Fuji-Hakone National Park

Friday, we traveled to, and spent the day in, Fuji-Hakone National Park, with the historic Fujiyo Hotel as our home base. Traveling was half the experience, as we took a bullet train from Shinjuku station in Tokyo, then transfered to a trolley that climbed it's way up through the deep forest of Mt. Kami, including multiple direction-changing switchbacks. At Gora, we boarded a cable car, which is essentially a light rail train built at a permanent incline and is pulled up and down the mountain on a cable. Finally, we transfered to a gondola which took us to the top through very foggy and windy conditions.

Our plan was to take a boat across the lake at the top of the mountain but it was closed due to high winds and heavy fog. Shortly after disembarking the gondola, we lost Monica. We eventually found her in the gift shop staring at a box of small yellow cakes ("these look just like twinkies").

A few corn dogs (and some Japanese Twinkies) later, and we were back on our gondola-cable car-trolley route to the small town of Miyanoshita and the Fujiyo Hotel. The trees, plants, terrain, and climate (big evergreens, ferns, hydrangea, overcast, cool, and a little rain) reminded us all of home. We enjoyed walking around the small, quaint town, which is tucked deep in a steep valley and has many small shops and casual restaurants.

The Hotel Fujiyo, established in 1878, is a little run down but still grand. Although the rooms had a strange and unidentifiable smell to them, we found it to be comfortably historic and enjoyed strolling the garden (especially the koi ponds) and looking at the pictures of famous visitors, including the former emperor of Japan and John Lennon.

We dined at a local Italian restaurant where we carb loaded to make up for the last two weeks. After a swim in the pool we retired early to rest up for another long day of travel tomorrow. I think this was one of the kids' favorite days, due to the chance to be out doors, the adventure of all these forms of transportation, and probably a little reminder of home in the terrain and climate.