Dear Family and Friends,
We packed our bags and headed to Tokyo Station to take a bullet train to Hakone. Hakone is a popular tourist destination for its many hot springs (onsen) and traditional inns (ryokan). It also has wonderful museums. I was very happy with the combination of hot springs and art!
The Shinkansen, or bullet trains, are every bit as fantastic as their reputation. Their unique track construction allows them to go up to 200 miles an hour. The ride is so smooth that while the train is zooming through the countryside, it feels very still and if you stand up you do not experience any momentary loss of balance.
We could see Mt Fuji!
We have left the city. Arriving at Odawara Station:
At Odawara Station, we switched to a small train that took us to Hakone Yumoto station.
On the way to the train we were very tempted to get a honey cake, it looked so delicious. But we didn’t.
Practical and beautiful
We left our bags at the Hakone Yumoto station so they would be taken up the mountain to our hotel, and then got onto a charming train to climb the mountain to Hakone. The sites along the train route were so beautiful.
The train had a very old-fashioned feel. It was so conducive to letting go of the city and relaxing into the country.
Arriving at our inn, or ryokan, we saw many cats relaxing in the parking lot. Here is a representative example. Still a bit of a posh look, but a little more “country.”
This was our ryokan. Travelers often stay here for awhile. The rooms have private onsen (hot tubs) and you have an assigned seat in the dining room. They are a great base from where to visit all over Hakone
Another view of our ryokan.
This is my room. This was the most traditional lodging we stayed at.
My spa with a beautiful view
We went first to the Okada Museum of Art. The first floor is all Chinese Art and the second floor is all Japanese Art. The doors between exhibition rooms were glass and quietly zipped open as you approached. The collection is stupendous. Beautiful types of works I had never seen before. There were “no photography” signs everywhere. Usually I still try to sneak pictures anyway, but I was inhibited by the magnificence of the rooms. This inhibition did not last as our trip progressed, but sadly, I have no pictures from this museum….however, they have a very good website:
https://www.okada-museum.com/en/collection/
A page from my niece’s sketchbook:
There was a lovely nature area behind the museum and an udon restaurant. We did a little exploring before sitting down to lunch.
Udon time!
These are faces of happy anticipation!
This bowl of udon was exquisite. Every ingredient fresh, each adding to the experience of the soup.
The back of the restaurant:
The pond behind the restaurant:
It was the tranquility you imagine in a Japanese setting.
After our delightful lunch we headed off to the Open Air Museum.
Some of Nature’s Art on the way
The Hakone Open Air Museum was the first museum of this type in Japan and opened in 1969. There are 120 pieces on permanent display scattered over the grounds. It features work by well-known artists from around the world. There are also indoor exhibits, which we did not get to by closing time.
The setting is lovely. The surrounding mountains frame the park and the work.
“Sixteen Turning Sticks” by Ito Takamichi, one of Japan’s leading kinetic artists. While it is powered by electricity, the forms sway as if moved naturally by the air.
“Cosmical Color Space” by Matsubara Shigeo. This picture is a bit of an optical illusion because all the squares are the same size.
“The Boxing Ones” by Barry Flanagan. Rabbits can symbolize so many things in art from fertility, sensuality, and moon deities, to rebirth and resurrection.
“Miss Black Power” by Niki de Saint Phalle. de Saint Phalle was famous for her monumental “Nana” sculptures some of which you could walk into through the vagina. Really. Monumental. She began her career in France and later lived in the US, teaching at UC San Diego. She did a series of Black Power sculptures during the 60s Civil Rights era. She was a great and important artist in the Feminist Art Movement of the 70s.
A page from my niece’s sketch book:
I am pretty sure this is “Family Group” by Henry Moore. Moore was a renowned British sculptor whose work was a combination of abstraction and figuration. He was active from the mid-20th Century until his death in 1986.
It was a beautiful day. You can’t tell, but it was also very humid.
“Symphonic Sculpture” by Gabriel Loire. A stained glass tower.
I didn’t climb up the tower because I was a bit overheated and tired from the humidity.
The top of the tower has a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains.
Nature continues to contribute her own art works as well.
I do not know who did this sculpture or what it is called. But I love the massing of figures in defiance of gravity. This work feels like it is in some kind of motion.
“Floating Sculpture 3” by Marta Pan. The illusions of lightness and floating of this bright red piece really pop in this beautiful setting.
Exhausted after a big day, we returned to our ryokan. We found the table associated with our rooms and sat down to the most wonderful feast of beautiful ingredients with their flavors and textures.
We each had a little brazier to cook our seafood
We added ingredients to a delicious broth and cooked them to tenderness.
The flavors were so good!
We had kimono robes in our rooms, so we had to take some pictures
What a rich day!
À bientôt,
Pam
PS I just asked myself why I was using a French phrase to say “see you soon”. I had no good answer. So I went to dear youtube and asked for a Japanese version. It is “matane.” ’til next time……….P
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