Hakone

Wow, snow... There's no snow here in Singapore... I'd like to try the kids meal... And Danny, good luck on mastering levitation!

Arrr! What nice pictures! I really dont know in which season I should visit Japan, in every season you can see Japan from another side! But I think I want to see the sakura zensen ^^

I always wanted to see Mt Fuji! I might do like what the usual tourist does and whip out my mobile phone too LOL XD

So fresh that sometimes it moves? Now that's more like it! LOL XD

Great pics. Snow and a clear sky always look so nice.

BTW this article shows under the 'dakimakura' on on the main page, even though this one is newer. Bug maybe?

Nice pictures. Never been to Hakone when its snow. it looks so different during winter. maybe I should go there this month.

Great place for vacation, so serene. Tasty fresh food!

Gorgeous scenery. I tend to forget Japan is not just hot n steamy.

Wow. Beautiful scenery. I wanna see real snow with me own eyes..!

Ryokan... eh? I gotta experience one someday. But the "extremely decorative" food doesn't really appeal to me...

Calming scenery here.
Snow everywhere and a nice sunshine accompanied by a calm lake.
Pretty neat.

WOW spectacular view. Gone into my must visit places when in Japan. ^^

Snow and clear blue sky. It's breathtaking.
Just nice for me, especially when all my assignments due next week. =.='''

Whoa! it looks beautiful, would love to visit that place.
Hakone was a place that came up in a book I'm reading, now I have a better picture of it in my head^^

Also.. why are there comments from people made in 1999?
[1999/11/30 15:00]..ehh...

Hi Danny.I am RobLucci sorry if I had offended you but i am not a troll I was just asking you a question that I am curious I am truly sorry.So will you stop disabling my other account and let it activate again?I sign up for another account because I can't log in in my original one/account.

whyyyyy, wasn't it snowing when i went =(
twice as well

kirei na! i went in Oct when it was autumn and that was nothing compared to the lovely snow landscape as above. hoping i can go again with my wife in future and be able to stand the cold. ^_^

The snow there is beautiful, looks like a scene straight out of a movie

remind me of the hardest lane on Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 :P

thats beautiful. i wish i were there and not here in crappy vancouver.

wow very beautiful place to live ^^

My buddies and I went there in Spring 2007. We really wanted to see Mt. Fuji from the lake, alas the weather wasn't on our side. It felt more like we were in a Silent Hill game ^^; Totally unlike the postcard pics....

The storm trooper should wear his Ski's or snowboard! SNOWBOARD TROOPER!

I visited Hakone in July 2001 and it is pretty much similar to what Danny showed. Great views, just without the snow. Stayed at a local ryokan and had shabu shabu for dinner. Rooms were decent size and service was great. Breakfast was traditional Japanese style instead of continental, which is nice (although not for everyone). Took the ferry across Lake Ashi to see Mt. Fuji (before climbing a bit of it later). I think there was also some museum like thing, but I don't recall exactly.

Overall, I think Hakone is my favourite spots that I have been to. Tokyo is nice in the urban sense, but there's something special about the tranquility. Seeing a Shinto torii in the middle of a calm lake in the mountains is absolutely breathtaking. I would highly recommend everyone to go there at least once.

Awesome pictures !
Thanks !

Isn't there a lake monster in Lake Ashi?

I went there and stayed at a ryokan too. It was already cold on that mountain when it was spring, I imagine it must have been even more so when you went. When I looked at the trees on the cable car going up the mountain, I noticed that there was green trees, and all of a sudden a all the trees were brown (dead). You could draw a line where everything was green vs brown. Really weird.

Darn, where's the poll saying 'Have you been to Hakone'? Have been to Lake Ashi and Owakudani, and I agree with Danny - it's a fantastic place. Went there at the end of March 2008, on a very clear day indeed. Got a lot of great photos and had a fantastic time.

very beautiful. just fell in love with the lake :)

Awesome, i wanna go there now...
Very nice pictures tho... my cam wants to go there too, she just said! ><

I love the scenery very beautiful! I love how the lake is surround by moutains and trees makes it feel closed off from everything.

Very pretty. The food also looks quite nice as well. Will definately have to paln a trip there when I go to Japan.

Love the food! I remember the food prepared for us at an old coastal Tokyo hotel. It tasted so gooood! Authentic J-food is the best.

Wow, some awesome views O_O
Great pictures.

Wow, that place look amazing.

Awesome the lake is not frozen!!! Not like up here^^

If you drive to Hakone during snow season, make sure to carry tyre chains.

I went a couple of years ago with a hire car. We asked for chains but the shop manager said we wouldn't need them. It snowed in the night and the next morning we couldn't even drive out of the hotel car park. We spent the whole day arranging by phone for a recovery lorry, and then waiting for it. The cost of recovery was over 15,000 yen.

When we got back to the car hire shop the manager wasn't there or I think my wife would have killed him. His assistant was given the chewing out of the century though. It went on for 15 minutes.

Motto of the story is never to hire from Nippon Rentacar.

I can't get enough of the cool photography, Danny. Thanks for sharing. Gets me motivated to work hard so I can visit all the places you've shown.

Amazing view and doesn't seem too far. Great! Also looks pretty peaceful with not too much noise around ^^.

