Forest bathing in Hakone in the rain

What rain takes away from Hakone

Let us be honest about the losses first.

• Mt Fuji disappears. Low cloud sits on Lake Ashi and the mountain is simply not there. If the whole point of your day was that photograph, rain ruins it.
• The ropeway is grey. The cable car and ropeway run in rain, but you ride inside a cloud. Owakudani's volcanic valley is fog.
• The lake cruise is indoors. The boat still sails; you sit inside with a wet window.
• The open-air museum is half closed. The sculptures are outside. Umbrellas and gravel.
• Everything takes longer. Buses are slower, queues move indoors, and the crowd that would have been spread across the mountain is now in the same three cafés.

Travel writers who visited on a wet day tend to say the same thing: the tour structure was fine, the views were the point, and without them "it's just not the same." They are right — about that kind of day.

What rain gives the forest

Now the other side.

• The scent doubles. Trees release their aromatic compounds (phytoncides) most strongly in warm, humid air. After rain, a cedar forest smells like a cedar forest. On a dry day you notice it; on a wet one you breathe it.
• The sound changes. Rain on a canopy is a layered, irregular sound — exactly the kind of natural rhythm (the 1/f fluctuation, or yuragi) that the nervous system settles into. A stream after rain is louder and closer.
• The colours deepen. Moss goes emerald. Bark goes black. Green becomes greener. Photographers know this; so do forest bathers.
• The crowds go. The paths above Moto-Hakone and beside Hakone-en, quiet on a normal weekday, are empty on a wet one. You get the forest to yourself.
• The temperature settles. Summer rain takes the heat out of the afternoon. Autumn rain makes the onsen afterwards feel earned.

A forest bathing walk was never about the view. It is about what is within arm's reach: bark, moss, light, sound, air. Rain improves four of those five.

What a wet walk is actually like

We meet as usual. Aki checks that everyone has a rain jacket and closed shoes. We walk into the trees, and within two minutes the canopy takes most of the rain; under mature cedars, light rain barely reaches the ground. We walk slowly, as always. The invitations change a little — more listening, more scent, less looking up — and the pauses are shorter and more frequent.

Sitting. The mats go down on the driest ground Aki can find, often at the base of a large tree where the canopy is thickest. Ten minutes sitting in the rain-sound is, for many guests, the best ten minutes of their trip.

Rest. Wet ground may mean sitting under suitable shelter or making the sensory invitations shorter. Lying down is optional, not a test of whether the session has worked. We adapt to conditions and your comfort.

Tea. On the Lakeshore walk, tea in the rain under a tree is a small ceremony. People remember it.

The onsen. On the Temple walk, a hot spring after a wet forest is the best possible order of events.

When we do not walk

We are not reckless. Hakone is a mountain area and its weather changes fast.

• Light rain: sessions go ahead when conditions are safe.
• Heavy rain with a Japan Meteorological Agency warning (大雨警報), a typhoon approaching, lightning, or strong wind on the lake: we do not.
• If we cancel: you choose a new date or a full refund. If you have already travelled to Hakone, we will help you plan the day another way. Booking terms →
• If you cancel because of the forecast but we are walking: the normal cancellation terms apply. Forecasts for Hakone are often wrong by a valley; we would rather you came and found out.

The Valley walk is the exception: after very heavy rain the stream can rise and the upper path becomes unsafe, so that walk is more often changed to the Temple or Lakeshore walk, or moved, than the others.

What to wear and bring

• A rain jacket with a hood, not an umbrella. You will want your hands free for bark, moss and mats. An umbrella also stops you hearing the rain properly.
• Closed shoes with grip. Stone steps on the Temple walk are slick when wet. Trainers are fine for the Introductory and Lakeshore walks; boots for Temple and Valley.
• A spare pair of socks in a plastic bag. This one thing changes a wet day.
• A warm layer. Rain in Hakone is usually cooler than rain in Tokyo, by several degrees.
• A small towel. For hands and face after touching wet trees, and for the onsen after.
• A dry bag or plastic bag for your phone. Hakone rain is persistent.
• Leave the big umbrella at the station. Coin lockers at Hakone-Yumoto and Odawara.

Planning a Hakone day that does not need the sky

If the forecast is wet, build the day around things that rain does not spoil.

Morning: the forest. A forest bathing walk. The Introductory walk at Moto-Hakone or the Lakeshore walk at Hakone-en; both are better in soft rain than most days in sun.

Lunch: somewhere small and indoors. Soba in Moto-Hakone, or the tea house at the Hakone Shrine approach. Take your time; nobody is queuing for the ropeway today.

Afternoon: water of a warmer kind. An onsen. Hakone-Yumoto has several day-use baths; an outdoor bath in the rain, under trees, is one of the great small pleasures of Japan. Or the Temple Forest Walk already has this built in.

Skip: the ropeway, Owakudani, the open-air museum, the Mt Fuji viewpoints. They will be there next time.

Museums if you must: the Hakone Museum of Art (moss garden — actually good in rain), the Pola Museum, the Lalique Museum. All indoors, all on or near the Tozan Line.

For an hour-by-hour version, see A Hakone wellness day trip and swap the boat for a longer lunch.

The seasons and rain

• **June (rainy season, tsuyu):** three weeks of soft, warm, near-daily rain. The hydrangeas along the Tozan Line are the reward. The forest is at its greenest and most fragrant. Our favourite month for the Lakeshore walk.
• July–August: afternoon thunderstorms. Morning walks are safest. Humid.
• September–October: typhoon season. Conditions vary. If unsafe conditions cause us to cancel, you choose a full refund or a new date. Autumn rain is cool and the onsen is perfect.
• November–March: less rain, more clear cold days. When it does rain in winter it is cold; dress for it. Snow is possible in January–February at Lake Ashi.
• April–May: showers, then sun. New leaves shine after rain.