22~28 Oct2014 Day 3 - Hakone; Akasaka; Tokyo tower

DAY 3 - HAKONE & BACK TO TOKYO CITY

It's morning! And we start to explore around our ryokan, since it is brighter now.

There's actually a river behind our room. Later on, I found out it is called Hayakawa river.

 After a morning soak, it's time for breakfast.

More exploring.... red curtains for women bath - that's the public one.

One night's stay ended too quickly.. after checking out, we decide to take a slow walk (~ 12mins) from Ichinoyu to Hakoneyumoto town centre, where we can do some shopping before boarding the train back to Tokyo.

We found the map of Tonosawa area

We wonder how many bridges we crossed, 5 or 6 maybe.. anyway, finally getting near to the town centre. And leaves of trees are turning red here too. Tsugoi!

Arrived!

 We decided to head for Soun-ji Temple (早雲寺). We heard it is a 150 years old temple.

We found Soun-ji temple, but the main temple was under renovation. Only managed to take pictures of the bell and yard. But it is really not a big temple.

Here's a shrine just minutes away from Sounji, Hakusan shrine (白山神社）

And we saw this interesting looking vehicle at this hotel..we guess it's used for ferrying the guests to the train station.

And then, back to the main street again.. its shopping time! 

 This stretch of street (just opposite Hakoneyumoto station) is full of shops selling crafts, seafood (esp the fish cake from Odawara is a must try) and sweets (snacks).. Tsugoi!

Try bbq-ing preserved fish at this shop.. it actually attracted many people.

Finishing up the last few shops and its time to board our train back to Tokyo. I booked the Odakyu Romance car, Super express 50000 VSE for sightseeing with reserved seat.

It took about 1 hour and 20 mins to get back to Shinjuku.

Boarding soon...

And that's the Hakone Tozan railway..we didn't get to ride on it though.

Goodbye, Hakone...

View from the train..I only managed to book the second row from the front.. but it seems the view is still good. Its a bright and sunny day.. unlike the past 2 days which has been rainy.

From Shinjuku, we need to return to Khaosan Original, where we will stay for the next few days in Tokyo. Before checking-in, let's take walk at Kappabashi street (Kitchenware street)

Look at the scenic view near to our hostel!

 After checking in. Next stop will be Hie Jinja shrine at Akasaka and Tokyo Tower.

Hie Jinja shrine is beautiful.. It must be one of the richest shrine in Tokyo as it even has escalators to bring us up to the shrine.

 

Found the beautiful tori gates near the barrels. Yeah!

 Tokyo Tower! It gets dark early at 5 pm JST in Tokyo.

The view from the tower..

Rainbow bridge at night

Tokyo Tower made with Swarovski crystals.

Last but not least, our meet up with Suenaga san and Oishi san. They brought us to Sorano (空野) at Ebisu for Tofu cuisine, 8 course tofu dinner. Sorano is a izakaya style restaurant. This dinner is surely interesting and a must try. We really enjoyed it.

Arigatou, Suenaga san and Oishi san!

So surprised but happy to receive cute Murata cheerleader pens for souvenir.