Onsen Trip to Hakone

Destination:  Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture (Distance from Tokyo: 96km, approximately 60 miles)

Map → http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/kanagawa/hakone.html 　

Date:  November, 2007　

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Do you have any idea of your  “must-do things”  while you are in Japan?  Try Japanese food? Maybe not a must.  You may find a decent Japanese restaurant in your home country.  Buy clothes? Shouldn’t be a must. No big difference between UNIQLO  and other guys such as GAP, ZAAR, H&M etc.  Find funny geek stuff?  Well,,, maybe yes, but you might be able to get them online.  So what do you think you have to do here?

The answer is go to an onsen – hot spring.  Definitely a must. Why? Because your physical presence in Japan is a must to have the onsen experience which is quite different than the hot spring experience in other countries. 

And a next question would be “where to go?”  Mmmm,,, this is tough to answer.  Since we have tons of onsen places all over the nation, it’s not easy to say “hey this is the best”.  But if you like to visit a good one nearby Tokyo, Hakone is the best.  Getting down there requires only a 90-minute train ride from downtown Tokyo.

The Hakone area has been one of the most popular tourist towns of the country over the years because of the close location to Tokyo and abundance of onsen spots. In addition, the area has many scenic advantages, such as Mt. Fuji, Lake Ashi, Owakudani , to attract people from all over the world.

View of Mt. Fuji from a cable car near Owakudani

We had a 2 day trip to Hakone in November, 2007.  That was a great time to enjoy looking at the mountain landscape changing the color of leaves to red, orange, and gold. 

Mountains changing the color

                



We arrived at the gateway station of the area, Hakone Yomoto, around noon time and transferred to a local train, Hakone Tozan Railway  to go up to higher destinations.  When we reached Gora station, we rushed into a famous tofu shop, Hakone Gin Tofu, for a quick bite.  You can get a cup of tofu with soy sauce on it for JPY 200.

Yummy Tofu

It’s very simple but so yummy. And at the next door, we came across a soba (Japanese noodle) restaurant called Kirakuso.   Let’s get in!  Soba tasted much better than we’d expected and we found other features of this restaurant that were sake and beer made from soba.  It didn’t taste like noodle, just tasted good sake and beer!  Very smooth and mild.

Soba Beer

After lunch, we took a cable car ride to go up to Owakudani  where you can see the dynamic volcanic landscape and panoramic view of Hakone.  Sorry, we lost the photos of it.

Please refer to → http://www.sizenken.biodic.go.jp/pc/live/cgi-bin/live.cgi?camera=17&area=03

After Owakudani, another cable car took us down to Lake Ashi which is a main icon of Hakone.  Taking 30 minute sightseeing boat tour was the best to look around everything about the lake.  No photo again, sorry.  Look at →　http://www.hakone-kankosen.co.jp/gaikoku.hp/index.htm

We visited Hakone Shrine  which was located just beside the lake. Legend has it that the god of this shrine has been here for more than 1,200 years!!  The air of sacredness was surrounding us.

Hakone Shrine

Hakone Shrine gate

    

Shrine gate into the lake

A huge sacred tree in the shrine

        

We finally checked in our hotel before the dark.  We were lucky back then to use a benefit service provided by the company of my wife that allowed us to stay at this decent hotel at around JPY 8,000/per person including meals.

Nap at a hotel room

Unfortunately the hotels in Hakone aren’t cheap. So if you don’t like to spend a lot, one-day trip is the best. Thanks to its accessibility from Tokyo, you don’t have to stay overnight in Hakone, but can still enjoy onsen and other activities.

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Traveling Tips in Hakone

-  Getting there by:

Train;  Odakyu Line from Shinjuku Station (90 minutes). JPY 5,000 for a 2-Day Hakone Freepass ticket.  (http://www.odakyu.jp/english/freepass/hakone_01.html)

Bus;  Bus service wouldn’t be a good option to get there from Tokyo.  

