A Day Trip to Hakone

late 1998 or early 1999

We wanted to go to Hakone to see Mount Fuji close up. We had a Hakone tourist brochure that described all the trains, trams, cable cars, boats and busses in the Hakone region. We used the tourist brochure to plan our day and decided to stop off in Odwara to break up our journey. We planned to see the castle, have lunch and then continue onto Hakone to see Mt. Fuji.
 
We set out on a beautiful, sunny day and headed to Shinjuku to pick up the Hakone train. When we arrived in Odwara, we followed the signs through the town to the castle. It was a bit of a walk, but enjoyable since it was such a nice day out. 

We wandered around the castle gardens for a while having a look at the flower display. These flowers were amazing since there would be only one stem and a huge number of carefully supported blooms radiating out from the main stem. 

The castle gardens also had a mini zoo where there was an elephant. 
 
 
We decided to go into the castle since we could see people walking around an upper balcony and that looked like a good view. Tickets for the castle were being sold by a vending machine. 

As we walked to the entrance, we saw a really cute little girl who was maybe 5 years old all dressed up in a traditional kimono having her photo taken in front of the castle. She was really cute. 

The inside of the castle had some museum displays of armor, weapons and more - including a carriage that was carried by four men. The view from the top balcony was gorgeous, but we suddenly realized how late it was becoming. We had to keep going towards Hakone. 
 
 
The trip to Hakone was, according to Seth, just a whole day of traveling. 

We basically took another train from Odwara to Hakone and then switched to a cog train that was so steep it had to be hauled up the mountain. Then, we switched to a cable car. By the time we arrived at the cable car, the sun was setting and we had a nice colored view of Mount Fuji. We didn't know what time the last boat left and we were worried about missing it, so we didn't stop at the mid-way point of the cable car, we just kept riding. The view from the cable car was pretty enough. 

It was nice to see the Fuji sunset, but we really shouldn't have spent so long at the Odwara Castle. 

As we descended towards the lake, we saw a pirate boat leaving so we were glad that they were still running. However, as soon as we arrived at the pier, we learned that we'd just seen the last boat leaving and that we'd have to take a bus instead of riding across the lake on the pirate boat. That was disappointing, but at least we'd be able to get home. The bus ride did take us through a different part of Hakone and we saw the many, many, many little touristy towns scattered around the region.

After that bus ride, it was just three more trains to get home. We recommend you leave from Tokyo EARLY if you are going to Hakone for the day.