Hakone To... Hakone

Of course before breakfast, there was some more enjoying the Onsen, then … time to put pants on I guess. It was worth it!

Delicious breakfast of all the tiny dishes, and some fishes.

Then back to the room for another bath (or two) and then time to check out of the hotel and go for a wander to the next hotel 😄

Found a park near where the Pirate ship leaves, which was fun to watch…

Then wandered around the area on the southern end of Lake Ashi, where the Hakone Checkpoint is located. We didn’t go through the checkpoint because well, it seemed a little school-education-trip focused (RMB later found it was, nice save, laziness!) but this area is well known for its marquetry, making amazing patterns through fine woodworking. I bought some nice little chopstick rests… and then subsequently lost them in a latter part of the trip .. 😢

Lunch was at Daimasa Honten, which offered an amazing assortment of fish-dishes.

Fried smelt and sashimi and miso mushrooms and local tofu rice and happiness. All the things.

As we headed north along the lake I took us down what looked like a little driveway to see if we could get a view of Mt Fuji and .. it turned out to the “Best view of Fuji park” according to Google Maps.

The pirate ship goes back and forth across the lake on a few routes, and as we were just about to jump in the car I noticed it coming past in the rear-view camera (no mirror here, all camera!) Out again, and some good timing led to some nice shots.

Back on the road, we pottered through the hills to our accommodation (with the mandatory stop at a FamilyMart along the way!).

Kitanokaze Saryou きたの風茶寮 is a combination of brutalism and Japanese architecture, with imposing concrete everything being softened by lighting and nature outside.

The food was divine, endless tiny noms.