Japan trip day 7: Tokyo (July 22nd, 2009)

(Wednesday)

Bought Hakone free passes and boarded the Odakyu Romancecar express train from Shinjuko. When we arrived at Hakone-Yumoto, we first ate a snack at the train station. Then we went outside the station to the tourist information center to get a detailed timetable and map. Then we took the Hakone Tozan train from Hakone to Gora. This was a slow train, and it waited for the train on the other direction to pass before proceeding. From Gora we took the cablecar train to Sounzan.

From Sounzan we took a ropeway to Owakudani. The clouds were very low, so the gondola rode through the cloud in a strong wind. Visibility was extremely low. We could barely see the gondolas passing in the opposite direction when they were close. We could only see the cables carrying the gondola and nothing more.

The highest point of the ropeway, Owakudani, was inside the cloud. We ate lunch in the sky restaurant in Owakudani station building. Then I took Dan and Shirley outside the station building in order to walk along the nature trail and cook eggs in the hot water spring. Once we exited the station building, we walked inside a thick cloud. Visibility was limited to a few yards. Somebody in a convenience store showed us a sign to the nature trail. We followed the signs downhill until visibility improved. After 30 minutes of hiking down the trail we did not reach any destination, so we decided to backtrack. We walked up the steps to the station building. We probably did not walk along the correct path after all. Dan filmed a cloud spilling over a valley and filling it completely within 10 seconds.

From Owakudani we took the ropeway to Togendai. I planned to take the boat across Lake Ashi from Togendai, but the boat ride was cancelled due to the weather. We then took a bus back to Hakone-Yamato station. I could not get seats on the express train back to Tokyo, so I got tickets to a slower train. This train took more than two hours to reach Shinjuku station in Tokyo. Most other passengers used the long train ride to eat their dinner.