You may remember my visit to Hakone, which I introduced to you last November. Today, I’d like to show you another precious view from the summit of Mt. Komagatake.
Please look at the photo below. You can see two different water surfaces. What are they? They are a lake and the ocean. The one in the foreground is Lake Ashinoko, while the one in the background is the Pacific Ocean. It’s quite a rare view, isn’t it?
As far as I know, there are several places in Japan where you can see both a lake and the sea at the same time. For example, you can view Lake Saroma and the Sea of Okhotsk together on Hokkaido Island—but those two are actually connected. In other words, the difference in elevation between their water surfaces is zero meters. In contrast, the elevation difference between Lake Ashinoko and the Pacific Ocean is about 723 meters. Doesn’t it seem as if the water from the lake could easily leak out? According to specialists, Lake Ashinoko is a caldera lake formed in the Hakone Mountains. This means that it is surrounded by hard, dense volcanic rock. I truly enjoyed this unique and dynamic view from Mt. Komagatake.
Well, I can’t finish here, since this is a transportation blog. Taking this opportunity, let me also introduce another gondola, Ashinoko (No. 1). Along with “Komagatake (Number 2)”, Ashinoko was built by CWA in 1986 and can accommodate up to 101 passengers. The Komagatake Ropeway has been operated by an automatic control system since 1990.
