Hakone & Yokohama, Week 6

Saturday, Hakone

After last weeks quiet weekend I was a bit more ambition this weekend, on the saturday I travelled to a town called Hakone, famous for its thermal springs, and it was a good opportunity to get into the hills. Hakone is about 40km to the west of where I am staying, the other side of Sagami bay, and can be reached from Tokyo in about an hour and a half.

We got off the train, and caught a bus up the, the roads really were steep and winding, the road followed a path through a thin valley and frequently crossed the river below after the climb, we got off at the side of the lake. 

Hakone wasn't the tightly knit village I was expecting, it is actually more of a small region, between the various hills are nestled lots of tiny developments, onsen and hotels mainly, connected by the aforementioned winding roads.

The feel of the place was very much like the lake district, but in this specific part, maybe a little quieter. A number of ships were constantly departing on tourist excursions around Lake Ashi.

The Hakone shrine sits in the middle of a forest up the side of one of the hills, but has a Torii gate on the lakeside.

Walking down the shore of the lake wasn't the most pedestrian friendly paths, but there were a few surprises including this suspension bridge (which was very flexible).

The endpoint of our skirmish was to get to the Hakone Komagatake Ropeway. Built in 1963, it will take you to the top of Mt Komagatake in 7 minutes.

The reason, of course, we crammed ourselves into this ageing can of sardines was to see one of the best views of Mt Fuji Japan has to offer, the misty windows offering a teasing preview. We actually found ourselves in the presence of the Real Madrid fan club on tour, they are here for the Club World Cup (they won on sunady), so the cable car started off to chants rowdy of "Vamos Real Madrid"

The top of the hill certainly did offer some good views. Not only of Mt Fuji, but you could see all over the southern part of the island.

The other side not only got us some space from the Ultras, it was a fantastic view over the whole of the greater Tokyo area.

Using the binoculars, it was possible to see as far as the other side of Tokyo bay. The bays and flats of the Tokyo area, in sharp contrast to the rising rugged hills, make it easy to see it was a natural best fit for the development of such a seizable population and it is fascinating to be able to see most of Japan's economy in one go.

At the summit there was also a minor shrine building, but it was the Ropeway station that seized my architectural attention.

It was just so horrendously ugly, and for it to be in such a picturesque location.

It was's even ugly in a Frank Gehry kind of way, just an absolute care-free shambles of glass and concrete. I don't even know if this was the self-conscious kind of brutalism, as evidenced by the lower station. It certainly generated an aesthetic response.

The trip down offered better views, down onto the streets below, and clearly over to Mt Fuji.

 

The day ended up with a late-evening session in the Tenzan Onsen, bathing in mineral water naturally heated by the volcanic activity below. It is a very traditional Japanese activity, and was highly relaxing, I have no photos however for obvious reasons.

Sunday, Yokohama

On Sunday I came back to Yokohama, my nearest megacity, and my first stop was the Yokohama stadium, where I was pleasantly surprised to not only be granted access for free, but to be able to witness a Japanese american football game. It looked generally to be a bit better quality than the equivalent that i've experienced in the UK, although I don't think they were quite expecting the 30,000 capacity of the stadium to be fully realised.

A short walk though the adjacent Japanese style park (I got vibes of Preston's Avenham Park), brought me to the gates of Yokohama's famous Chinatown.

Quite a surprise really, as British opinion seems to some extent to assimilate the two cultures, but Yokohama is home to one of the world's biggest china towns. An you can really feel the difference between this exported version of China, and the Japanese cities i have got used to.

Amongst the crowded shopping and eating streets, there were a couple of chinese-style temples, which mainly offered the opportunity to burn incense sticks and perform a similar routine to the Japanese Shinto shrines I had already seen. 

 Despite structural similarities though, the Chinese temples were much more lavishly decorated. Only a trip to China will tell if this reflects the reality though, perhaps these are just pumped-up export versions.

The street food on offer in Chinatown was interesting, it must have been 80% dumpling, including these cute panda style ones. Which were so soft and glossy I was surprised when I bit into it that it was actually pork and gravy (hence the pig... duuh).

After chinatown, I got to the Yokohama coast, a well-used docking land which has seen some Canary-Wharf style regeneration in the last couple of decades.

Part of my interest in this area came due to the architecturally-acclaimed Yokohama International Ferry terminal, built on the site of an original passenger pier, It allows for both public meandering and, beneath, the docking and customs facilities to cater for four large passenger vessels.

Finished in 2002, It is built in a style which is halfway between the brash folds and chain fences of early Frank Gehry, and the flowing lines of late Zaha Hadid. It's a semi-interesting style that adds a bit of honesty, but it is not really down my street, and in places looks more like the 3D file exported wrong than it does an actual style.

It does seem to have done well however to be a new piece of urban fabric that is well used by the public, most people seemed to be enjoying themselves and it wasn't just architecture and photography bores like myself which you usually find in these kind of destinations.

And it offers some nice views of the city too.

After the sun set, I headed further down the coast and actually got my first taste of Christmas. There was a Christmas Market happening in one of the posh shopping developments, it was very busy, if a tad inauthentic. The Japanese, not being very Christian, have a very commercialised and specific version of christmas delivered to them in the hopes that they buy more.

This weekend ended with a bite to eat, and a trip to watch the new Star Wars film, Rogue One. I was rather self-indulgent and ended up electing to see it in IMAX 3D, in the premium seats, popcorn and cola in hand. The film was very enjoyable though, so it was worth it!