Hakone: Part One

    On Monday, we packed our bags, strapped the kids in, and drove towards Hakone for a little vacation. Hakone is a mountain town about an hour and a half southwest of Tokyo by car. Due to its proximity to Tokyo, it is a popular tourist destination for Tokyoites. We had actually visited once before, almost three years ago. When we arrived in Hakone then, it was raining. It's funny, because the weather was exactly the same when we arrived this time. 

    The rain was persistent, so we spent the afternoon at Hakone Crafthouse, which offers glassblowing, ceramics, and jewelry-making workshops for adults and children. It is located inside the Hakone Gora Park. Since we arrived right around noon, we parked the car next to the Crafthouse and had lunch at a soba restaurant across the street. In retrospect, we should have first made reservations for the Crafthouse workshop before eating lunch, because there turned out to be a two hour wait until the next workshop slot. Given the rain, this should not have been a surprise. 

    Hakone Gora Park is a beautifully curated garden in the French and Japanese styles. It boasts a variety of flower gardens, a rose garden, and several greenhouses. We didn't walk around the garden this time due to the rain but enjoyed exploring it when we visited three years ago.

    While E waited with her dad for the glass decorating workshop, I checked into our hotel with M, whose nap was long overdue. Our hotel, Hakone Retreat Fore, had a distinctively minimalist, woodsy, tree-housey feel. They provided amenities for children, including pajamas, toothbrush, baby bathtub, and slippers. And there were lots of families with young children. While my kids enjoyed staying here, I wouldn't say it was particularly geared towards families with children. For instance, M kept playing with the coffee beans and grinder, but there was no shelf or table high enough to keep them out of reach. Then again, low shelving and tables are pretty standard in Japan, so this was not out of the ordinary. 

Coffee beans for you to grind. Laborious but delicious. 

A stool for aesthetic purposes only. M found out the hard way after attempting to sit on it. 

    The rain only got heavier as the day wore on. Luckily, Solo Pizza, the pizza place we had in mind for dinner, was right next to the hotel. Solo Pizza had a cozy atmosphere fit for a small eatery in the mountains. Its menu was mostly Italian-style pizza (as is most pizzas in Japan), but there were also a variety of appetizers, sides, pastas, and dessert. We ordered spare ribs, roast chicken, a Genovese pizza, a Margherita pizza, and bagna cauda (also curiously ubiquitous in Japan). This sounds like a lot of food, but the portions were small and the food was very good but light. Plus, we had had a light lunch and were starving by our 6 pm reservation. 

By the time dinner ended, it was pouring outside. After a morning on the road and an afternoon in the rain, most of us were ready to go to bed. E, however, wanted to go to the onsen. Onsens are Japanese hot spring baths. The water flows directly from active volcanos and are supposedly rich in minerals good for your skin. Onsen etiquette requires you to strip down completely and thoroughly wash yourself at one of the shower stalls before entering the bath. Clothing and bathing suits are prohibited. This is to ensure that anything entering the shared bath has been cleaned. 

A hot spring bath was a nice way to end our rainy first day in Hakone. While the rain lent a nice ambience to the mountains, it wasn't the most convenient for walking around and sightseeing. So we were very glad to have good weather the following two days. Stay tuned for part two, where we go see an active volcano and visit one of my favorite museums in the world.