FYI → (http://www.odakyu-hakonehighway.co.jp/pdf/english.pdf)

Car;  Tomei Expressway (2 -3 hrs) from the central Tokyo

-  To get around the Hakone area:

The Hakone Freepass works best to explore the Hakone area.  It allows you to use the public transportation services, trains, cable cars, buses, and boat on Lake Ashi without any additional charge.  You can get to most of the sightseeing spots of Hakone with the pass.

-  Accommodation in Hakone:      

The hotel rates in Hakone are expensive.  It’s unavoidable. Finding good accommodation at an inexpensive price might be a tall order.  But you’d better not be stingy to make your trip memorable.  The cheaper, the worse in Hakone.  Although you don’t have to stay at a super deluxe hotel, those hotels are definitely worth of the price.

-  Affordable Hotels in Hakone:

FYI  → http://www.hoteltravel.com/japan/hakone/hotels.htm (Japanese)

-  Travel Expenses:

We spent approximately JPY 18,000 apiece for the 2-day trip including everything.  You might have to prepare additional JPY 10,000 – 20,000 for your lodging expense.  But the total cost wouldn’t much exceed it thanks to the service package of Hakonne Freepass. Everything else other than hotel fees remains at the normal price.

-  Local Tourist Information Center:

Hakone Town Tourist Association  (http://www.hakone.or.jp/english/index.html)

Hakne Navi  (http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/index.html)

Reaching Paradise in 2 hours from Tokyo, Day 2

Destination:      

Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture (Distance from Tokyo:   115km,  approximately 72 miles)

Map　→　  (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/chiba/minamibousou.html)

Date:     August, 2007　

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After dinner, the owner of B&B told us there would be a firework festival in a neighbor town and would be able to see it from a beach nearby. Great! We didn’t expect there was a firework festival while we were staying. What a lucky night!  So we walked down to the nearest beach.

We had to kill some time till the firework festival kicked off. So we got a couple of bottles of local brewed beer, Awa Beer (http://beer.awa.or.jp/), from a convenience store. Their ale type beer was so smooth and have such a pleasant flavor of hop. 

We sat down on the beach with the tasty beer in our hands. It was a great dreamy time. The atmosphere of the beach was so mellow. No noise but the sound of waves, cool wind with the smell of ocean (and beer), and the stars were shining like gorgeous diamonds in the sky. This absolutely does NOT happen to you in Tokyo. Unfortunately our digital camera didn’t work well to take the photos of firework and fancy stars.  Sorry.  But I promise you I’m not lying. You’ll definitely see it when you go over there.  

The venue of firework was a little bit far from our beach. So it was an ok view. Instead, the sweet environment of the beach made up the deficiency of remote distance. Just sting on the beach gave us a lot of peace of mind.

On the next morning, we had the breakfast at a patio of the B&B.  Again, fresh air and cool wind were surrounding us.  I think the temperature in Tateyama is 2 - 3 degree Celsius lower than in Tokyo in the morning, because of the abundant nature - greens and ocean.  At least we felt so.

The breakfast was, of course, so yummy. They used the original herbs they grew in their garden for some food, like jam, sauce and tea. The tasty homemade ingredients.  

Breakfast with the original herbs

After the slow breakfast time, we headed down to the beach where we were last night for the fireworks for a little bit swimming. My wife is so good at swimming, but I’m not. So my main activity was just sunbathing.  


The beach wasn’t crowed at all. We thought it was because the time was too early to swim. But it didn’t get cramped even around  noon. We actually found that many beaches in this area were not as packed as other popular ones of the Tokyo metropolitan area during our drive yesterday. If you want to relax on a beach with much enough space and without distractions by nuisance guys, this is where you should come up.

Road to the beach

We checked out the B&B and drove down to a local sea food restaurant which offers some special menus only for the B&B customers.  You can ask the owner to book a table at the restaurant and order one of the exclusive meals when you show up. Our selection was a dish of mackerel invented by the local fishermen called Namero (I don’t know the exact meaning of this word, but just taste good).

@ the sea food restaurant 

The recipe is quite simple. Minced meat of mackerel with chopped green onion, ginger, Japanese basil, and dress them with miso (soybean paste). It tastes so mild without the fishy smell, but might be too rich if you prefer light taste. 

