Once we were on the rope-way, however, we started to realise that the Fuji-viewing prospects were virtually nil, though we were able to get a good view of the sulphurous hell of Owakudani on the way.
Reaching yesterday’s lunch stop we headed off in the general direction in which, as far as we could make out, Mount Fuji must lie. Since all we could see was a massive bank of white cloud, Madam ventured into a souvenir shop to verify that we were heading in the right direction.
She was informed that we were in the right place for a good view of the mountain but not today.
In that case, there was nothing for it but to head back down the rope-way and cable car, catch the train to a spot where we could link up with a bus that would take us to the hotel, reclaim the luggage and take a taxi back to the station, where a local train would deliver us to Odawara and non-reserved seats on the 12:35 service to Tokyo.
As we headed away from Hakone I reflected that over the years our very good friend Triple-F (Frockster, Former-Fishmongrel) had frequently suggested that, should we ever decide to visit the Land of the Rising Sun, it was imperative that we plant a Bowen mango tree on top of Mount Fuji.
As ‘Er Indoors scanned the scenery on our left, these words came back to haunt me in the wake of an unsuccessful day-and-a-half’s attempted Fuji-viewing.
It was obvious these sacrilegious sentiments had come to the attention of the deities that guard the mountain, prompting them to veil the sacred symbol in cloud for the duration of our visit.
As the train left the Hakone region we looked back. The cloud was slowly lifting. It seemed that the deities had been mollified, though from where we sat on the shinkansen the summit remained shrouded by cloud.
So I turned my thoughts to the prospects for the next stage of the odyssey rather than dwelling on the pitfalls of the past.
As we headed towards Yokohama and Tokyo we moved into a belt of urban development, though as we pulled in to Shin-Yokohama I was surprised by the amount of greenery close to the station.