Mt. Fuji's mirror — ryokan hot springs, a floating torii gate, and open-air sculpture in volcanic landscape
Hakone is the classic Mt. Fuji day trip from Tokyo — but it deserves more time. The Hakone Open-Air Museum gathers major 20th-century sculpture (Picasso, Moore, Rodin) in a volcanic garden with Fuji views on clear days. Lake Ashi's red torii gate rising from the water, reflected alongside Mt. Fuji's cone on calm mornings, is one of Japan's most iconic images. Owakudani (Great Boiling Valley) is an active volcanic zone with sulphur vents where black eggs boiled in the springs are said to add 7 years to your life. The ryokan tradition here is among the most accessible in Japan — a proper kaisek…
Hakone's mountain passes were strategically vital in feudal Japan — the Hakone Checkpoint (Hakone Sekisho) on the old Tokaido road controlled movement between eastern and western Japan for the Tokugawa shogunate from 1619 to 1869. The checkpoint was particularly focused on preventing weapons from entering eastern Japan and women from leaving (hostage wives of regional lords were kept in Edo). The onsen hot springs have been drawing visitors since the Nara period (8th century), and the area became accessible to the modern traveller when the Odakyu Romance Car began running from Shinjuku in 193…