After a good night’s rest away from the bustle of Tokyo, I woke up very early this morning, breathing the fresh country air of Gōra. Dressing hurriedly, I left the inn and started to reconnoiter the place, looking for a Catholic Church. It was a nice early morning walk in Gōra Kōen, the newest district in the Hakone National Park, which is definitely far better than Karuizawa where we spent our summer vacations last year.
I was finally able to locate the St. Joseph’s School, run by Brothers of Mary, just in time for the 7:00 mass. Went to confession and communion. There were a few Frenchmen and a German who attended the early mass. This school was formerly at Yokohama and evacuated to this new place at the start of the Greater East Asia War.
After a good breakfast at Miss Gō’s cottage, we started out on the day’s excursion to the important places in the Hakone district. At Miyanoshita we visited the famous Fujiya Hotel where we took a few snapshots. From Miyanoshita, we went by bus to Hakone-machi on the shores of beautiful Ashinoko Lake. We took lunch at the Hakone Hotel, a branch of the Fujiya Hotel at Miyanoshita. Right after lunch we took the launch from Moto Hakone, across the lake to Kojiri. It was a nice ride on the lake, but unfortunately we missed the sight of Mt. Fuji and its reflection on the lake (for which this place is famous) because of the thick fog. From Kojiri we again took a bus which brought us to Kami-Gōra from which we hiked about one kilometer, arriving home at 5:00 p.m. after a complete round of Hakone National Park.
The whole day’s excursion was very thrilling. Trying to catch the train and bus and the boat in the lake was very exciting, especially because we were almost always just in time. The beautiful zig-zag, mountain and lake views really make Hakone one of the twelve beautiful National Parks of Japan.
Leaving Gōra at 7:00 p.m., we arrived in Tokyo at about 10:30 p.m. We escorted Miss Gō to her home, and it was past midnight when we sneaked into the dormitory through a window in the backyard after what was a really perfect weekend.