Onsen

We relax in our room for a bit before dinner but I actually take advantage of the wifi in the lobby and check Facebook to see what's going on with my friends back home. Dinner is a pre-fixe menu in the hotel's huge restaurant that only has patrons at three tables. We eat a somewhat "Western" meal... using silver utensils and Mr. and Mrs. Tsugawa are "struggling" with all the utensil options (nope, no chopsticks in this place which is obviously geared to Westerners or Europeans). I assure them it doesn't matter which forks or knives they use because the table isn't set properly any way -- all the forks are the exact same size as are the spoons and knives! Talk about confusing people who are trying to assimilate to the utensils! We eat a decent meal of beef and I can't recall what else.  Mr. T. orders some sake. I have a sip just to taste it. Not bad.... very reminiscent of wine. Tsu and Mrs. Tsugawa have a laugh when poor Mr. Tsugawa starts choking violently on his food. Laugh!?! I was actually getting concerned and here they were laughing at him... I'm thinking well they know him better than I do but I don't think it's anything to laugh at. After about 2 minutes Mr. T. finally stops choking and coughing. Crisis averted. I won't need to perform the Heimlich for the first time in my life. Whew!

After dinner we go back to our rooms. Mrs. T. returns to the Onsen but being I've just washed and dried my hair I decide to go to bed as I am pretty beat. I know tomorrow will be another full day.