Famous for its refined cuisine, crafts and gardens, Kyoto is considered by many Japanese as where their spiritual hearts reside. The city is not as vigorous as Tokyo or Osaka, the pace is slower and people are dressed less fashionable, but hundreds years of cultural deposition soon reveal their attractiveness…

We spent one day at Hakone on our way from Tokyo to Kyoto. Hakone is famous for its hot springs. At Hakone-Yumoto (箱根湯本), hotels are built on the hill along the river, most of them have public bath houses using water from hot springs and provide exquisite Japanese cuisine, normally…