"I'm still not sure why folks over here go crazy when they see Mount Fuji" I think it's because it's a symbol of the country and it has mythological interest. This appears to matter even to people who aren't diehard nationalists or deeply religious.

Personally I don't think I will visit Mt. Fuji on a vacation. Each day would be so valuable that I would have to be a bit picky on what to see and I have seen plenty of volcanos and climbed some too. I would really have to be in the area anyway to see it.

I don't get the concept of camera phones though. Usually the pictures aren't that good and people should use real cameras instead.

beautiful! sir you are living the dream!

3 things to say:

1 / great great great pictures !!! (as always but this time, even better) i love them

2 / hahah excellent levitation skills, you are definitely a jedi ^^

3 / I am loving Japan more and more everyday thanks to you

by the way, I take this occasion to remind everyone that i am a talented brand and customer marketing specialist, really wishing to move to Japan for work, if someone can help, please do not hesitate to post

thanks a million

i remember when i went to Hakone - No snow at the time i went but it was around mid-lateish December

i think i took around 3GB of photos on my (back then newly aquired) Canon 400D/Kiss X all on RAW. Scenery was indeed beautiful - I SOOO want to go back

Maybe i should upload some to my Flikr...

Definetly a "must go" when I finally travel to Japan!

Stunning photos once again! I feel compelled to request that at least one or two photos on this trip find themselves in the wallpaper pool!

Count me among those who are just crazy over Fujisan. I'm always scrolling through Flickr looking for more photos of Japan's sacred mountain. I'm currently in the beginning stages of planning a climb on Mt. Fuji within the next year or so. I've experienced some awesome mountain hikes here in the U.S., but Fujisan really calls my name more than any of em'!

Beautiful place and it's near to tokyo! Bookmarked for possible travel plan. Btw haven't danny mentioned a possibility of organizing a tour for DC peeps? Awaiting eagerly ^^

uhh..young maid?
any photo? :D

what a beautiful scenery especially the shot of Lake Ashi

Gosh that place is so beautiful! If I ever go to Japan I plan to visit it. :D

The last two times I went to Tokyo I went to Hakone...and I'll be going there again in 4 months! It's really nice to see it with the snow! The last times I went were in the spring so everything was in blossom.

My first trip to japan was with my high school japanese culture club. We went in April 2006 during spring break, and the cherry blossoms were blooming a bit late, so when we got there, all the sakura trees were blossoming. Absolutely beautiful.

Also my first experience with an onsen. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't that uncomfortable being in the nude with my classmates. haha... just don't look down, and everything's fine. hahaha

The winter scenes here are so different from what I saw back then... It's like a whole new place. I remember golden fields where you're "mastering levitation" oh wow, I remember that place where you get on the ferry and everything.... I wonder if I uploaded any photos back then...

ooh, awesome, I did.
a friend of mine chilling on the ferry:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/placidskies/Japan%20Trip/DSCN0698.jpg

more random pics:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/placidskies/Japan%20Trip/DSCN0727.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/placidskies/Japan%20Trip/DSCN0708.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/placidskies/Japan%20Trip/DSCN0726.jpg

Its picture like these that make me sad I'll never make it to Japan.

Wow this article is weird... There are some comments from 2007 up top and then 2009 and then 1999 and then the new ones below. The article is dated 2009...

Otherwise great shots indeed. Though I'm kinda tired of looking at snow at the moment ^^;

And I thought it was beautiful in the summer. :'(

Makes me want to go back, if only for the snow! Wow, love your pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Looks fun. It has been so long since I had any fun in the snow.

"Many Ryokans have elderly maids but this one had rather young ladies who looked rather cute."
No pictures of them? ^^; Lovely pictures, the levitating one was fun.

thats really some good pics there danny. it is indeed a good place to destress.

beautiful :)

I think i just died from envy and the realization that i will never, ever set foot on Hakone. sniff.

Wow...The first time seeing so much snow...excited to see it...hopefully soon

Love the pictures, and it looks a great place to visit, especially with the snow.

Nice place to spend a vacation. I want to see snow in real life.

wow I wish I was there!!

Would love to visit there alone or with a friend one day ^^; looks so pretty! all the fluffy snow XD

I would love to visit Japan and those other areas, Loving the Crab legs... YUM!

I'm planning on going a day to Hakone on my next trip in May. Will be doing the Hakone tour using train/ropeway/boat-stuff. Looks awesome, can't wait to take hundreds of pictures ;p

soo.. does it snow in tokyo?

wow this place looks awesome. If I can afford it I'd love to stay there sometime

awesome photos danny, I'm going there myself at the end of March, hopefully I'll be able to make the sakura season

Another item on my visit list. I will definitely be going there one day. Hope to see some members there too. ^_^

Don't give up guys!

Wow! Nice view!

I remember the blue, but not the white. Still nice.

pictures like these make me want to come to japan even more

Nice pix of Hakone. I've been there acouple of times in the fall and it is gorgeous then too. It's the kind of place you can visit over and over. Delcious kuro tamago and awsome scenery...

planning to travel to japan the coming year. im not sure about the best time to travel though, bhut im sure to give akihabara a visit (meaning ima buyin ton o gundams >_<b).

To be honest, I had never heard of Hakone before, but after seeing the views, it is definitely on my travel list.