Hakone in the Autumn - Part 1

I've been to Hakone a couple of times before, previously in the winter or spring, but I hadn't experienced a Japanese autumn there, so I decided to pay a visit while the leaves were still full of colour.

I arrived mid-morning on Sunday and took a bus on a rather circuitous route round to Moto Hakone port and from there took the boat across Lake Ashi. It was a cloudy day and there was some light rain so it was an uneventful crossing Mount Fuji was completely shrouded. On reaching the port at the other end, it was time to join the queue for the cable car up to the top of Owakudani. Whilst there was no real view of the neighbouring mountains, you did get great view of the seasonal colours with splashes of yellow, red, orange and brown on the slopes below. At the summit I had an early lunch at the Skyview Restaurant, trying out the Owakudani curry, which was pretty good. After lunch, I took the cable car down the other side and then the funicular railway down a couple of stops to visit the Hakone Museum. Now the museum itself is no great draw, having a fairly small exhibit of pottery and scrolls, but the main attraction is the garden. The ground is covered with different types of moss and you walk around on cobbled paths. The maples trees were in full autumnal colour, with some leaves having fallen already adding some reds and browns to the deep green moss carpet.

I spent a fair bit of time enjoying the view in the garden with the mist hovering just over the trees. It was mid-afternoon by then so I decided to head back to Hakone Yumoto to check into Masutomi Ryokan, where is was staying for the night.

It's a small, recently refurbished place with just ten guest rooms, but boasts its own private spring, with a couple of baths and a roof top private bath. Whereas some places serve food in the rooms, this ryokan had a trendy, separate restaurant and the food was wonderful.

The main was tonyu nabe (soymilk stew) with an assortment of side dishes including sashimi, roast beef and tempura.

Beauty Parlour Sign in Okubo

You'll feel completely rejuvenated after a visit to our parlour!

Shin-Okubo

Since I often go to Shinjuku, I decided to start this Yamanote Line project by setting off from Shinjuku and travelling in a clockwise direction. It's a very short trip (less than a kilometre) to the next stop, Shin-Okubo, one of only two stops on the line that doesn't link up with any other line.

Colourful murals underneath railway bridges seem to be a fairly common feature in Tokyo and these murals near the station show that Okubo is no exception.

The area around Shin-Okubo station is made up of Okubo and Hyakunincho and it is the most well-known Korean Town in Tokyo. As you wander along Okubo dori and the maze of small streets that join it, you could be forgiven for forgetting where you are, as there are plenty of Korean restaurants, CD stores and groceries with signs written in hangul as well as Japanese, and you can hear Korean being spoken as you walk.

The Okubo area is also home to many other nationalities too, with a fair smattering of Thai restaurants and shops selling halal food such as this place.

At regular intervals in the streets you can find dispensers with free papers in Korean.

Disused buildings and empty walls anywhere often become homes to graffiti and stickers and this former pachinko parlour is festooned with stickers, the last of which is particularly odd.

Entrance to a temple on Okubo Dori.

This restaurant has inverted beaten up kettles as part of its external decor, though I'm not sure if that is in any way thematically linked to what they serve.

The dozens of narrow side streets that run between Okubo Dori and Shokuan Dori behind Kabukicho are filled with houses, low rise flats, restaurants and love hotels, distinguishable by their tacky names, discreet entrances and price boards.
On one of the sleepy backstreets I came across this building covered in graffiti art and stickers that from what I can gather is home to tattoo parlours and other possibly a bar or two.

Yamanote Line

The Yamanote Line is the loop line that encompasses central Tokyo and is one of the busiest lines in the Tokyo network (it's estimated to carry over 3.5 million passengers per day). It has 29 stations and a complete journey takes a bit over an hour to complete. Those interested in further statistics and history can click here.

For this blog, and also to familiarise myself with some parts of Tokyo that I don't know so well, I've decided to undertake a project to visit the areas around each of the stations. The idea is to get out at each station, wander around for a couple of hours, take a few snaps and generally soak up the atmosphere of the area.

Space Is The Place

A spray paint artist draws the crowds in Shinjuku on Saturday night with her sci-fi spacy scenes.

Who Are You Trying To Fool?

You Goin' MIss Your Candyman - Terry Callier
My World - Lee Fields & The Expressions
Let Me Tell Ya - Jazzanova feat. Paul Randolph
Who Are You Trying To Fool - Dave Hamilton
Love Is Everywhere - Pharoah Sanders
African Village - Nation of Multiverse
La Pasionara - Michel Legrand & Co
Osaka Calling - The Clarke-Boland Big Band
Snobs - What's Up
Red Clay - Freddie Hubbard

Face on the Wall, Yoyogi