Friday, July 6, 2007
On our visit first visit to Japan with the kids in 2007 we took two trips outside of Tokyo. One was to Okinawa and the other to Hakone. Okinawa entails flying and planning before you arrive in Japan (it is cheaper to buy air outside of Japan) whereas Hakone you can decide once you arrive whether you want to go or not.
There is absolutely no need to take the shinkansen (bullet train) to Hakone from Tokyo but our family really wanted to take the shinkansen so we did. If you have a JR Pass, by all means take the shinkansen.
Our shinkansen to Hakone departed from Tokyo Station at 9:56 am. The ride from Tokyo to Odawara took only 37minutes – too short to really enjoy the shinkansen. We arrived in Odawara and naturally my husband had to wait around on the platform after we got off to see more shinkansens pass the station. (No he is not 6 year old boy…but he might as well be.)
We took our time at Odawara station, buying food, buying the Hakone pass etc. By the time we got to Hakone Yumoto station via Hakone Tozan railway, I was really surprised that my sister and her family and my mom had not caught up with us from Kyoto. They were coming by shinkansen from Kyoto and meeting us at Hakone. Again we took our time at Yumoto, eating lunch etc. We then caught a bus to Hotel Kowakien. The bus ride took about 20 minutes, a twisty climb. The view was nice – very lush landscape.
Our introduction to Hakone was so so. The bus driver, although not in a very mean way, grumbled about the wrong bus stations being pushed. (That might have been our girls…) The man at the reception of Hotel Kowakien was a snob taking forever to find our reservation only to inform me that our reservation was at a sister inn – and he made it clear it was an inferior hotel. Anyhow we finally got the reservation cleared up and we arrived at the New Pegasus Inn. My sister and the rest of the group arrived about 20 minutes later.
http://www.fujita-kanko.co.jp/english/kowakien/pegasus/
The hotel is a virtual maze. We go up and down and on and on down long hallways and when you find yourself where you want to be, you have no sense of the relationship from where you started. We decided to check out Yunessan hot springs water park and leave the rest of the Hakone circuit for the day after.
http://www.yunessun.com/english/
Boy, were we in for a treat. The hotel is connected to the water park via long confusing hallways and elevators. Once we found it, we had to endure a 10min intro/info/rules of Yunessan. It took us what seemed like forever to find our locker rooms. And then it took another eternity to get to the various pools. We were now equipped with electronic wristbands which could open lockers, buy food and with bright color jackets to wear while in transit to various pool sections.
The outdoor pool and slides were disappointing for us because both girls were too short to go on the slide (they were then nearly 4 and 2 ½). The indoor pool (all pools are very warm since they are hot springs) had a Vegas type water show every 30 minutes. All of it was just cheesiest of cheese. The best part was the ‘natural’ outdoor onsens. Again the macha, coffee, wine onsens etc…were unbelievably cheesy but the natural pools were nice and the landscaping outside was actually in good taste. This is the kind of experience you can find only in Japan. Who thinks up hot springs made to smell and look like green tea, coffee, red wine etc??? The kids all enjoyed it though. The cheesiness was all lost on them.
Dinner at the hotel was buffet style but it wasn’t as good or high end as the one we enjoyed at Miyakojima Hotel in Okinawa. My older daughter ate a lot of French fries! And oh – to top it all off – really unbelievable, you just had to laugh about it, there was a chocolate fountain!!
Friday, July 6, 2007
We tried to get an early start but we were delayed by 40min. Our goal was to start at 9am from the hotel, do the Hakone circuit and end up at Yumoto station by 3pm.
The kids did well considering. First it was a short bus ride to Hakone Open Air Museum. The Pass gave us a measly discount and so we passed on it (not very cultural of us I know – but we had 4 kids under the age of 6, wasn’t worth the admission fee). Then it was a walk (should have waited for a bus) to Gora station where we caught the Cable Car to Sounzan. It reminded me of the Victoria Peak Funicular in Hong Kong. We then moved on to Ropeways – 2 sets of them to take us down the mountain to Lake Ashi. The views were spectacular and we got a Ropeway car all to ourselves.
We catch sight of the ‘pirate’ ships which ply the waters of Ashinoko – again only in Japan. If you get in the spirit of things, it’s quite fun. We break for lunch at the View Restaurant, aptly named for the full frontal view of the lake from its windows. The food was good too. My older girl ate 6 fried smelts. Wow!
The boat ride was nice – lots of fresh air and beautiful views. The only thing that marred our experience a little was the horde of Thai tourists who ran amok on the boat.
We disembarked at Hakone Machi where we had ice cream (and ruined a new shirt) and caught the express bus, a 20 min ride, to Yumoto station. We were able to change our tickets at Odawara for an earlier Shinkansen and we arrived back at Roppongi at 5pm. So that was our Hakone circuit experience…you can skip the cheesy onsen/water park and certainly have a more sophisticated experience. But then, no one back home would listen to your Hakone stories with a look of disbelief…what? you soaked in coffee??
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/sightsee/hakone/index.html
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