Hakone

I decide to go to Hakone today because the weather is the best it has been for the whole week. My brother is staying on until next Monday. My flight leaves in the evening at 8:30. My brother has some misgivings about taking a trip out of town on the day of departure, but I assure him it will be ok. As it turns out, he has a point.

After a Japanese breakfast of rice with fish and various tidbits we walk to Keisei Ueno station and deposit my bag in a locker. I then walk 100 metres to the JR Ueno station and catch a train to Shinjuku. With the aid of the Japanese names supplied by my brother I find the Odakyu station. JR is the main train operator in Japan but there are other lines. Keisei is one and Odakyu is another. The trip will take 90 minutes. This train is designed to carry holiday makers to Hakone so it stops only once, at Odawara, about 6 km from the entrance to Hakone park. I have been put in a smoking car since I probably didn't realize what the ticket clerk was asking me at the counter. But there are a few unoccupied seats and I manage to sit apart from the smokers.

At Hakone-Yumoto I transfer to a mountain railway. This is the start of the ascent up Hakone park, which is about 800 metres above sea level. At several points in the ascent, the train has to reverse direction to continue the ascent because the tracks are arranged that way to reduce the amount of space taken up the railway. Some of those turning areas have space for two trains, one in each direction, so the area serves the purpose of a bypass as well.

At Chukoku-no-mori I get off. There is an open air museum here with sculptures and mobiles by famous artists such as Picasso and Moore.

The grounds command an impressive view of the valley below. At this time of the year, one can see red leaves on trees. I spend an enjoyable hour here wandering among the pieces.

From Chukoku-no-mori it's a short walk to Gora, the start of the funicular railway. It's about 1:30 pm now and I should be back in Tokyo by 6 pm at latest. At this point I begin to have some misgivings about the time required for the rest of the trip. Still to come is a cable car ride, a boat ride and a bus ride. The last will take about an hour. However I feel it would a shame to turn back now so I forge ahead.

At Sounzan many passengers get off to admire the view. Several hotels and a youth hostel are nearby. Perhaps some day I'll spend a night here. 

A cable car takes us over the mountain to Togendai. On the way we pass over Owakudani (Valley of Greater Boiling) which is an old crater of Mount Kamiyama. Hot steam and foul sulphurous fumes emerge from fissures in the ground, which is bare, for no vegetation will grow here. Yellow sulphur deposits stain the ground. Pipes and workers are all over, for the hot water that emerges is piped to hot spring facilities elsewhere. 

From Owakudani, it is downhill to Togendai, which is on the shores of Lake Ashi. Lake Ashi is a popular vacation spot for fishing and boating. As this was the off-season, it is rather quiet. On clear days, Mount Fuji is reflected in the lake. However the day has gotten overcast and Fuji is hidden behind the clouds. I did however get a glimpse of snow peaked Fuji while on the train to Hakone.

A pleasure boat takes us to Hakone-Machi, at the other end of the lake. The boat is decorated to look like a European pirate vessel. It looks rather incongruous here. A recorded tourist spiel explains the sights we are passing, but alas mostly in Japanese. 

Perhaps I should have come prepared with a guide book. It does however mention a hut which is the beginning of a huge underground tunnel to carry water from the lake to the lowlands. Considering this was done in the 19th century using only human labour, it's an impressive feat of engineering.

From Hakone-Machi I catch a bus back to Odawara. By this time it's 3:30 and the trip is expected to take one hour. This means that the first train I can get out of Odawara is the 4:43 Shinkansen express which will get me into Tokyo around 5:30. I might just make it to the 6:00 Keisei Skyliner express, which will allow me to check in at 7:00 as planned. Will probably have to forego dinner though. I must admit this worry at the back of my mind didn't increase my enjoyment of the trip. I would like to come back some other day and walk the quiet paths by the lake in a more leisurely fashion. The bus is packed with holidaymakers returning home and my heart sinks everytime there is a lengthy delay with boarding or disembarking passengers. By the time we approach Odawara, it is obvious that I'm going to have to take the next train, at 5:11. Another worry is whether I can get onto the train without a reservation.  Shinkansen trains may turn away passengers without reservations if they are full. It looks like I'll have to modify my plans: arrive in Tokyo, take a side trip to Ueno to fetch my bag, then catch the JR Narita express instead of the Keisei Skyliner express.

The bus arrives at Odawara station about 4:50 and I race into the station. At the booking office, I have a little hiatus trying to communicate with the counter clerk that I want a Shinkansen ticket to Tokyo and also a Narita express ticket. But all is sorted out before the minutes run out.

The English girl ahead of me is trying to sort out her accommodation in Tokyo that night, which has not been determined. Accommodation is very tight in Japan this time of year, or even perhaps all the time now. I had tremendous difficulties booking a room for the symposium and I got the Holiday Inn room only through a cancellation. We wish each other luck. I'm not sure whose shoes I would rather be in at this moment, hers or mine. I make it to the platform with 10 minutes to spare.

On the Shinkansen, stopping once at Shin-Yokohama, I review my plans. The train arrives in Tokyo station at 5:48. The Narita express departs at 6:31, arriving in Narita at 7:29, one hour before departure. Cutting it fine, but doable. 43 minutes to pick up my bag from Ueno station. Perhaps 15 minutes each way worst case, leaving 13 minutes to run from platform to platform. Ok, so I would have to hit the ground running.  Thankfully, the tourist information brochures I had give a cross section of the Tokyo platforms so I know exactly which direction to race towards. It's also fortunate that trains are very frequent on the Yamamote line to Ueno.

I join the commuter squeeze on the Ueno train and arrive at JR Ueno. The trip only takes about 9 minutes or so, which gives me a bit more margin. First buy a return ticket to Tokyo before I have a heavy bag on my hands. Then I run all the way to Keisei Ueno, snatch the bag out of the locker and now laden with one heavy bag, alternately run and walk back to JR Ueno. I'm glad that I know the layout of these stations well by now. I jump onto a train headed back to Tokyo, sweating like a hog, drawing curious glances from the girl seated opposite me. I make it to the Narita express platform with 10 minutes to spare. I now know that I've won the race, barring breakdown of the Narita train. Since all seats on this train must be reserved, I'm glad that I thought to book a place on the Narita train back in Odawara, using the JR's excellent online reservation system. I'm glad that in Japan, the rail system works so well. I also had going for me the fact that the information brochures are so detailed.

Was it worth it, to work up all this adrenaline to see a few more sights? Hakone-Machi wasn't spectacular, but I would have liked to spend some time wandering the wooded paths, which would not have been possible on a one day trip anyway. Perhaps the lesson is not to take an out of town trip the day of departure. In retrospect, I probably should have turned back at Togendai since the boat and bus accounted for most of the delay. But one of my maxims in life is to take the less travelled path whenever possible. So I don't know. What would you have done?

The Narita train is the best way of traveling between Tokyo and the airport. As the crow flies, Narita is 50 km from Tokyo, but the line is 80 km long. The Express covers the distance in 58 minutes. The train is fast, but some of the speed comes from not having to make stops. The train is air-conditioned with spacious luggage racks and overhead compartments just as if the train is a continuation of a plane flight. A LED matrix displays selected news items and phone calls can be made. Excellent value and certainly much better than buses or the prohibitively expensive taxis, which would take even longer negotiating the traffic. Car travel in urban Japan is generally a lost cause due to delays caused by heavy vehicles.


In urban Japan it is impossible to get away from crowds, such is the population density. I think the next time I would like to spend more time in rural Japan. But first I will have to learn some Japanese.