Trip to Hakone

Chris and I spent Sunday in Hakone with some of his co-workers and Adam and Aki. Adam and Aki took the 13 hour bus ride up from Shikoku arriving Sunday morning and met up with us near Hakone. They came up for an immigration interview at the Embassy in Tokyo as part of one of the many steps needed for Aki to immigrate to the U.S.. They just had their interview this morning (Tuesday) so we are hoping it went well for them and they can move onto the next step!

Hakone is about a 1.5-2 hour train ride from Yokohama in the direction toward Mount Fuji. We took a sky-tram up to a famous hot spring area, then the sky-tram down towards a large lake, a boat across the lake, a short hike through some woods, and spent a little time at a local foot spa.

our group--minus me taking the picture

plastic food you see outside most restaurants in Japan--our lunch spot

mountain hot springs (very sulfurous)

view from the hot spring area

"7 year old egg"--supposedly colored that way from the sulfur, but more likely just cooked and painted black ;)

our walk back to the air-tram

you can barely make out snow-capped Mount Fuji in the center of the picture

our sea-going transportation

trip across the lake

Aki smiles while Adam demonstrates the "Asian squat"

don't eat falling roof snow? :)

our woodsy hike

Chris with our gear

We also spent time at a foot spa, but I'll spare the pictures, as it is just of our legs and feet...