Mt Fuji seen from Hakone

Autumn in Japan is going away, and winter is approaching. 「紅葉」, which means "coloured leaves", is coming down from high mountains to cities right now. So, visiting high mountains in the end of November is not such a good idea, but there are benefits about it.

The first reason is traffic jams... The best "coloured-leaf" season is limited to about two weeks or so. Everybody rushes into narrow mountain roads only in this period. The result is a long long queue along a mountain road. Only-one restaurant in a rural mountain region is full of sight-seeing people.
Whole atmosphere associated with the colour and beauty of the scenery is surely destroyed by these people.  If you visit in the end of November, colour of tree leaves might slightly remain in the mountains (still enjoyable), and best of all just a few visitors are in sightseeing spots. The atmosphere of the nature is back again.

Secondly, you can enjoy not only the colour but also the whiteness of snow-capped mountains at the same time, especially of Mt. Fuji in the case of Hakone. Today, I went to Hakone with an expectation for such a magnificent picture. Hakone is the region inside a large volcano mouth (called "caldera", or crater), near to Mt Fuji.

If you come from a wide Kanto plain where Tokyo is located, the Hakone region is something like a magical land hidden inside the large crater. Getting over the rim of the crater, you will see a different world... A blue lake in the bottom of the crater, and active volcanoes ejecting smokes from mouths are rising from the lake. In addition, the long rim of the crater surrounding these "magical land". Fantastic! Today, beyond the rim, I could see Mt Fuji with a snow cap, too!

Mt Fuji beyond the rim of the crater
surrounding the Hakone region.

Today's morning weather was not so good. From Tokyo, Mt Fuji was covered by thick grey clouds. Before getting over the rim to enter the Hakone region, Mt Fuji was also in clouds, and only the bottom part of the mountain was seen. But on arriving at Owaku-dani, a hot spring in Hakone, the clouds suddenly slided away to show the top of Mt Fuji!

Owaku-dani, a hot spring in Hakone
"Smokes" are water vapors from hot springs.

Hakone was drawn in Ukiyoe. Hiroshige's "Picture of Lake water in Hakone" is the most famous. Today's landscape reminds me of this Ukiyoe.