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Last week, a day after I arrived, I went to Hakone with mom and sister (Tomoko) for 2 days. Hakone is our regular destination for a weekend trip. It's less than 2 hours by car from mom's home and we can experience nice retreat every time.
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Before we got to our hotel, we stopped by at a local soba house for lunch. Hakone has many really good soba houses who make their own soba at home. I had stone-ground soba in soup, with freshly foraged bamboo shoot (from their yard) with soba berries. Really nice.
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We checked in at our hotel and enjoyed onsen (hot spring), followed by Champagne aperitif before dinner.
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We never miss sushi dinner every time we stay in this hotel. The meal here is always outstanding. I was in heaven from the beginning.
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After so many savory dishes, we moved on to nigiri...I couldn't stop eating...I think I had at least 10 pieces! With different kinds of sake, we had a fantastic night.
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In the next day, after morning onsen, we had breakfast. The breakfast here is always great. I enjoyed the donabe porridge, too. We left the hotel and stopped by at Hakone Shrine. I felt so refreshed.
It was such a nice beginning of my stay back in Japan this time.