Hakone Checkpoint & Lake Ashi Area (Kanagawa, Japan)

Igor

I'm currently spending a month in Japan, mostly in Tokyo, but with a rail pass, the rest of the country is pretty accessible as well. A couple of days ago, I took a short trip to a park area with views of Mt Fuji. Hakone, in the Kanagawa prefecture, used to serve as a primary checkpoint for travelers to/from Edo (Tokyo) under the Tokugawa shogunate. The checkpoint has been rebuilt at its former site, and is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu national park.

Technical details: All photos shot with a 5D mkII and a 24-105L, with a CPL filter

1.
Lake Ashi, with Mt Fuji in the background

2.
Hakone checkpoint

3.
Another view of Mt Fuji

4.
Owakudani sulfur vents. Eggs boiled in the sulfuric hot springs turn black, and eating one of the black eggs is said to add seven years to your life. I ate two, just short of the recommended limit of 2.5.

5.
Sunset over lake Ashi, seen from Owakudani

kdog

Very nice set of images, Igor. What a great opportunity you have to be staying in Japan for a month, and it looks like you're taking good advantage of it. I really like the sunset shots and you have some other good ones in your gallery as well I noticed. Any chance of getting any closer to Fuji? And finish your eggs young man. :giggle

Cheers,
-joel

GOLDENORFE

very nice, last 3 frames most interesting
phil

Igor

Thank you! And yes, I am going to try to get closer to Mt Fuji. It's outside of climbing season, so I won't be going all the way to the top, but there are a couple of places with really nice views, which I'll be trying to get to.

cjphotojapan

There are some great photo opportunities in the 5 lakes region around fuji (Yamanaka-ko, Kawaguchi-ko, Sai-ko, Shoji-ko, and Motosu-ko). You may also see some monkeys. I live in northern Japan and have been many times. Good luck.

John

bakahage

Very nice. You were lucky to get that good of a view. I live in Yokohama and, on a good day, can see Mt. Fuji from my house, but every time I have gone to Hakone it has been cloudy/overcast to the point that you can't even see an outline of the mountain.

Nice set of photos and make good use of that railpass.... so many great places to visit in Japan that aren't in Tokyo or the surrounding area.