After we efficiently spent our 2 days to enjoy everything we could do in Tateyama,  the time did come to get back to the hot city. On the way back to a bus depot, we stopped by at a small shrine which had such a great view from the top of the hill.

View from a shrine. 

Tateyama and the southern Ciba region are not a famous destination for the tourism, but, thanks to its unpopularity, this handy paradise gives you a lot of enjoyment in a slow and peaceful manner with fewer tourists than other popular beaches. 

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Travelling Tips in Tateyama

-  Getting there by:   

• Train;  Japan Railway Company (JR) Uchibo line from Tokyo station (2.5 Hours).  JPY 8,040 for a round-trip express train ticket
• Bus;  JR Highway bus from Tokyo Station (2 – 3 Hours).  JPY 4,400 for a round-trip ticket.
• Car;  Tateyama Expressway (2 -3 hrs) from the central Tokyo 

- To get around the Tateyama area:

Renting a car is strongly recommended.  Using the public transportation system isn’t a good option to explore the area and taxi costs a lot.  JR provides a good package service of train ride and car rental for their passengers (http://www.ekiren.co.jp/index.html (Japanese))

- Accommodation in Tateyama :

There are many B&Bs and small inns offering a room at a reasonable price, but with the same degree of hospitality as major hotels. If you want to feel the excitement of local atmosphere, better to stay at one of them. But most of them don’t speak English well, so you need to prepare for the language barrier.

Major Hotels in Tateyama

• Hotel Sunosaki Kazenosho  (http://sunosaki.com/top.html) 
• Familio Tateyama   (http://www.familio-tateyama.com/)
• Shinra  (http://www.psr-shinra.com/language/eng/)
• Hotel Accion  (http://www.accion.co.jp/)
• Kyuka Mura  (http://www.qkamura.or.jp/q_e_fdetail.php?nfacid=2257)

 - Travel Expenses:         

Approximately JPY 30,000/per person for a 2-day trip, including transportation, accommodationmeals, car rental, and other expenses. The hotel cost takes big bucks.

- Local Tourist Information Center:

Tateyama City Tourist Center  (http://www.tateyamacity.com/ (Japanese))

Tateyama City Municipal Office (http://www2.city.tateyama.chiba.jp/Guide/?tpcid=53&stoid=3583) 

Reaching Paradise in 2 hours from Tokyo

Destination:  
Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture (Distance from Tokyo - 115km, approximately 72 miles)
Map →  http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/chiba/minamibousou.html　

Date:                 August, 2007　
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The very first post of our story goes with our first trip to Tateyama of Chiba prefecture.

We had this 2-day trip in the summer of 2007 (oh gosh, 3 years ago! Time flies so quickly!).

Tateyama is located in the southern part of Chiba which is not so far away from the central area of Tokyo.  But the area shows you a variety of faces Tokyo doesn’t have. Beautiful beaches, magnificent landscape, tasty food, friendly people ,etc. The atmosphere is so relaxed.  You hardly imagine you are in a neighbor province just 2-3 hours away from one of the busiest cities in the world.

The main feature of Tateyama is definitely beaches. Swimming, surfing, sunbathing, or even fishing,,,, whatever you do, it is so fun. But, of course, no beach activity is still enjoyable. Just relaxing at a hotel or exploring the southern Chiba area, like we did, still gives you great pleasure and lets your stress go.  

On the first day of our trip, the weather held perfectly.  Although it was a typical muggy day of August in Japan (the humidity in Tokyo usually goes up to 70-80% or even more from the morning in the summer. It kills you!), we didn’t care.

" Let’s get the hell out here and go to one of the closest paradises to the nation’s capital ”  We knew the weather would be much nicer in Tateyama. Thanks to its location facing the pacific ocean, the town gets the cool wind and fresh air. The area still holds the high humidity, but the heat is much milder than in Tokyo. What a relief!

To reach there, we used a highway bus service from Tokyo station. It was the most inexpensive way to approach to the city and the riding time was only 2.5 hours or so (depends on the traffic condition). The scenery from our bus was good, not great though. On our way, we got a short break at a rest area, called Umi Hotaru or lightning beetle of the sea, on the middle of the bridge crossing the Tokyo Bay.  You can get a panorama of the gulf from the observation deck. It usually gets crowed at night since many people come up to see the spectacular night view of Tokyo skyline.

