After breakfast we left Hiroshima and headed first to Kurashiki. The place is famous for its old merchant houses and the canal that runs through the streets.
After that, we took the Shinkansen, an express train, and finally a bus to our next stop, the Fuji Hakone National Park. Here we’re spending the night in a Japanese hotel, a ryokan.
It’s actually a luxury lodge where guests can relax in hot mineral baths, eat tasty food, and stay in spacious rooms. But since the economic crisis, business has been pretty slow. And lately, Fuji-san has been driving away the rest of the guests. We’re in an active volcanic area here. For a few weeks now, hot fumaroles have been casting a really noticeable smell of sulphur over the hotel grounds. These hot vapours are dangerous. Recently, some tourists had an accident in the area, which is why we were strongly advised against taking night-time walks outside the grounds.
For dinner, we had traditional Kaiseki cuisine: sashimi, a sort of mini shabu-shabu, pickled veg, miso soup, rice, and a matcha pudding for dessert. We liked almost everything, but opinions in the group were pretty divided.
Afterwards, we headed back to our big room. Our bed for the night is already made up on the tatami mat floor.
