In the elusive shadow of Mount Fuji: A couple of days around Hakone with children

Less than an hour and a half by train southwest of Tokyo, the forested hills of Hakone felt like another world after the bustle of the big city. Hakone describes the area around the Hakone volcano and is one part of the extensive Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. The entry point is a small town, also called Hakone, which reminded us of the likes of Kendal near the Lake District in the UK – the place where tourists arrive on the train to stay and day trip out into the wider park, or disperse deeper into the small villages. Hakone town is certainly ‘touristy’, and gets very busy in peak season, but also means it has plenty of hotels, restaurants and tat shops, and worked well as our base for a few days of exploring.

Glimpses of Mount Fuji

For many visiting this area the primary attraction is to journey to one of several spots which give picturesque views of Mount Fuji. Rafe, taken as he is with Hokusai’s thirty six wood block prints of views of the same mountain, was keen to make his own appreciation. So keen in fact that he has dedicated his debut blog post to the subject.

Although views of Mount Fuji are the big draw here, we were pleasantly surprised at how many activities there were in the area. Combine the activities with the fact both Rafe and Odessa prefer being out in the wild, and we had a great couple of days.

Hands-on at the Hakone Craft House

Set inside the glorious Gora Park (itself definitely worth a visit, and free entry with your Hakone Freepass – win!), Hakone Craft House offers several different crafting activities. As we entered, we met the friendly reception staff who let us know which activities were running that day and any wait times, and the kids chose what to do. It is possible to book your activity ahead of time which would be a good idea in peak season. Inevitably we hadn’t done that, but were able to walk straight up and start anyway. You don’t actually pay for the tuition directly, but you pay for the materials you use – for example Rafe and Odessa chose to create a design which was laser etched onto leather bookmarks and keyrings. They chose the colours and we paid for the items ahead of the making. There were a number of different activities available, some of which, such as glass blowing and pottery on a wheel the kids were not old enough to try.

Both Rafe and Odessa had a tremendous time working out what to emblazon on their take home mementos. Dessa deliberated long and hard before selecting several small characters from the wide selection of stencils which the Craft House provides. Rafe on other hand chose to freestyle a wolf howling at the moon. It goes without saying that the Craft House is well worth a visit.

Majestic sculpture at the Hakone Open Air Museum

There can be few more perfect outdoor settings for sculpture than this. The Open Air Museum commands ridiculously good views across the valley and the hills beyond. We didn’t expect to come across a sizable collection of Henry Moore works here in Japan, which felt a little incongruous on the other side of the world, but nonetheless very welcome. Nestled amongst them was also a Barbara Hepworth piece, which was a nice reminder for us of previous good times visiting St Ives where she had her now preserved studio.

Alongside Moore and Hepworth were several particularly striking Joan Miro works, and also the great red and appropriately titled “Floating Sculptures 3” by Marta Pan, Sphere-Trames by Francois Morellet and “Close III” by Anthony Gormley.

With the setting and the big impactful sculptures Rafe and Odessa got on quite well walking around the park. But the best parts were undoubtedly the interactive elements. Set inside a nest of wooden beams is the fantastic hand knitted climbing frame titled “Unknown Pockets 2: A Gift” by Toshiko Horiuchi. Dessa in particular really got into this – literally – climbing in and exploring, occasionally popping her head out of an unexpected exit.

On this hot day the climb up the inside of the 18m tall “Symphonic Tower” was tough, but rewarded with magical with light glinting through its stained glass walls and incredible views from the top.

Pirates off the port side!

As mentioned, one of the reasons to visit Hakone is to glimpse different views of Mount Fuji. The best way to do this is by following a neat little circular route which links up a number of the famed viewpoints. Part of the fun in this is the range of different modes of transport in the loop. At Lake Ashi at Motohakone, Fuji view hunters can sail across the lake in a modern interpretation of a pirate ship. Complete with cannons and rigging, this was fabulous news for the kids, as well as the bigger kids!

Between Togendai and Sounzan, the mountain can be glimpsed from a cable car called the Hakone Ropeway. Despite decent weather and smooth sailing the elusive Mount Fuji continued to hide behind cloud, as it often does. After our trip to Hakone, we found July is just about the worst month to view the mountain, with just a 10% chance! The best views are between November and February, with an 80% chance of the majestic view in December. We’ve chalked this up for something to do on a return trip. Motohakone is a pretty town worthy of a visit in its own right. It’s home to the Hakone shrine with one huge red torii gate on the main road through the town, and another submerged in the lake and the town has a number of hot spring resorts and cute little tea houses along the lake shore.

Owakudani, black eggs and the geomuseum

On to the next method of transport, as well as offering potential views of Mount Fuji, the Hakone Ropeway cable car has a stop halfway at the Owakudani valley. Here superheated sulphurous steam vents and hot water gush up from the deep. The area is volcanically very active and was closed for a while in 2015/2016 following some small eruptions.

For centuries the locals have been using the volcanically heated water here to supply the many hot spring onsen baths in the area. The spot is renowned across Japan for this geological activity, but also because eggs are hard boiled in one of the pools and the shells turn black. These black hard boiled eggs called kuro-tamago are unique to this place and the local lore is that no-one has yet worked out quite why or how the eggs are turned black when boiled here – though killjoy scientists say its just down to high sulphur and mineral content of the water. It’s only the colour of the shell that’s affected, the inside is just like any other boiled egg, except for the price.

