Hakone

On a map, Hakone is an hour from Tokyo, but it's more than distance that separates them. Where Tokyo is rushing and noise and pushing, Hakone is relaxing and quiet. Okay, there's still plenty of pushing, but most of it seems to be done by the old ladies who are EVERYWHERE here.

There is a standard circuit that you Must Do in Hakone. After you take the zig-zag train from Hakone-Yumoto to Gora, you hop on a cable car that climbs the hill to Sounzan (3 syllables: so-un-zan). Then it's a big gondola (they call it a ropeway) over some mountains, where you can get a good view of Mt Fuji if he's in a mood to show his face, winding up at the beautiful Lake Ashi. From there, you board a "sightseeing boat," which seems to have been modeled after a Disney Pirate ship, which drops you off somewhere else, where you catch a bus that brings you back to Hakone-Yumoto. I made it as far as the lake, decided that the pirate ship would be far too exciting for my fragile psyche, and headed back to Gora.


Hakone Open Air Museum
Just outside of Gora is one of the most pleasant spots you'll find on a sunny day, the Hakone Open Air museum. This is the 20th Century version of the Rodin in Paris, except that the setting is a hundred times nicer. (There are also a couple of indoor buildings, and I have no clue what they contain: it was far too nice a day to be inside.)

This one is named Hand of God, by a Swedish artist whose name I did not write down (sorry!):