Mt Fuji

Donald Trump flew into Tokyo last night for meetings with the Emperor and Prime Minister, who incidentally was just elected last week and is Japan’s first female Prime Minister. Trump was in London in 2019 when we were there, and the British bent over backwards to welcome him with US flags all over central London. Tokyo has made an effort to welcome him too, with a much sparser scattering of US flags, but it has gone all out with security measures. Our 7.00 am taxi ride to Tokyo Airport took us close to the Imperial Palace, and it was clear which route he’d be taking as there was a heavy presence of police and roads were being closed off. Gardeners and cleaning staff were also putting the finishing touches on the gardens Trump’s motorcade might pass. I think the general populace of Tokyo couldn’t give a toss about the man with the orange face coming to town, but they also wouldn’t want him causing any trouble while he’s here. Shortly after the meeting with the new PM, Sanae Takaichi, Trump was bragging about launching a golden era for the relationship between the two countries. Personally, I’d imagine the golden era can really only flourish once the broad-arsed buffoon leaves the Oval Office permanently.

Today is the first day of our 21-day Japan Rail Pass and it also happened to be the first time any of us had ridden on a Japanese bullet train, a Shinkansen. Marg and I have ridden on similar very fast trains in Europe and I’ve also experienced one in China. I don’t think Ian or Theresa have ridden on one before. Today it felt a bit special because I was marvelling at the stories I’d heard about Japanese bullet trains long before I ever rode a fast train or even knew they existed in other parts of the world. The Shinkansens depart from Tokyo Station from platforms not too far from those used by local trains. We watched as the train came into the station and the passengers alighted. A cleaning crew in uniform was waiting to board the train once it was empty. An announcement asked us to refrain from boarding the train before the cleaning has finished. From the platform we could see the cleaning crew moving quite rapidly. First they spun each seat around to face in the direction the train would be going. Then, for some reason I never find out, they used a device to measure the distance between the top of each chair and the ceiling. I can imagine they might alter the height of each chair if it wasn’t already meeting certain parameters. When we boarded shortly afterwards, the train was spotlessly clean … and almost empty. We were traveling in a green carriage with reserved seats, which was probably akin to first class back home. The ride was very smooth as we moved through Tokyo’s outer suburbs, but once we got out into the countryside, the train sped up and we flashed past farms and fields and housing developments rapidly. It felt a little strange at first when the train banked on curves without losing speed, but I soon got used to it. After a journey of 30 minutes, our train pulled into its destination, Odawara. Odawara Castle was visible in the distance from the platform. The station was teeming with people, and I guess most of them were heading for the same place as us – the tourist resort town of Hakone.

At Odawara Station, we purchased 2-Day Hakone Free Passes. They allowed you unlimited transport within the Hakone tourist area, including trains from Odawara to Yumoto and buses between Yumoto and Motohakone-ko. Additionally, the passes were good for sightseeing on a ropeway, a cable car and a cruise boat. Following the 20-minute train journey to Yumoto, we joined a long queue waiting for the next bus going to Motohakone-ko. Eventually one arrived and we were ushered on.

By the time the four of us got onto the bus, there was only aisle space available and it was a real crush. They’d squeezed every last person they could fit onto the bus. This would have been bearable if it was a train carriage on my local rail line carrying a capacity football crowd away from the ground. We’d be crushed in those circumstances too, but the train back home would travel on the flat in a straight line at a steady pace, and would gradually shed passengers at intervals along the route. The bus we took to Motohakone-ko took us on a climbing, winding road into the mountains with no stops along the way. The driver was obviously pretty familiar with the bends in the road because he didn’t seem to slow down too much. Every bend he took at a good pace, gravity kicked in, all of us standing in the aisle battled to not only stay on our feet, but also to avoid toppling over onto the person on the low side of us. Luckily, we all managed to hold our balance for the duration of the journey, but were amused by the contrast between the chaos of the bus ride and the serenity of the bullet train just an hour earlier. There was also some confusion when we were given mixed information when the bus first stopped near the lake, causing us to get off, then back on again, then ask the driver to stop once again to let us off.

The cruise boat was just about to depart, so we hurried down the jetty and boarded. As you will see from the photos, it has been built to resemble a pirate ship. We saw two other pirate ships carrying tourists on the lake as well – rather a strange sight to see on a lake high in the mountains a long way from the sea. Lake Ashi has been formed in the crater of an ancient volcanic range. It’s over 700 metres above sea level and is fed by natural spring water, so it never freezes over in the winter. It’s surrounded on all sides by mountains. On our right as we left from the dock at Hakonemachi-ko, just a few minutes away, was Motohakone-ko. We stopped there and a large number of people came on board. From there we sailed down the lake, keeping the shore to our right relatively close. We passed a large orange Shinto Torii gate at the water’s edge. These gates mark the entrance to a shrine. A little further on we could see the cable car, which we wouldn’t be able to take advantage of due to lack of time.

But, on the far side of the lake, standing proudly surrounded by blue sky in a gap between the fluffy white clouds on all sides, was the thing we come to Hakone to see today – the marvelous snow-capped summit of Mt Fuji. It was grand, and I was so pleased to see it. My daughter, Tess, who has been here a couple of times, was delighted that the summit was visible, and friends on Facebook posted that it was entirely obscured by clouds when they visited. Even my travel agent added ‘should the weather be kind, you should see a magnificent view of Mt Fuji’ to our itinerary. So we were very fortunate to have blue sky and sunshine today. By the time we reached the ropeway at the far end of the lake, the weather was changing. The white clouds moved in close to each other and in some places turned grey and even looked a little as if they might rain. We stayed on the boat for the return journey. The sun broke through the clouds to light up some sections of the forest on the hilly slopes, giving us an early glimpse at the autumn colours that will soon be on show. However, we never saw Mt Fuji again. It remained obscured by clouds for the rest of our time in Hakone.

Before beginning our return journey, we found a small cafe in Hakone. We weren’t very hungry, and weren’t even tempted by the Japamese beer, but we were intrigued to find two menus on the table – one for humans and the other for dogs. That’s great, I thought, I’m all for a little pooch trotting in alongside its master and eating from a bowl under the table. But that wasn’t how it worked. Several people came in wheeling dogs in prams, just like they would if they were bringing a very young child to the cafe. There were several of them, all with their prams pulled up close to the table so their canine companions could share the dining experience from the same surface as their owners, We put our order in. Ian and I ordered a meal each and Marg said she’d share a meal with Theresa. The lady in the cafe refused to take the order. She said there were four of us, so we had to order four meals. We ordered an extra dipping sauce for less than $2 and that satisfied her. We got our lunch. What a weird and wonderful cafe. Walking back to our bus, I spotted a lady going to great trouble to unpack a large pram from the boot of her car and place her pampered pup in it. Only in Japan, I guess.

We retraced our steps. The bus that took us back to Yumoto Station was less crowded and we all got a seat. No one got crushed or toppled over on the bends in the road. It was a comfortable journey, and we actually had time to look out the windows and enjoy the mountainous scenery. We caught the local train back to Odawara and boarded a Shinkansen back to Tokyo Station. From there we took the Chuo line local train to Shinjuku and made our way back to the hotel on foot. This evening we walked a couple of blocks from our hotel to the local dining precinct, found a small place serving only traditional Japanese food, and ate like locals. I enjoyed my ramen. Sadly, the good vibes of the quirky setting and the delicious food all came to an abrupt end when two Japanese businessmen sat at the table next to us, lit up and were soon filling the tight space with clouds of smoke. We got up and left.