Torii Gates at Lake Ashi, Hakone
I recently visited Hakone over Obon break with my friend who I hadn’t seen in over a year. Hakone is generally known as a resort area and it’s the perfect summer getaway, especially since it’s located in the mountains making the area much cooler and bearable than Tokyo. My friend and I ended up staying overnight at a cute ryokan or traditional Japanese inn we found last minute. Next to our ryokan there was an onsen theme park with wine onsen, green tea onsen, sake onsen, coffee onsen, etc. My favorite was the sake onsen. I honestly thought going to the onsen in the summer was the worst idea ever but the cool Hakone weather made me change my mind, since the hot spring water felt so amazing in comparison. We spent a few hours at the park before lounging around at the inn watching the Olympics. Next time hopefully I can stay for a few extra nights, haha!
Looks amazing! x
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Thank you! 🙂
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Makes me want to go there!
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Thank you! I hope you do if you get the chance 🙂
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Beautiful area! I have been there many times while working in Gotemba and it was my favourite place for the few free weekends I had 🙂 I truly miss it!
I agree with you about the Sake Onsen. It remind me two dinners I had in Hakone area….
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It truly is! Onsen is a great way to relax and makes for one of the best vacation getaways 🙂 Gotemba is a lovely place as well though. I loved the outlet mall, haha!
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Do you live and work in Japan? Or gave you returned to Hawaii? 🙂
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I still live and work in Japan! I get to travel back home for short vacations though 🙂
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Me too! I’m based in Hokkaido. What about you? Well, I guess at least in terms of language and communication, you wouldn’t have much of a problem…. 🙂
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Oh nice!! haha I love Hokkaido~ although I’m not good with the cold. The food is delicious and it’s so lovely in the Spring 🙂
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I just realised I had asked a stupid question….haha..please pardon me, I see you are based in Tokyo…
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It’s okay! haha 🙂
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To be honest, I’m not good with cold too, and I’m not sure how cold it would get here in Hokkaido…I’ve only just started working here since August this year… 😛
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Oh my! I can only imagine how cold it will get in the winter. I can barely manage Tokyo’s winter, but I heard Hokkaido’s winter is incredibly cold …but beautiful! Especially the snow festival!
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Ikr!!! As it is, it’s only the start of autumn, and temperatures are averaging single digits everyday already…The Sapporo Snow Festival should be in Jan/Feb…I’ll keep you posted…do come and experience it!! 🙂
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Oh my goodness! That’s so cold! And yes, definitely keep me posted 🙂 Sounds like a wonderful experience!
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Love the colour filter on your photo. 🙂
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Thank you! It’s all thanks to my phone, haha 🙂
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