I escaped from the meeting of the Adlerian Society and went to Hakone for hiking. Hakone is a dead volcano, which is located at the west end of Kantô plains. In the east foot there is Odawara city, and in the west foot Mishima city. In the middle of the mountain there is a beautiful caldera lake called Lake Ashinoko. Through the mountain there is an old street called Tôkaidô. The street was built in the seventeenth century. It is carefully paved and guarded by the row of cedar trees on the both sides. I wanted to walk on the street.
After the lecture in Yokohama, I went to Odawara and stayed there. In the morning I went to Hatajuku by train and by bus. Hatajuku is a small village in the mountain, where the old street begins. You can see the village and the street on the picture. The street is sometimes very steep, but well maintained. Hydrangeas bloomed here and there. Birds were singing. After three hours of hiking, I reached the lakeside.
I took a classic camera, “Welta Welti I”, which had been made in Germany immediately after the W.W. II. On the back of the camera I can find letters, “U.S.S.R. occupied”. I feel deep sympathy to the engineer who made the machine. How annoyed would he be! I bought the camera for 12,000 yen that Mr. Asô, the Prime Minister, gave me as “cash handout”. The upper picture was took by this camera.
I stayed in a cozy hotel on the lakeshore. This morning, however, terrible rain fell. I had to give up walking on foot to Mishima. As I had a time, I went to an art museum and watched Japanese traditional paintings. After taking lunch, I took a bus and went down to Mishima.