Mount Fuji and hot spring baths in Hakone, Japan

Mt. Fuji from Lake Ashi

You are a traveller. You are sitting in a hot spring bath in Hakone-Yumoto, Japan. Once your skin starts to blister from the heat, you climb from the bath, feeling free and unembarrassed about your naked state among the many bare bodies that surround you. It’s raining and slowly growing dark. You step with wet feet out into the open air, feeling the freezing rain distantly on your too-hot skin. It splashes off, leaving only a thin curl of steam floating away.

You are in an onsen, a traditional Japanese bathhouse with a set of basic rules. People are separated by gender, you have to be naked, and you take in a small towel which must not touch the water in the pool. Tenzan Onsen costs ¥1,200 - that’s just £9. The pools are built of natural stone and wood, and there is a freezing cold bath in the centre which you use to cool down between sessions. You cycle through a state of hot and cool for about an hour and a half.

When you leave your skin is still red, your muscles are hot and relaxed. Your companions are waiting on the tatami mats inside. The bearded one is drinking a nondescript yellow drink from the vending machine. The curly-haired one is drifting off to sleep.

This onsen is a luxurious gift to yourself after a long day.

The Mt. Sengen walk

From Hakone-Yumoto you started out on a walk up to Mt. Sengen, laden with snacks from the 7/11. It’s a difficult, wind-blasted trek. The clouds roll at impossible speeds overhead. The gale is thunderous through the bamboo forests which flank your path. You reach the peak and there isn’t much of a view, but you decide to take a different path down, past Mt. Takanosu and through forests of long thin trees that sway gently like earth-tendrils brushing the grey sky. As you walk past Hiryu Falls, it starts to rain. It’s all downhill, and you slip on the rocks as you descend.

Rain on Hakone

When you eventually arrive at the Tenzan Onsen you are soaked to the bone. Your skin is moist and your raincoat is wet through. You feel like a wet flannel wrapped in a wet towel. You smell like a piece of moss.

But your worries fade when you take your first dip in the hot onsen pools. You earned it. Later you load up on carbs at a brilliant sourdough pizza place called 808 Monsmare.

Hakone Open Air Museum

The next day you get up late and go to the Hakone Open Air Museum, which is just next door to your accommodation at Irori Guesthouse. The museum features sculptures by artists from all over the world standing out in the open air and clear blue skies.

Pablo Picasso exhibition at Hakone Open Air Museum

At the centre of the complex is a Pablo Picasso exhibition with several late works from the artist. A quote from Picasso is at the entrance: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” Inside there are a number of childlike brush strokes on plates representing basic forms. It’s endlessly interesting to look at.

“I could probably do that,” says the bearded  one. You roll your eyes.

Another Mt. Fuji angle from Lake Ashi

Next, you take a pirate ship that crosses Lake Ashi. Mt. Fuji can be seen across the lake. It’s in fine form today, standing still and alone in the bright sun.

Pirate ship cruise at Lake Ashi

You take the ropeway from Togendai up to Owakudani. This is known as the ‘Great Boiling Valley’. It’s the result of a volcano erupting and collapsing some 3,000 years ago, leaving a set of steaming outlets that have dyed the valley a sulphurous yellow.

Steam outlets at Owakudani

Water heated by hydrogen-sulphide steam is used to cook onsen tamago: eggs blackened by sulphurous waters. You can buy these eggs from stores at Owakudani. It’s a little gimmicky, so your companions instead opt to buy some black soft-serve ice-cream. It’s just vanilla mixed with food-colouring, but they sit in the hot sun and gulp it down, watching tourists in face masks pose for photographs with Mt. Fuji faintly visible in the background.