As already mentioned in the previous article, we spent a week in Japan with friends from Switzerland. Conny and Dänu not only brought us the rugby tickets but also my driver’s license. Its been eight years since I lost my drivers license, and now I finally got it back in Japan! Funnily enough, I will have to renew it next year as the original expiry time still applies, and it ends next year.
Mirjam and I hadn’t really planned our trip to Japan, we had been busy with Russia before the trip and didn’t really plan any further ahead. So it was great for us that Conny and Dänu were so well informed and that we could follow them a bit.
Hakone
After our short stay in Yokohama, we went on to Hakone. Hakone is located in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park in the west of Tokyo and is a mountain village known for its hot springs. We arrived by train, the last train from Odwara to Hakone was a “mountain train”. Interestingly, the train goes up in a Zig Zag, so the train changes direction again and again. The train travels through a very beautiful hilly landscape, quickly we noticed that the climate here is much more humid than in Tokyo.
On the first day we had some bad luck with the weather, we made ourselves comfortable in the guesthouse, played and watched Wales vs Georgia, luckily we brought some vodka from Russia, which helped. The next day we went to the famous lake Ashi, from where you can also see Mount Fuji. But the host in the guesthouse told us that it is very rare to see the whole mountain due to clouds.
We were half lucky, the top of the mountain was covered with clouds, but we could see the rest. On the lake we made a boat trip to the Hakone shinto shrine, for Mirjam and I it was the first shrine we had seen. Afterwards we made a small hike through the forest. It was very tropical and had spiders everywhere, but luckily they were not big enough to bother Mirjam. We also saw two snakes, which made us a little more careful when walking.
Tokyo
We spent the last two days of Danu and Conny’s trip in Tokyo, we arrived in Tokyo exactly at rush hour which meant the trains were very full. But it was actually quite an interesting insight into Japanese culture, everyone was dressed exactly the same. Black suit trousers or skirts and a white shirt, everyone standing in orderly lines in the train and staring intently at their phones. In Japan it is very quiet in public transport, if you speak a little too loudly or laugh loudly you immediately gain the attention of those around you.
On the same day we spontaneously decided to go on a small bar tour which quickly became a very funny and unforgettable (not in the literal sense) evening. Interestingly we discovered that many small bars outside the tourist spots don’t let in tourists. However, luckily we met a Japanese cook in one of the more friendly (less racist) bars. He took us to a less friendly (more racist) bar. He had to do some convincing, but in the end they let us in. As you can see we managed to alleviate their concerns
The next day we explored the city together and said goodbye to Conny and Dänu. Thanks for the visit, cant wait to see you again back in Switzerland! 🙂
I don‘t like snakes but your approach how to travel the world. I want to do this as well but skip the snake part, because I don‘t like snakes as I mentioned in the beginning of this comment, as you may can see, if you don‘t see it don‘t hesitate to contact me.
Nice comment!
Yes, I can see how the snake issue may cause unforseen problems. Many people have the snake problem. Might I recommend that you also try to not see the snakes thus avoiding the snake problem. Many snakes also don’t bite dangerously. Have you considered that snakes are also good creatures?