Hakone Yunohana Onsen Hotel

... the day’s adventures we just chilled out in the evening.


Rising early the next day, we were able to see the stunning Hakone in day light. After a breakfast of croissants, we caught the local train up the zigzag railway, which took us past the breath-taking scenery of the national park and up into the huge mountains. We then caught a cable-car over the serene Lake Ashi, the part of the journey where, if you are lucky you can see mount Fuji. Unfortunately ...

... put the ash tray on the floor and blew the smoke away from the table - not that it really mattered when half of the restaurant was smoking. It is quite the opposite here that one is free to smoke inside, but is banned many places outside, especially at crosswalk corners. I think I prefer the opposite, as I can always get away from someone smoking outside, but not in a restaurant. All in all a great meal, much better than I would have gotten from the supermarket!

... a Haiku drumming game that we'd seen this little kid gun on tv the day before. SO hard. But quite funny. After being told to step away from the machines by Butch, Nat and I peeled away and we walked back to the train station, caught the train back to Shinjuku, then Nishi-Ogikubo. We walked through the super market and bought some more goodies. I braved the Calpis (Cow ****) and it was AMAZING. Then home and snack and sleepy time.

... really. It was good.. then I headed to the street behind.. Takeshitadori, where there was another, newer WeGo store, and other awesome shops (Takeshitadori is the chic Japanese girl's version of NYC's Village boho shops and vintage clothing stores, except in place of bohemian, hip clothing there are gothloli clothing shops ...more than anywhere else in Japan in a concentrated area. Some of them carry labels, some don't ..either way, it's the capital shopping spot for a burgeoning ...

... trains, trams, ropeways, trolleys, gondolas, etc... Hakone is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Japan, for the Japanese, and it offers hundreds of museums, hotels, spas, golf courses, hikes and other forms of entertainment. I chose to just check out the outdoor museum and chill in an outdoor spa because I didn't have enough time to see it all, nor did I want to as there ...

... sorts of fish and crustaceans that were sold at this market. I saw an octopus tentacle the size of my freaking leg... I'm not even sure I would have liked to see the full-sized thing. Go look at the photo album for some pictures of this because I can't possibly describe it, but it was well worth the early morning wake-up. I finished the fish market experience with an incredible sushi breakfast... it seemed fitting ;) To finish off my ...

... skyline, minus Mt. Fuji (too foggy, sad). From this vantage point it was fairly clear that Tokyo deserved its largest city in the world title, though many estimates would dispute this. Dominating the skyline is Tokyo Tower, a bright orange Eiffel Tower-shaped steel structure that is not only taller but is also much lighter than its Parisian counterpart. Also prominent is the massive Emperor's Palace, a ...

... of us left st*nding *s the other lightweights h*d gone b*ck to the hostel *t *bout 3*m, *nd even though I w*nted to st*y, I succumbed *s the Dutch guy w*s completely wrecked...*nd the Kiwi guy w*sn`t f*r behind! Andre* *nd me were * bit sloshed *s well, but it h*d been * cl*ssic night, *nd I c*n definitely see the *ppe*l of these k*r*oke booths! The next morning * few of us went to H*r*juku to do some `eccentric people spotting,` *nd there were quite * few ...

... the day. The museum also had a replica of a traditional street. There was a bathhouse, a cookware store, a soy sauce shop, and several other buildings. In the main square we were able to participate in traditional Japanese games. I really liked the game of tops, which we called "battle tops," haha. I was actually quite good at it because I wound and launched the top by myself the first time I tried it ...

... a few miscellaneous observations of Japan: a) Though we had loads of new experiences, to be honest Japan didn't feel all that different from home, a feeling that both Ryan and I noted and were surprised by. Perhaps it was for me being somewhat familiar with some aspects of Asian cultures between growing up in Irvine, piano lessons at Yamaha, and of course 4 years at Cal, or ...