Hakone

The mountain is watching, when the cloud lets it. From the onsen pools, the lakeside paths and the ropeway gondolas of Hakone, Mount Fuji holds the horizon — some days sharp-edged against blue sky, some days hidden entirely, always the thing everyone is looking for. Hakone is Japan's most accessible mountain resort, a volcanic landscape of hot springs, lake and forest less than a hundred kilometres from Tokyo.

Hakone lies inside Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, and the volcano beneath it still steams: at Ōwakudani, reached by ropeway, sulphur vents boil the famous black eggs, their shells darkened by the mineral water, and local lore says each one adds seven years to your life. Lake Ashi below is crossed by absurdly decorated pirate ships, and Hakone Shrine's red gate stands in the water at its edge. The Hakone Open-Air Museum sets sculpture by Henry Moore and Picasso against the mountainside, and the Hakone Tozan Railway switchbacks up the valley through hydrangeas that flower along the line each June. The ryokan culture here is among the most refined in Japan, with open-air baths looking over the lake and the caldera walls.