Today was another early start for our long day trip to Hakone to get into nature and hopefully see Mt. Fuji.

We bought the tickets required a few days ago at Shijuku, so we had to head back over there to take the Odakyu rail to Hakone-Yumoto. The ticket we bought is called the Hakone Free Pass. Nothing is "free", but the pass includes not only the train to/from the area, but a bunch of other transport options (boat, cable car, etc) that are to be enjoyed in the area. We upgraded for about $8 each to the "Romance Car" which essentially provided nicer more comfy seats, bigger windows for viewing, and fewer stops so we got there sooner.

Our luck with the weather continued, and it was a glorious day so we were all but assured beautiful views of Mt. Fuji. We were told that on only about 60 days a year is the weather nice enough to allow viewing Mt. Fuji (or Fuji-san as called by the locals). Often it is covered in clouds on even sunny days.

On the generally unremarkable ~80 minute train to Hakone-Yumoto we got nice Fuji views. At Hakone-Yumoto we jumped on Hakone Tozan line cable car. Kind of like a funicular, this train is probably the slowest on earth. With 3 switchbacks, we inched our way up through the mountains to Gora. I think it took about 50 minutes to go 10 miles! The cable car stopped at various places where there are some good museums and famous hot springs baths (called "onsen" in Japan). We were tempted to get off and explore, but with some clouds starting to gather on the horizon, we wanted to get up to the top to see Mt. Fuji before it potentially got covered up.

At the end of the cable car we then hopped on the gondola (called a ropeway) that whisked us up and over the ridge to afford amazingly beautiful views of Mt. Fuji -- truly majestic. We got off at stop midway (Owaku-dani) to investigate sulfur pools, grab some coffee and hot buns (it was cold up here at around 3,000 feet) and soak in more magnificent Fuji views. Because of the gorgeous weather, it seems like all of Tokyo was here on this day. They sold eggs boiled in sulfur steam, and eating the hard-boiled eggs seemed particularly enjoyable for the locals.

We got back on the ropeway and took it to its terminus where we enjoyed the next leg of the trip -- a boat cruise on Lake Ashi. The views were so-so and it was freezing cold on the boat. We got off at Hakone-machi and as become the norm seeked out a a place that sold hot drinks. After downing some green tea, we soaked up the views and then walked up to the famous path of the Cedar Trees. Alot of hype for these trees which we found not so exciting. Probably we are spoiled living in the Bay Area and being used to seeing fantastic redwood trees.

The final leg of the journey was a bus trip back to Hakone-Yumoto to catch the train back to Tokyo. On this bus ride for the first time we experienced the crunch of public transportation in Japan. On the bus we were packed like sardines! Making matters even worse, the road the bus was traveling was packed with cars. Wall to wall traffic made the cramped bus ride extremely unpleasant. So, at one of the stops we decided to jump off and see if we could get on to the funicular that brought us up the mountain -- hopefully there would be fewer people there. Wrong move. After a crazy uphill hike to the station, we waiting forever for the cable car -- only to find it even more packed than the bus! We squeezed in and endured the incredibly slow journey (remember those switchbacks!) back to Hakone-Yumoto.

By this point we were tired and a bit cranky, and opted to pay extra for the Romance Car on the way back to Shinjuku for a bit more comfort. After arriving back at the hotel, we walked back to Ueno and discovered the wonderful Ame-ya area right under the Ueno tracks. It was kind of like a bit of East Shinjuku in our backyard! We ate some good tempura before going back to hotel and collapsing into bed!