Journey Through Hakone, Japan: Discover The Mysteries Of Owakudani

The crater at Owakudani was created roughly 3000 years ago when the Hakone Volcano erupted. Even now the crater spews out jets of steam at a temperature of nearly 100℃. The dynamic feeling you get when witnessing it is like seeing the earth itself breathe.

Owakudani is located inside Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture. As you approach Owakudani, you can smell the smell of sulfur in the area, with the reddish-brown mountainsides and puffs of white smoke that appear before your eyes. This particular scene is famous as the one spot in Hakone where you can really sense volcanic activity happening up close.

Owakudani Station is the station at the highest elevation of the ropeway, and because of that height, the view you get from riding the ropeway is something to marvel at. When traveling from Sounzan station you get to see beneath you the giant valley with a whole 130 meters of height difference. When heading to Togendai Station, you can see and enjoy the sight of Mount Fuji and Ashi Lake along the way.

Owakudani's Famous Kuro Tamago - Black Eggs

Owakudani has a specialty food, the "Kuro Tamago" or black egg. Kuro Tamago is a boiled egg where the shell has a black color. Compared to normal boiled eggs, the egg is unique with the yolk being very rich and the egg having a faint aroma of sulfur. These eggs are cooked by taking raw eggs and first boiling them in 80℃ hot spring waters, then they are cooked with steam at 100℃. The reason the shell turns the black color is that the hydrogen sulfide and iron in the hot spring waters combine to create iron sulfide which sticks to the eggshells.

The Enmei Jizo Statue by the Hot Springs
The Enmei Jizo (Jizo statue of long life) sits in front of Owakudani's smoky grounds. It is said that over 1000 years ago, many would come to worship the statue to have their suffering relieved. Because of that, now it is also known as the "Jizo of Long Life for Raising Children." Also nearby is the Shinsen-no-yu (hot springs of God), a hot spring that bubbles forth nearby. It is believed that if you take the spring water and pour it over the Enmei Jizo statue, it'll give you its grace.
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