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Recently I had a few weeks off of school so I decided to spend a few days traveling. I wanted to go someplace cheap, relaxing, and fairly close to Tokyo. I’d heard a lot about how great Hakone is for onsen (hot springs) and it fit my criteria, so Hakone it was.

Just west of Tokyo it was only a 2 hour bus trip from Shinjuku station. Although it was a short trip, it seemed like a completely different country compared to Tokyo. Hakone is a small quaint town nestled in the mountains with lots of nature and scenery. The air was fresh, the views were amazing, and it was quiet enough to appreciate it all.

We spent most of our time relaxing in the onsen and eating & drinking. Aside from that we went to a place up in the mountains where there’s steam gushing out of the ground from where the hot springs are. It’s a pretty cool site to see. Apparently it’s a popular thing for tourists to buy hard-boiled eggs cooked in the spring water. The shells turn black from some junk in the water. Don’t ask me, it’s just the gimmicky thing to do there. So in typical Japanese fashion we lined up and ate black eggs.

I won’t go on and on about the town because there’s plenty already written about it up on the good ol’ Wikipedia. I just thought I’d put up a few photos from the trip, and let everyone know that it’s a nice way to getaway from Tokyo on the cheap.

It was indeed cheap. My girlfriend and I split a room at a resort hotel. Included was 1 night’s stay, onsen, dinner, and all you can eat breakfast for only about ￥10,000 each (about $100 US). On top of that we paid about ￥3,000 ($30 US) each for a round-trip bus ticket (but I think train may be the better way to go).

Below are some of the best photos, but if you’d like as usual there’s also an obscene amount up on Flickr.

I just found out about this great park in Tokyo the other day. It’s called Koishikawakourakuen. It’s right next to the Tokyo Dome which is kind of weird, but it’s definitely one of the nicest parks in Tokyo.     

I Just got back from climbing Mt. Fuji and wow what an experience!This is something you should definitely do if you ever have the chance. I’ve never seen views like that before. We were literally walking through the clouds.

You can only climb Fuji during the months of July and August. Since July is still rainy season, most people opt for August. Needless to say it was (like most of Japan) very crowded, even though it was a weekday.First we got on a bus in Tokyo, 3 hours later we were about 75% of the way up Mt. Fuji. From there we climbed on foot to the top.We started the trek at around noon. Hiked up the mountain for about 6 hours. We were in a group with a guide, so she made sure we took our time and rested often. That was key to not wearing ourselves out. We finished the day’s hike a few hundred meters from the peak. There we ate some (extremely overpriced) instant food and slept in a really crowded hut with about 30 other people. The night air that high is absolutely was freezing cold. We slept wearing all of our clothes and jackets.

We woke up around 1:00am to start the ascent to the peak. At that time it was pitch dark so using a flashlight was a must. One great thing about the climb was the unobstructed view of the stars. The night sky from Fuji was beautiful.It was amazing how crowded it had become. Everyone was rushing to the top so they wouldn’t miss out on the sunrise. I felt like I was in a huge line at an amusement park. Finally we arrived at the top, saw the sunrise, and it was all worth it. It was really cool to look down to watch the sunrise. Words can’t describe how beautiful it was.

From there we walked around the crater (Fuji is a volcano) which took about 90 minutes. It felt like we were on top of the world. It was like we were looking out of the window of an airplane.

Overall the climb wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. There were lots of older people and a few kids climbing it and most of them seemed ok. But now that it’s the day after my body is definitely feeling it.Click here to link to all of my photos

So While living in Japan I decided it’d be best to travel around Asia a bit while I’m here. The first stop (because of the cheap price on such short notice) was Bali, Indonesia.My girlfriend and I did a little underwater seawalking, elephant riding, and the typical lounging on the beach. By far the best part of the trip was the white water rafting in the Telaga Waja River. We were literally in the middle of the jungle. We saw scenery that I’ve only ever seen in movies before.JapaneseOne interesting thing about Bali is that the local tourism workers nearly all speak Japanese. That’s because about 90% of the tourists to Bali are Japanese. Considering the average Balinese person’s salary is about 20,000 Yen (about $160) per month, and an average tourist will drop that much in a day or two… that’s pretty good motivation to learn the language. I was really impressed by how well they could speak Japanese. Some of them claimed to have only studied from a dictionary!Overall ImpressionPROS:

• Beautiful Nature
• Beautiful Beach
• Great surfing
• Everything is dirt cheap
• Lots of activities to do
• Lots of really cheap spas

CONS:

• Everyone hassles tourists for money
• Most places are pretty dirty and ghetto looking
• You will definitely stick out as a tourist anywhere you go
• It’s hard to really explore on your own outside of the resort area, unless you rent a car/motor bike

Well, this is not really so much related to Japan, but was quite an experience I had while in Japan. We went to a Korean restaurant to eat a Korean dish that I’ve always wanted to try, yes Nama Tako. This is where the kill the Octopus right before serving it to you. It keeps moving for about an hour after they slice him up. Interesting experience… actually pretty tasty too