Hakone

Japanese insurance companies often offer special travel / accommodation deals to customers who pay into their health insurance schemes. There are hundreds of hotels / resorts around Japan that are solely open to customers of insurance companies and are therefore not advertised or available to the general public. These places offer seemingly impossible low prices - it was therefore with some degree of trepidation that Yuki, Clara, and I went off to Hakone (100km from our home in Tokyo) to take up our 1 night reservation in the Toslove Hotel. From a search of the internet, the hotel does not even appear to have a webpage, the best I could find was this link.

Before our check in at 3pm, we decided to get some lunch and then take a boat trip on Lake Ashi which forms part of Hakone. We opted for an Italian restaurant on the shores of Lake Ashi - delicious, but the lasagna I ordered was of minuscule proportions and extortionately expensive. I felt a bit cheated but decided to hold my tongue and keep the atmosphere light.After lunch, we crossed the lake under very Scottish weather with heavy rain and high winds - invigorating and effective in blowing away some of the cobwebs accumulated by the hard Tokyo cityscape and charmless sterility of Makuhari (where I work).

Upon arrival at the hotel, the Porsche 911 parked outside reception was a portent of things to come. We checked in and all the signs were good - immaculate interior with gleaming marble floors, eager to please staff, and a quite fantastic and spacious room with large sliding doors looking towards lovely green trees. We loved the place immediately!

We stayed in our room for a while and exchanged superlatives before heading down to the hotel onsen (baths heated by geothermal energy with health giving minerals). I quickly showered and then got into the indoor bath - lovely and hot making the knots in my muscles slowly untie. After 5 minutes, I ventured out into the cold air to try the outside bath. Hot once again but the cold and wet mountain air made for a lovely contrast. I sat in the hot water as large raindrops from the overhanging trees splashed onto me to the soothing sound of singing forest birds in the background. I sat there with a smile on my face and really appreciated the moment, heightened further by the complete solitude - I was the only one there.

Once back in the room, Yuki and I opened some beer from the minibar and were quite surprised to discover that the charge for the contents was actually lower than supermarket prices. Making a profit is obviously not a big priority for the owners of the hotel. Clara watched a DVD from the selection on offer behind the hotel reception and then had fun on the PlayStation 2 which are also available for hotel guests.

After an hour of light drinking and reading, we went to the dining room for dinner and received a quite sumptuous menu of Japanese cuisine. I am not the most appreciative person when it comes to Japanese food but Yuki was clearly a very happy lady. After dinner, we relaxed in our room once again before heading down to the karaoke bar to sing a few songs and have a couple more drinks. I sang a few numbers but my performance was less than stellar. Clara was very brave singing a couple of songs in front of a group of other quests and hotel staff.

We returned to the room once again and dispatched a happy Clara off to bed. As one of the hotel staff members wanted to sing a couple of songs with me, I briefly returned to the karaoke bar once again. I was the only customer by this stage and did not have to worry about embarrassing myself in front of the other guests. After talking to the barman, it turns out that the Toslove Hotel only has 14 rooms and that July is the busiest month of the year. If July is the busiest month, the place must be deserted in November.....sounds perfect!

Back in the room, I tried to watch the Germany v Argentina World Cup game but found my head lolling around through tiredness and the effects of the beer and wine. Sleep came quickly once I forced myself off the sofa and onto my bed.

After breakfast the next morning, we made an early departure and resolved to make a return visit for a couple of days in September. Quite a fantastic place at a price that beggared belief! We will be back. We then went back to the lake to browse though some of the local shops and perhaps buy a souvenir or two. Hakone is famous for wooden products with distinctive designs. I still use wooden chopsticks from Hakone that were given to me 15 years ago by a student when I worked at GEOS language school in Tokyo. As can be seen from the following photo, there are quite a lot of Hakone products on offer. We also made a return to the lake, this time under our own propulsion. We hired a pedalo which left me a sweating wreck after 30 minutes of exertion. It was good fun for us all and allowed us to take some decent pictures of the famous tori gate which emerges from the lake. The time in the pedalo effectively marked the end of our brief visit to Hakone but we will definitely return in the not too distant future, probably for two or three nights next time. The highlight of our trip was clearly the hotel. It is not a place to party, but perfect for changing down a couple of gears and enjoying the finer things in life. I will take a good book with me next time and my swimming trunks for the hotel pool.

I haven't enjoyed myself so much in a long time - a great weekend with the family that will be repeated in the not too distance future.