This entry was posted on 2001-04-10
Fujisan and Hakone
Today I received a harsh reminder about why I loathe guided tours. Don't get me wrong, Fujisan was beautiful (Yeah! I finally saw it!) and the weather was perfect. The sakura were in full bloom up in the mountains, so that was an added bonus for me. But I just wish I could have figured out how to see it all on my own (since it's not official Fuji climbing season I don't really think that there is any other alternative. The tour bus went up to the 5th station on the mountain, where the road ends. I don't think any public busses go all the way up there at this time of year). So I suppose that the only way to see some of the lovely scenery that I saw today is with a tour. And I do have to admit that I was pretty psyched to ride back to Tokyo via the Tokkaido Highway. There's so much history behind that road. During the Edo (Tokugawa) Period (1600-1868), the imperial family lived in Kyoto whereas the Tokugawa family (the ruling family at the time, hence the period's name) set up their administrative headquarters in Edo (Tokyo). In order for samurai to get from Kyoto to Tokyo or visa versa they would have to travel on the Tokkaido Road (now the Tokkaido Highway). Most of them (except for the high ranking ones who used horses and were sometimes carried) walked and it took over two weeks to get from Tokyo to Kyoto. It's amazing how the Shinkansen cuts that time down to a little over two hours today!
Anyway, that's the end of today's Japanese history lesson. Back to the tour, Fujisan, and Hakone. First, you must understand that traveling and touring Japanese style means seeing almost everything from the bus and stopping at every souvenir shop en route. Not exactly an active, getting close to nature, holiday.
Our first stop was some gigantic souvenir shop/rest stop about halfway between Tokyo and Mt. Fuji. After about a half hour there (I have to admit that the bakery had excellent walnut rolls, though!) we left.
As soon as Fujisan came into view, the guide made an announcement. Did we stop to hike around the surrounding area with its sakura fully in bloom? No. Everyone started to take pictures from the bus window. Oh well, I figured that once we got to the 5th station that there'd be ample time to hike and take lovely photographs.
Fujisan is beautiful. I love its snowcapped peak. And it's hard to believe that something that symmetrical is natural. The tallest mountain rises over the Kanto Plain. It towers over the other mountains and it almost feels like its watching over the people of Japan. Fujisan is a volcano. Right now it is dormant ("sleeping" as my Japanese friends describe). The last eruption was back in 1702. It killed many people in surrounding towns and covered the streets of Tokyo in volcanic ash. It very well could explode again (though probably not for a long while). Geologists have noticed some activity in the area. Another explosion would be pure disaster. The majority of the people living in Japan live on the Pacific Ocean side between Osaka and Tokyo. The Fuji area is populated enough as is, but a new eruption could be disastrous for places as far away as Tokyo as well.
The tour bus stopped in a small parking lot surrounded by souvenir shops and rank public toilets. I was informed that we had reached the 5th station. This is it? There wasn't even a trail to take a quick hike. And the view of the top from this point wasn't exactly wonderful. We had 30 minutes to explore the shops (read: tourist traps), pee, and then get back on the bus. Hello? I thought that we would do a little more than just see Fujisan. The pamphlet about the tour was very literal.
After I got tired of the crappy tourist shops (about 5 minutes) I walked around the parking lot, trying to figure out if any of the pictures from the area would be pretty. Probably not. I couldn't even leave the parking lot to go sit under the trees because the lot was far from anything natural. Cursing myself for signing up for a tour (and promising my self that one day, during climbing season, I will come back to Fujisan on my own), I got back on the bus.
Our next stop was at some swanky resort for lunch. Since I hadn't paid for lunch (You could either do the tour with or without lunch. Sans lunch was much cheaper and I figured that I wouldn't eat anything anyway), I wandered around the Western style/bilingual resort looking for something interesting. Nothing. It reminded me of Wisconsin Dells but with a little more class. We had an hour at the resort (hmmm...an hour at a resort and only 30 minutes at the 5th station without a stop to hike around a bit...).
Our next stop was the most ridiculous. We pulled into some parking lot with a lot of souvenir shops by Hakone's small volcanic hotspot. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not every day that I get to see (and smell) sulfur and acid. But I had been to better volcanoes than this one (Showa in Hokkaido and Aso in Kyushu). But here's the real kicker. On a sign I read that it takes about 30 minutes to hike around the volcanoes on the trail. I would've loved to have done that, but we only had 20 minutes there! Again, 20 perfect minutes for crappy souvenir shops (I wonder if the shop owners pay off the tour companies to stop at their shops). The smell of sulfur was making me ill, and the fact that I couldn't even hike it was making me pissy. So I crawled back on to the bus.
By this time the other passengers were really starting to annoy me. Most of them were French, German, and Chinese tourists. The Indonesian (?) family next to me (4 children; 2 parents) never shutup so I couldn't even hear what the guide was saying most of the time.
It was at Lake Ashi near Hakone where I wanted to kill everyone (but decided against it because from what I hear, the Japanese penal system ain't nice). Finally, I had a moment of solitude. I was enjoying looking at the sakura, hearing the birds sing, and smelling the lake when the Indonesian family came over to my little hideaway and started shrieking and taking pictures. The kids (and I do not like children) were all up in my face and kept on bumping into me. I got up and left (before my headache got any worse). The only place to go was to another crappy souvenir shop. When I got inside, people from my bus were screaming to one another across the store. Where could I go next for some peace and quiet? The toilet? It smelled too bad so I just waited outside the store.
Hakone was the most peaceful place that we visited all day and the other tourists still couldn't shupup. Ahhh, I hate tourists...
The ride back to Tokyo was interesting enough as we passed a bunch of highway side love hotels. But I couldn't wait to get back to the city. I couldn't wait to get away from the tourists. And I couldn't wait to sit in front of my computer and write this entry.
If you haven't guessed it by now: Karen's travel tip of the day: Don't take group tours. (But if in Japan, do somehow get your ass to Fujisan. And if you have any creative ways of doing it, please let me know).
I'm off to the sake bars now to drink away my frustrations.
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Well, I'm back from my little drinking escapade. I couldn't find a suitable sake bar (I know, I know, they're all over Tokyo but for some reason none of the ones that I passed appealed to me) so I headed to Ikebukuro hoping to find something interesting there. Ikebukuro used to be my favorite area of Tokyo, but I think that Shinjuku has taken over.
Of course I couldn't find anything in Ikebukuro. What the hell was I thinking? At night Ikebukuro turns into a playland for middle class, middle aged businessmen. I was not about to chase 40 year old Japanese men around!
Since I missed out on hiking today I thought it would be fun to walk from Ikebukuro back to Shinjuku. Not a good idea. Shady, seedy creatures like to lurk around Ikebukuro at night. Some of the streets are very poorly lit. Aside from that, it would be a really long walk through some areas that I don't know so well.
After stopping at a convenience store to pick up some beer (see, I did wind up drinking tonight), I opted for the bus. I looked for a bus that goes to Shinjuku, bottle in hand, sipping my alcohol in public like a lush. I managed to drop the bottle (no, I wasn't drunk, but the bottle was slippery) right in front of a police box. Luckily, it's totally legal to drink in public here, but it was nonetheless embarrassing.
After a few blocks I found a bus route to Shinjuku. When the bus came, I got on, happily sipping my beer. Ahhhh, what a night!