On 23rd April 2019 Andrea, her sister Tatjana and I went on a two-day visit to Hakone, near Odawara between Yokohama and Atami.

.... then local train to Hakone Tokaido on Lake Ashinoko, with views of Fujisan (Mount Fuji). Lake Ashi (芦ノ湖 Ashi-no-ko) (also referred to as Hakone Lake or Ashinoko Lake) is a scenic lake in the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture. It is a crater lake that lies along the southwest wall of the caldera of Mount Hakone, a complex volcano that last erupted in 1170 CE at Ōwakudani. The lake is known for its views of Mt. Fuji, its numerous hot springs, historical sites, and ryokan. The lake is located on the Tōkaidō road, the main link between Kyoto and Tokyo. A number of pleasure boats and ferries traverse the lake.

Most visitors to Lake Ashinoko stay in one of the hotels or ryokan located in the area to visit some of the local attractions. There is also a campsite at the north end of the lake. Hakone Shrine is a shrine that has been visited by shōgun, samurai, and many travelers over the centuries. Large sections of the Old Tōkaidō road are preserved here. Onshi Park was the summer retreat for the imperial family that is now a public park.

Owakudani literally means ‘great boiling valley’, and provides a multi-sensory experience of heat, smell, sound and taste. White steam hisses out of cracks in the earth, and a strong smell of sulphur pervades the bleak valley. Steaming pools, hot streams and bubbling mud pits dot the rocky landscape, hinting at the immense power that lies deep underground. Upon seeing the hellish scenery when Koubu Daishi visited Owakudani more than a thousand years ago, he offered prayer to Bodhisattva. The Enmei-jizo in Owakudani is said to have its origin in the prayer.

To get to Owakudani, take the Odakyu Line train from Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station to Odawara or Hakone Yumoto, and then change for the Tozan Line which climbs up the mountain to Gora. From there you take a funicular railway up to a cable-car station, and ride the cable-car to Owakudani. It’s usually best to buy a Hakone Free Pass which covers all of these forms of transport and more, and costs ¥5,000 for two days. If you have a Japan Rail Pass, you can save time and money by riding the Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Odawara, and then buying a Hakone Free Pass at Odawara for ¥3,900. For more information, check out the Owakudani Tourism Centre’s website.

Gora Park is primarily a French-styled landscape park featuring a large fountain and a rose garden. The park also has two greenhouses, one housing a tropical botanical garden while the other contains a flower garden. Additionally, there is a restaurant overlooking the main fountain, as well as the Hakuun-do Chaen teahouse. In the Crafthouse visitors can take part in craft activities such as glass blowing, glass etching, pottery and dried flower arrangement. Activities range in cost from 1000 to 5000 yen and take from 30 minutes to an hour to complete.

The area around present-day Odawara has been settled since prehistoric times, and archaeological evidence indicates that the area had a high population density in the Jōmon period. From the Ritsuryō system of the Nara period, the area became part of Ashigarashimo District of Sagami Province. It was divided into shōen during the Heian period, mostly controlled by the Hatano clan and its branches. During the Genpei War between the Heike clan and Minamoto no Yoritomo, the Battle of Ishibashiyama was fought near present-day Odawara. During the Sengoku period, Odawara developed as a castle town and capital of the domains of the later Hōjō clan, which covered most of the Kantō region. The Hōjō were defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Battle of Odawara in 1590, despite the impregnable reputation of Odawara Castle. The territory came under the control of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, Odawara was the center of Odawara Domain, a feudal han ruled by a succession of daimyō. The castle town prospered as Odawara-juku, a post station on the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto. After the Meiji Restoration, Odawara Domain briefly became 'Odawara Prefecture', which was merged with the short-lived 'Ashigara Prefecture' before joining Kanagawa Prefecture in 1876. During this period, the center of economic and political life in Kanagawa shifted to Yokohama. Odawara suffered a strong decline in population, which was made more severe when the original route of the Tōkaidō Main Line bypassed the city in favor of the more northerly route via Gotemba.

The epicenter of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 was deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka Prefectures, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. Ninety percent of the buildings in Odawara collapsed immediately, and fires burned the rubble along with anything else left standing.