On day 7, we ventured from Kyoto to Hakone, a village in Japan where you have an incredible view of Mt. Fuji. The Green Hotel Plaza Resort focuses on its accessibility to the traditional Japanese onsen, a bathing house made from mineral water from the mountain. Our group then had an incredible experience with a boat ride on Lake Ashi in Hakone.
Mt. Fuji, Sengokuhara Hot Spring, and Lake Ashi at Hakone
After our days in Kyoto, an ancient capital of Japan, we stayed overnight at Hakone. From my hotel room, I saw Mt. Fuji, but by the time I sent a group chat message to our group, it was completely covered by the thick cloud. At around 10pm, one of our participants shared a beautiful photo of Mt. Fuji. The mountain is majestic and not always visible, so I woke up at 5 am and went to the Mt. Fuji viewing garden at our hotel. My wish came true. Mt. Fuji was huge and beautiful. Every photo we take is uniquely different because of the light and clouds. When I went to the public hot spring bathing area, I went to the bath tub outdoor and enjoyed the viewing of Mt. Fuji as the steam from the hot spring water is in front of me.
There are several health benefits of immersing ourselves in hot spring.
- Increase blood circulation
- improve sleep
- reduce pain
- reduce stress
- improve skin
- detoxify
We were blessed to have had the opportunity to experience it first hand.
Our hotel’s natural hot spring contains sodium, calcium, and magnesium. 19 hours later, my skin still feels soft, smooth and healthy thanks to the hot spring.
Since the weather was good this morning, we decided to take the cable car to Lake Ashi. Then we cruised the entire lake in 2 different boats.there for a brief moment, we were able to see a part of Mt. Fuji.
We truly were blessed to be surrounded by the stunning beauty of the woods, lake, and Mt. Fuji.
-Sachiko Komagata
It was such a new and interesting experience right off the bat taking the Shinkansen into Hakone for about 2 hours then transferring to a bus that took about an hour to arrive near the hotel. We then were picked up by a shuttle on the side of the road and driven to the resort. As we arrived we all admired how amazing the resort looked. Over dinner we had discussed going to the hot spring at the resort. A lot of us were hesitant because it is not a norm for us in the states to bathe naked with strangers, but when in Japan it is difficult to pass up a once in a lifetime experience, especially in water infused with minerals from Hakone Lake. It is probably important to add that the genders are separated in their own hot spring! Putting our egos aside we decided to go to the onsen and to say the least it was a life changing experience. It was so freeing to soak in the hot mineral water from the mountain. It was partially outdoors and the spring was made of rocks so you feel like you are really outside bathing in a real hot spring. I felt fully rejuvenated after. Even though the stay at the resort was such a small portion of our trip it was one of the most amazing parts of our trip. 10/10 would recommend.
-Sarah Jaramillo
In Hakone, we had the opportunity to take a boat on the lake. The breeze was so nice and the views were absolutely stunning. And when we saw Mt. Fuji in the background, it was breath-taking. It was also cool to think about how we can now say we used very mode of transportation on Japan: car, train, plane, and boat.
-Andrew Diaz
