But wait, there's more. Would you like me to continue.

The clouds aren't the only thing there 25KM away. If you look more closely you'll see that they are obscuring a mountain, or more precisely they are obscuring The Mountain.

Yes, Owakudani is also one of the better vantage points for getting a largely unobstructed view of Japan's legendary Mt. Fuji.

Unfortunately this small group of clouds is deciding to taunt me by remaining ever so stubbornly in front of the mountain. Fortunately it's incredibly windy out here so it's only a matter of time before Fujj is exposed in all its glory.

I and a number of other tourists wait patiently and eventually are rewarded with a full view of the conical shaped top of the mountain. Truly a breathtaking sight and, as annoying as the clouds were, it made the eventual reveal of Fuji even more dramatic.

After taking a few more photos (probably a few too many). I walked around the nature trail up to the volcanic hot spring where they were selling the famous Owkudani black eggs. These eggs are boiled in the sulfur of the hot springs which turn their shells black. Eating an egg is supposed to extend your life by a year. I don't know whether eating 5 would extend your life by 5 years but I can say with some certainty that eating 30 of these eggs will probably go some distance to shortening it.

They sell them at 5 eggs for 500Y (about $6 Can) but I only want one. I attempt to buy one off another tourist. I'll pay 200Y for just one. It's a win win.

Of course the Japanese couple I ask end up giving me the egg for free and refusing all of my attempts to pay for it. (I really did try to pay).

The egg tastes like a typical hard boiled egg. You can't really taste the sulfur. The shell is black but it's also got a deep purplish color with a few shiny areas. It kind of looks like something in space.

My work done here at the top I set about getting to the bottom of things, literally.

First I get back on a different ropeway which I take down to lake Ashi. There I catch a pirate ship with only a minute to spare and cross The lake to Moto Hakone. There I catch an express bus all the way to Hakone Yumoto and finally I catch a local bus to my ryokan O-Miya arriving just shy of 5 PM.