cmstraf

Good morning,
My physical therapist, his wife, and 11 year old son and 7 yo daughter will be in Hakone for one night before heading back to California via Toyko airport.

Can someone recommend a B and B or hotel? They are all lovely, I owe him lots, would like to help provide a really special experience (but not too expensive). Thanks much.

mrwunrfl

IDK if I can help as in Hakone I only stayed at a cheap minshuku and have shopped for expensive places. But, FWIW, I have several questions that could yield some advice.

What is the budget?
Which airport and what time is their flight?
Where are they coming from and what time of day (from Tokyo and early morning would be a good answer)?
When is the trip? (the month at least, and day of the week would be good to know)?
Would futons on the floor be ok or would they require Western beds?
Do they want access to a hot springs bath?

I suppose they are planning to travel the scenic Hakone Loop but I wonder if they know about Yunessun or other attractions in the area.

cmstraf

I'll ask, also about which airport. Their flight time is around 5 pm. I think they are coming from Osaka at the end of March. It's a 2 week tokyo-tokyo round trip. I think futons on the floor would be fine. They came. The kids are well-behaved, well-traveled. I'll text him and get back to you soon. My own only experience with Hakone was a one night stay at the Mitsui guest house in November of 2008. It was magical

mrwunrfl

I couldn't find anything about Mitsui guest house.
Could be cold, wet, cloudy at end of March (going into April when not best viewing of Fuji-san) but worth a shot.
They would do well by shipping luggage from Osaka to the airport, might have to be done 3 days before departure day, maybe 2. They won't have a whole lot of time in Hakone, maybe 24 hours.

From Osaka they will want to find one of the (Hikari) shinkansen that stops at Odawara, otherwise they would go from Shin Osaka to Shin Yokohama, change trains, and backtrack to Odawara.

For March 30, jorudan shows a Hikari departing Shin-Osaka 8:18 AM arriving Odawara at 10:38.

This is the transit route of the search result from Shin-Osaka to Odawara - Japan Transit Planner | Norikae Annai (jorudan.co.jp)

cmstraf

They are going to get back to me this weekend. We also had only 24 hours, but it was long enough to go to the outdoor sculpture museum during the koyo of autumn color, and to have an afternoon and morning's clear view of Mt Fuji, from outside and our bedroom. The Mitsui guesthouse is private, from the Mitsui company, a holding corporation. My father was a purchasing agent for an automotive company. He bought the first Japanese made steel purchased from the United States after World War II and developed a lifelong friendship with the young salesman he worked with, who eventually grew up to be the Chairman of the Board. Yoshi was a kind and loyal man. I think he pulled many strings to arrange the invitation for us to visit, a thank you and a way of honoring my father. I will never forget his hospitality, the mountain...and the Japanese dinner we had together that evening.

Thank you for letting me know about the clouds. I've been lucky enough to see Denali, Mt Fuji, Mt Everest, Mont Blanc, and Jomolhari in Bhutan. I always thought it was because the mountains loved us back, but it could also have been because of the time of year. TBC