The Hakone Geomuseum is housed under the ropeway station and was well worth a visit. There were several hands-on opportunities for Rafe and Odessa as it explained the geology and timeline of the area including the phreatic, steam driven eruption of the Hakone volcano at Owakudani in 2015, the first volcanic activity in the area in around 3000 years resulting in the closure of the area to visitors for a couple of years. The eruption was quite an event here although in reality when compared to many other volcanic eruptions it is considered small, with water and steam propelled 30 metres into the air for a short time. As well as learning all about how steam vents area generated, there was also an area set aside for colouring in and posting pictures of Hakogeo, the Hakone mascot. After seeing several similar characters in Tokyo, spotting these in the various places on our Japan journey would become a theme. The Japanese love a mascot.

The Skywalk to adventure

Near Mishima, southwest from Motohakone is the Skywalk, the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in Japan at 400m in length. The impressive bridge was built primarily to offer expansive views down to Suruga Bay and across to Mount Fuji, when not shrouded in cloud.

Once you’ve bought your tickets and walked across the skywalk bridge, you arrive on the north side of the valley where there are a range of activities available at an extra cost. Rafe and Jim quickly donned harnesses and got stuck into the high ropes course set up in the lofty pine woods around the site. The highlight was undoubtedly the two exceptionally long zip lines strung back and forth across the valley parallel with the skywalk bridge.

While Rafe and Jim explored the heights, Odessa and Helen followed the Kicoro no Mori trail set amongst 13000 blooming hydrangea bushes to spot little wooden creatures called Kicoro. They also visited a small petting zoo with small mammals and a vast array of owls and other birds. Other activities we didn’t partake in include segway tours, ebike rentals and a AR dinosaur trail.

The Old Tokaido Road

The old Tokaido road was once the main artery and walking trail between Tokyo (then called Edo) and Kyoto. Along the route would have been temples, shrines, inns and places for weary travellers to rest as they made the journey. Most of the trail no longer exists, long ago replaced by Japan’s Route 1, the Tokaido highway. However, there are small pockets of this beautiful ancient trail still in existence, and still paved with the traditional cobblestones. One such section runs from Motohakone to Hatajuku in Hakone. Along this route is the Amazake-chaya tea house, largely unchanged in the last 400 years, run by the Yamamoto family for 13 generations and still selling traditional refreshments to weary travellers tourists. The tea house really is like stepping back in time, with thatched roof and earthen floor and furnished with small stools clustered around low wooden tables. We had no real idea what we were ordering, but ended up with the signature amazake, made in Japan for over 1000 years. It’s a sweet, non-alcoholic sake made from rice which tasted like thin rice pudding. We also ordered a glass of shiso juice which was bright red and inoffensive, made from the leaves of the perilla plant. On the table were flasks of a delicious black tea and tea bowls to pour it into. We also ordered some snacks, mochi and miso-oden, which none of us were particularly taken with. There’s a set of woodcuts by Hiroshige which document travel along the old Tokaido road, called 53 Stations of the Tokaido. These beautiful prints conjure up the atmosphere of travelling this extraordinary route in the Edo period. The scenery around Amazake-chaya transports you straight into the world of the wood cuts.

How we did it

The Hakone Freepass was central to our exploration and allows unlimited travel on selected buses, trains, boats and cablecars within the Hakone area. We bought ours at the ticket office next to tourist information, just over the road (there’s a footbridge) from Hakone Yumoto station. The staff there were incredibly helpful. For an additional win much appreciated by Odessa, they also give away free origami!

You can buy a two or three day pass, and can choose to include the ‘Romancecar’ train from Shinjuku, one of Tokyo’s city centres. We had already taken the train from Tokyo station via Odawara to Hakone Yumoto using our Suica IC cards to tap in so we didn’t need the additional train ride. Note that the Romancecar is privately run and requires separate tickets whereas other trains take Suice IC and / or JR rail passes. All trains in Japan are excellent, but the Romancecar does look particularly luxurious.

With the Freepass in hand we were free to use buses, the train up and down between Hakone and Gora (site of the Craft House and the Open Air Museum), as well as the pirate ship and ropeway / cable car. The means of transport were well organised, regular and punctual and very easy to navigate. The pass also includes discounts for many of the attractions in the area which we used for access to the Open Air Museum, the beautiful botanic gardens in Hakone Gora Park and Mishima Skywalk. We also snagged a discount on the refreshments at Amazake-chaya tea house. Other discounts we didn’t have time for included entry to Onsens, many museums (the whole Hakone area is littered with galleries and museums), restaurants and cafes. All in, we would definitely recommend the Freepass for a few days of exploring for convenience and value.

Top tip – the Navitime app is your best friend when it comes to looking up all public transport options in Japan. Its most useful feature is that you can select which passes you hold, for example a Japan Rail Pass and a Hakone Freepass, and the app flags which services are valid with these passes, and which you would need to pay additional fees to ride. It also has platform numbers for trains. Indispensible.

This handy map shows the typical route many people take to reach all the Mount Fuji viewpoints in one circular trip, taking the H line bus from the station to Motohakone, the pirate ship north on the lake, over the ropeway / cablecar to Goza and back to Hakone station via the train, or the same in reverse.

We stayed at K’s House hostel, on the K line. Direct from the station, the bus dropped us a few metres from the door of the hostel. It’s only a 15 minute walk, but very steep, so the bus was welcome for little legs. We stayed in a number of K’s Houses across Japan, all were excellent, but the Hakone branch must be one of the best hostels in the world. There’s even an Onsen in the basement! The K line also has a stop right outside the Amazake-chaya tea house.

If you are peckish in Gora, two top tips. The kids enjoyed Shake and Dog in the station for a good value snack. Higher priced but wonderful was the Gora Brewery and Grill House. A partnership with the founder of Nobu, this is every bit as good as you might imagine. More expensive than many local places but not as high as it could be for food this good. It’s very atmospheric, looking out over a garden of volcanic rocks and moss and with the trunk of a 300 year old cedar tree appearing to grow in the centre of the dining room.