Driving Hakone

With the current state of affairs, driving is generally on the back burner but I thought it would be a good time to talk about my ‘proper’ driving experience in Japan – the legendary Hakone!

If you haven’t heard of it the Hakone is an area of Japan outside of Tokyo famous for its mountains – including the legendary Mount Fuji. In fact Hakone means ‘Box Mountain’ and there are some 15 or more mountains of various size in the area. What does this have to do with car enthusiasts? Well there just happen to be a great drivings road snaking through the mountains… If you follow the Japanese car scene you are no doubt familiar with the Hakone from various Anime and car productions – it is a revered driving destination across the world!

This is the route we took from the Odawara Toll Booth to the Daikanzan Observation Deck, there are many different options in the area!

Before I get into the legendary Hakone itself we had to get there, we left Tokyo in our rented Toyota 86. As you get to the base of the mountain we pulled into Lawsons (a Japanese version of 7/11) and a shop that we got very familiar with on our trip – tuna & rice triangles anyone? Based on a few of the cars in the carpark it was clear we were in the right spot….

I feel this is a quintessential Japanese scene – some iconic JDM machinery resting in the shadows of the mountains – at a convenience store!

With both ourselves and the cars fueled up (we were being led by Tad from Grand Touring ) it was time to go!

We still had to navigate tot he start of the drive – we started from the ‘Hakone Turn Pike – Odawara Toll Booth’.

Being a private road you pay essentially a toll to use it, about $5 AUD which is quite reasonable. In exchange for your Yen you get a very well kept, billiard table smooth piece of road with not a lot of traffic! It is worth noting that you pay at the start and then if you come back down you pay again on the exit (essentially you pay to go up and down). However, you don’t have to come down the same way – which is what we did, there are public roads winding back down the mountain which are toll free!

This is last view of Tad we got as he headed up – knowing the roads there was no way we were going to be able to keep up! This is the booth were you pay your Yen – iconic!

It was a bit of an overcast day (well initially anyway) when we started our ascent, plus being a hire car combined with the unfamiliarity of the roads, etc. it was never going to be a full paced effort but rather a leisurely drive! The 86 did a good job – it was an automatic (the only hire option available) which I think took away some of its prowess but overall the car did well. It is easy to see why they are such popular cars – as I have said before if you do head to Japan with the intention of driving, Toyota hire cars directly at reasonable rates. Plus, in something like the 86 you do blend in at car events to some degree…

Our 86 being not so expertly piloted by yours truly!

Quite a picturesque drive with tress either side as you head up the mountain.

I heard that speed limits are treated as ‘guides’ along this piece of road and unless you are being an idiot (think driving on the other side of the road) the police are genuinely pretty lenient… I am not sure if the fact it is a private road plays a part in that at all or if it is because a lot of people choose that road for a ‘spirited’ drive.

As you head up the mountain the trees part, in our case the sun came out and an R32 GTR was heading down! Hence the hurried pic!

The road is a combination of corners some tight and some more sweeper in their nature, combined with some decent straights and change in gradient it is easy to see why it is a favourite for many drivers. After a good drive to the top there is a viewing area connected to a car park and little store. I must admit this gave one of the best views of the trip, you looked out over Lake Ashi with Mount Fuji in the background – when it popped out of the clouds! I mentioned the car park for good reason – like many places in Japan you can park up, let your car cool and watch the show as others do the same!

Looking back down the road we just traveled up…

Pulling into the car park we were greeted with some interesting machinery – this isn’t our hire 86.

Like I said early if you watch some of the Japanese series this would really appeal to you!

It is not just cars with plenty of bike riders coming and going.

This was the view across Lake Ashi with Mount Fuji behind the clouds to the right – you might be able to make it out… To give you some scale of the lake there is a dot on the left side, that is a tourist boat that takes you around to get a view of the area.

I could hear something coming up the road, turns out it was this full rally spec Toyota! Not just a sticker pack special this featured big front fog lights, a roll cage and presumably a decent engine build!

Porsches are big in Japan and Hakone was no exception. There was a pretty interesting Hiace camper van there on the right as well!

We got to view a complete rainbow momentarily – if only we could find the pot of gold at the bottom – maybe the gold was the road we just came up…

We decided to move the cars to take advantage of Mount Fuji in the background – turns out we weren’t the only ones! I imagine this MX5 would be quite a lot of fun driving up the Hakone!

I had to get a pic of the trio – this was our hire 86!

Not that you are probably that interested in a stock 86 however….

What about Tad’s beautiful BNCR33 – equipped with the Nismo S1 upgraded engine! This white car with Mount Fuji in the distance really was surreal – something I have seen or thought about in my head for many years, to experience it in person was really special. So much about cars is not the vehicle itself but the experiences and memories that are created from them.

I could post many more pics of this scene but I will refrain myself!

It was time to hit the road and move onto our next destination, you might recall earlier I said you could go up and down this road or just one way – we chose to go down the other side of the hill on the way down. There are many options for loops you can do in the area but we went back down a local road onto the expressway. There was a noticeable increase in traffic on the ‘free road’ but it was just as impressive road with many winding corners – worth an early rise or late night blast! It was also easy to see why some of the thick forest clinging to the side of the road could claim unsuspecting (or intentional) soles as they get lost among the trees! I definitely don’ want to finish on that note – we were soon back on the expressway on our way to Daikoku. That was another great experience but for now I will leave you with some extra images from our day on the Hakone!