Our cruise ended where it had begun … Tokyo !! Following our last port of call, we cruised back to Tokyo in about 31 hours. We had one more night on board and one more outing choice before starting the long flights home.
We chose an all-day trip to the Mount Fuji area. Specifically we drove to a lower mountain, Mount Hakone, which is located at the base of the larger and taller Mount Fuji. Much of Mount Hakone is also designated as National Park.
Our bus took us on a two hour ride that ended in a spectacular series of switchbacks and a granted wish that our driver was exceptionally skilled at his craft !!! He finally dropped us off at a base building before he kept driving up the mountain to meet us later. Inside the base, there were directions to take a gondola downward, AND signs for a “rope bridge.” That was our designated direction, and I, and possibly you, had images in my head of a rope suspension bridge that would lead us across a canyon or crevice. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It turned out to be another gondola that took us higher up the mountain…I never did figure out why they called it a “rope bridge,”
The flank of the mountain became Hell again with steam and sulphuric gases spewing from the ground.
Once again, I was fascinated that you have to travel through parts of heaven just to reach their hell. The same location provided our best views of Japan’s highest mountain … Mount Fuji is an isolated peak which makes it look even taller and more spectacular. It seems to always have a crown of ice at its highest elevations which reminds me of Mount Bachelor in my country.
After a lunch of largely foods which we had a hard time accepting as edible, with chopsticks which, in my hands, always seem broken (this is an inside family joke !!!), we met back up with our bus that dropped us off at Lake Ashi, a beautiful alpine lake.
We then boarded a vessel for a partial lake cruise … the promoter called it a Pirate Ship !!
The ship looks like an ocean vessel, but there was no history or literature I could find of Japanese pirates !! A little bit of American style promotion in Japan … fortunately it was only a little!!
We sat in the stern and the views were great !!
Our god-like bus driver drove around the lake and picked us up. We then drove DOWN the switchbacks and back to our nonpirate ship for a final meal before heading back to reality and the USA. But Japanese manners and personal ethics will accompany us back home.
The Adventures of Barry Brink 