Japan Trip - Monday, January 14th, 2008
8:00am
Today was the last day in the Hakone area at the hot spring resort before heading out to Tokyo. I enjoyed my final adventure to the onsen in the morning before breakfast. Ayakas’ father suprised me by snapping a few photos while I wasn’t looking. I was relaxed enough that I never noticed until afterwards.
11:00
We checked out around 11am, and drove around Hakone a bit more. This time the weather cooperated a bit more, revealing the valley below the resort, as well as the summit of Mount Fuji. I’m not sure why, but this time Mount Fuji seemed a lot larger than it did last time I visited in 1999. Perhaps the weather was more clear this time around. Either way, its a massive mountain compared to anything around it.
Eventually we found ourselves eating lunch at a local restaraunt selling Hottou, a local specialty similar to Udon, only much thicker and with massive noddles and ingredients such as pumpkin and large potato chunks.
16:00
From there we headed to the Mount Fuji natural springs, the source of many of the Fuji based bottled water companies. It was a very beautiful areas, with many naturally styled gardens built around the springs.
From there we headed into Tokyo via highway.
21:00
Once in Tokyo, myself and Aya went up in the Tokyo City Hall building to take a look from the top floor, getting some amazing night views of the city skyline.