After about a 15-minute break, all the passengers got back onto the bus and we took our brunch on it. The best point of having a driver for your trip is, as you know, that you can have booze while you enjoy a scenic drive. But we had to refrain from it, because WE had to drive in Tateyama after the bus journey ended.

We arrived at a Tateyama bus depot around 10am. If your trip time is limited, we strongly recommend you to get on the first or second bus departing form Tokyo station in the morning. So you can efficiently use the rest of your day in Tateyama. And renting a car is the best option to go one place to another. The public transportation isn’t helpful enough to get around the area.

Before checking into a B&B we booked, we took an unplanned easy drive on a road called  

Flower Road

. The road sides of it were literally filled with tons of flowers. Very beautiful decoration and very good transformation of taxes!

  

While driving the road, we could find many unmarked or unnamed, but beautiful and interesting spots to take a look.

 

This rocky shore is very unique. There are many small size water holes made by the natural erosion. They are like swimming pools for sea creatures which are lifted up by waves. You can even play with tropical fish at a hole. No scuba diving license is required!

We also stopped by the Rosemary Park. Its fascinating name stimulated our curiosity to see what was going on inside.  The facility actually plants not only rosemary, but various herbs in their garden. Unfortunately there was nothing special to us except a tasty ice cream made with rosemary.

We finally reached the tip of the Chiba peninsula.
Cool wind, fresh air, and blue sky.  It was a nice place to refresh yourself.  Only 3 hours away from Tokyo, but we were in another world!.

After a couple of hour drive, we headed for our B&B. named Verdure  (They used to have an English website but it’s gone, and have altered the fees. It was cheaper 3 years ago). This is run by my friend’s parents who are very friendly. It is a perfect place to experience a local feeling with their plenty of hospitality.

We had a BBQ dinner in their courtyard. In addition to a lot of meat stuff, the locally fished sea food and vegetables the parents harvested from their backyard field were on the table. Of course beer and wine, too. They were all so tasty.

 

After the dinner, we were so laidback and supposed to have a mellow night with the easy tempo of Tateyama.

But we found that another event was waiting for us then.

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Travelling Tips in Tateyama

-  Getting there by:    

• Train;     Japan Railway Company (JR) Uchibo line from Tokyo station (2.5 Hours).  JPY 8,040 for a round-trip express train ticket
•  Bus;     JR Highway bus from Tokyo Station (2 – 3 Hours).  JPY 4,400 for a round-trip ticket. 
• Car;       Tateyama Expressway (2 -3 hrs) from the central Tokyo

- To get around the Tateyama area:

Renting a car is strongly recommended.  Using the public transportation system isn’t a good option to explore the area and taxi costs a lot.  JR provides a good package service of train ride and car rental for their passengers.  http://www.ekiren.co.jp/index.html (Japanese)

- Accommodation in Tateyama :

There are many B&Bs and small inns offering a room at a reasonable price, but with the same degree of hospitality as major hotels. If you want to feel the excitement of local atmosphere, better to stay at one of them. But most of them don’t speak English well, so you need to prepare for the language barrier.

• Mjor Hotels in Tateyama:

              Hotel Sunosaki Kazenosho    http://sunosaki.com/top.html

              Familio Tateyama    http://www.familio-tateyama.com/

              Shinra     http://www.psr-shinra.com/language/eng/

              Hotel Accion    http://www.accion.co.jp/

              Kyuka Mura   http://www.qkamura.or.jp/q_e_fdetail.php?nfacid=2257

- Travel Expenses:         

• Approximately JPY 30,000/per person for a 2-day trip, including transportation, accommodationmeals, car rental, and other expenses. The hotel cost takes big bucks.

- Local Tourist Information Center:

• Tateyama City Tourist Center http://www.tateyamacity.com/ (Japanese)
• Tateyama City Municipal Office http://www2.city.tateyama.chiba.jp/Guide/?tpcid=53&stoid=3583