Mt.Fuji & Hakone Graham and I booked a trip to Mt. Fuji & Hakone after just two weeks here. Others from Canada were surprised that we were “going right for it”. We booked it through an agency called Sunrise tours, where they provide transportation to and from Hakone, a tour of part of Mt.Fuji, Japanese meals, and accommodation. You can choose to pay less, and forgo the accommodation and come back the same day, but we wanted to stay overnight. On the way up Mt.Fuji, the bus drove over a MUSICAL part on the. A road that leads to Mount Fuji in Japan has 'rumble strips' that are spaced at certain intervals to play music; it was pretty cool to hear. We went up to the fifth station, in total there are ten. The fifth station is where most people drive to, then walk to the top from there. It was cloudy, so at first we couldn’t see the peak of Mt.Fuji, which is what you go to see. While we were there, we were lucky, the cloud burnt off for 2-3 minutes and we got a view of the peak, and were able to snap some pictures. After Mt.Fuji, the bus took us to Hakone. Hakone is a small town of about 14,000 people. Most of the town is within the borders of the volcanically active Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, centered around Lake Ashi. We were very surprised, as the main reason for booking this trip was to see Mt.Fuji, however we quickly fell in love with Hakone. The tour guide took us on a ferry across Lake Ashi, which is a lake that was formed with the violent eruption of the volcano of Mt.Hakone in the prehistoric times. It’s a beautiful lake surrounded by lush tree’s and mountains. On a very clear day, you can see Mt.Fuji from areas in Hakone, including the lake, but we did not see it at this time. After the ride on the lake, we rode a ropeway up to the top of Mt. Komagatake which is the second largest mountain in Japan; Brooke LOVED the ropeways, and kept asking for “cable car, cable car”. It is a ropeway, but I called it a cable car, so that’s what she kept calling it. The view going up and at the top was just amazing. After getting off the ropeway, we walked a bit further up to see a Shinto Shrine and for more great views. The Shinto Shrine is similar to a Buddhist Temple, but it’s for a different religion. We then came down from the mountain. Brooke found a remote control Panda, this is kind of like one of those cars you see in a Canadian Mall, where you put money in, and ride it. The Panda is outside and walks around if you put money in it, she loved it! At the end of the day, the tour guide dropped us at our hotel, and then took the rest of the group back to the bullet train for their ride home. Our hotel was great! We had a choice between a Western hotel or a Ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese hotel, we chose the Ryokan. The room was a smaller sized room with 2 small tables, which had cushions on the floor (you sit on the floor cushion to eat at the table instead of a full sized chair), a TV, a closet & bathroom. Not all Ryokans have their own bathrooms, some of them you need to share with other guests. The bathroom was different compared to a Canadian bathroom, there was a handheld shower that you could use to clean yourself off, then a short, deep tub that you sit in with your knees up and relax. Also, in the room there were Yukata’s for us to put on, they are a robe type article of clothing that you are supposed to have on while walking around the hotel, along with some slippers. It gave me a feeling of being at a spa. We left our room for dinner, and when we came back a staff member had put out futons for us to sleep on. Japanese living rooms and bedrooms are typically one. During the day their futons are put away in a closet, and at night they take them out. One of the highlights of the Ryokan that we stayed in is that it had an Onsen. Onsens by definition use naturally hot water from geothermally heated springs. Onsen water is believed to have healing powers derived from its mineral content, some are indoors some are outdoors, and they come in all different shapes and sizes. You won’t see pictures of the Onsen, as you go in nude, LOL. Graham and I were a bit nervous about going in nude at first, however it is separated into a men’s and woman’s area, so it was actually just fine. Traditionally Onsens were co-ed, and some still are. The temperature was quite nice and you could smell the sulfur from the Volcano, it was a very neat and relaxing experience. The next day, we were on our own. The tour guide had given us a map the day before, and explained how to get from our hotel to the depot for the bullet train we were to take back. Even though we had a map, I was a bit nervous as soon as we left the hotel, as looking around we had no idea where we were, we were hours away from Tokyo, and people in that area spoke little to no English, so if we did get lost, it would be difficult to find our way. Graham however was great with the map, and we didn’t get lost once, which I thought was amazing. There were several ways to get to the depot, but the tour guide suggested one route, which we took. The route we went included 2 rope ways (different from the one the previous day), a pirate boat sightseeing tour, a cable car, and a train. We left the hotel at 9am and didn’t have to be at the bullet train until 6pm, so we had a ton of time. We took our time everywhere we went, and made to check out as much as we could. In the pictures you will see parts of the trip. One of the biggest highlights for this day was visiting Owakudani, which was formed before Christ by a volcanic explosion; walking around this area you can see smoking parts of the volcano right near you, VERY COOL (you will see these in are pictures, you can see the smoke coming out of different parts of the mountain)! We also seen another beautiful Shinto Shrine, took the pirate ship tour, and we stopped at a beach area for Brooke to nap. You can drink at the beach here so we decided to have some beers while Brooke was napping. At the end of the trip we took the Bullet Train back to Tokyo. Another awesome experience!! We arrived 20 minutes early and seen several of the trains go by, WOW, I have never seen something go by so fast, they go up to 240–320 km/h. When they were close by you, they were VERY loud, and I had to plug Brooke’s ears. We were back to Tokyo in 35 minutes, and driving would have taken 2-4 hours if driving, depending on traffic.