Tokyo, Japan
We boarded busses for this HAL tour of Mt. Fuji. This is the largest mountain in Japan. The first stop was an outdoor art museum and then lunch. The museum was full of modern art. I guess I call any art I don’t like modern art. This was the Hakone Open Air Museum.
We walked through the museum and each piece of art had the artists name and place of creation. There were works from all over the world. Nothing I’d want in my backyard. There was a Picasso Museum and a stained glass structure next to it.
We did go to the Picasso Museum. Nothing I’d hang on our walls or even take a picture of. I know I’m missing something when I see others staring at a creation that looked like it took 3 minutes to create.
Lunch was next to the museum. Chokuku-no-mori. It was buffet style and we sat with Joe and Ann who were also on this tour. I asked Joe if this picture I snapped brought back memories.
He said of course it did. Joe and Ann grew up in Cleveland and Lawson was an Ohio company with stores in Michigan also. There was a Lawson in the neighborhood I grew up in. One day all of them closed. What I didn’t know was that they moved to Japan!
Lunch was great. Everything looked fresh and tasted great. We talked about our similar view on the art we saw. Lunch took about an hour and we boarded the bus to get to the dock where our boat would take us on a cruise on Lake Ashi. Lake Ashi is about 2000m above sea level and the boat took us to the Hakone Komagatake Ropeway. The Ropeway, thankfully is a cable car that goes up to the top of Mt. Komagatake. The pictures of Mt. Fuji are worth the seven minute ride to the top.
There was snow at the top and had to be careful walking around the path that circled the top. Mt. Fuji can be seen from anywhere in Tokyo. It sticks out on the horizon and it looks as if it’s the only mountain around.
We had about an hour at the top and then it was time to take the car down and board the busses for the ship. I like Tokyo. Very modern, clean and interesting. I don’t know much about the government. I would have to vet them before moving here.
We got back to the ship about 6:30 and went to the Lido for dinner.
The evening entertainment was a group of young local musicians from Tokyo. Takarabune was the groups name. 5 adults and one child. I think it was 3 guys and two girls but who am I to say.
I added this youtube video of the group. Interesting performance. Very entertaining!
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