A day trip from Numazu to Hakone

In June last year we took a day trip to Hakone. It's a very touristy area and a favourite haunt of Tokyoists wanting to get away from the big smoke for the weekend. I'm not going to say too much about it because the link I've provided here already says it all and then some. However, I will say one thing you won't read in the tourist brochures: Don't bring a pram/stroller/pusher. It's not a pram-friendly place. (It was the first time we'd taken Cassia anywhere without the Ergo, and it was such a pain not having it.)

You really need two or more days to see everything there is to see at Hakone, but here are some photos from the highlights of what we saw in our single day outing.

There's a ropeway that takes you to various stations around Hakone with some interesting scenery along the way -- this is a quarry in the mouth of an old volcano, complete with steaming bursts of sulphur, just near the Owakudani station.

At Owakudani you can walk (sans pram) around stinking sulphurous pools of hot water just for kicks, and eat eggs that have been boiled in sulphurous water to turn the shells black.

The view of Lake Ashi as the ropeway makes its descent to Togendai station.

You can get a ride on a pirate ship at Lake Ashi. Yes, it's as corny and tacky as it looks, but given that the very optimistically named Hakone Free Pass gives you access to them, you'd be loath to pass up an opportunity to go on one. Besides, it's a very long walk if you go around the lake.

After going through the Hakone Checkpoint, we kept walking and found this track leading to Moto-Hakone. Told you it wasn't pram friendly. But the walk itself is nice.

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How to get to Hakone from Numazu:

Get a train from Numazu to Odawara (you can do this via the local JR Tokaido line or you can take the Shinkansen from Mishima to Odawara), and then another train from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto, which is the usual place people begin their exploration of the area on the Hakone Round Course.

An alternative is to get the train from Numazu to Mishima and then a bus from Mishima to Moto-Hakone if you want to start exploring Hakone from the other end. Sorry I can't remember the name or number of the bus, but someone at the JR ticket office in Mishima could tell you. It might even be covered by the Hakone Free Pass (not sure about that for the trip to Hakone, but I do know it applies for your journey home).

Cultural differences

There's a pediatric "hospital" (we'd call it a clinic) on our block. Knowing that at least one of its doctors speaks English, I went there today to find out if they would be willing to endorse Elliott's passport and Australian citizenship certificate photos. It means they have to write and sign a statement that this is a real photo of a real person.

I went up to the reception desk, where at least four young women were working. One of them greeted me. I smiled. "Do you speak English?" I asked.

Hesitation. They all paused what they were doing and looked at me. One of them said she understood a little. So I tried to explain as best I could. This is my son. He was born five weeks ago. We are Australian. I need to get his passport and Australian citizenship certificate. I need a doctor to sign the photos...

They all looked totally lost. I sighed. "Do you understand?" I asked.

"More slowly?" said one.
"Oh!" said another. "Chotto matte." She scurried around the desk and out into the busy waiting room. She asked a woman there to come over to me. The woman laughed shyly and looked embarrassed (well that's what her body language said anyway; like 95% of the people in the room, she had a mask on). They came towards me. "Engrish titcha," the receptionist beamed, and ran back to her desk. The Engrish titcha continued to demur. I repeated my explanation.

Pause. "Do... you... need to... see a doctor?"
"Yes. But not for health. Just for signature."
"Oh. For signature?"
"Yes. For signature."
"Not for health?"
"No. Not for health."
"Ah!" This seemed to clarify things. The Engrish titcha spoke animatedly in Japanese to the receptionists. They spoke back to her. She spoke to me.

"This... is... small hospital. You need big hospital for signature."
No. No I don't. Come on peeps, can you just forget you're Japanese for a moment and dare to make a decision for yourselves without consulting a higher authority just this once? Please? As a favour to me? I just need a signature. It's not that hard. Really, I promise.
The Engrish titcha explained where the big hospital is. I pretended I understood, because I couldn't be bothered continuing the negotiation and I had a rough idea which hospital she was referring to anyway. I gave up, said arigato a few thousand times, and left.

Now before you assume that this is an isolated event not necessarily typical of the culture here, the same thing happened to me yesterday when I went to a different medical centre and they told me their doctor couldn't sign, and that I should go to the pediatric clinic.

I wanna go home.