Hakone’s Owakudani Valley, Komagatake Summit Get New Observation Decks Perfect for Photos; Visitors Can Enjoy Views of Lake, Valley

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, May 5, 2025

Visitors looking to take breath-taking photos of the surrounding area in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, can now enjoy new observation decks that opened in late April.

The new decks can be found at Hakone Komagatake Ropeway’s Hakone Komagatake Summit Station and at Owakudani Station on the Hakone Ropeway.

The Komagatake Ropeway connects a station on the shores of Ashinoko lake with another on the 1,356-meter-high peak of Mt. Komagatake. From the summit station, people can see the surrounding towns as well as Ashinoko lake, Suruga Bay, Sagami Bay and Mt. Fuji. If weather permits, Tokyo Skytree is also visible.

The new facility is called the “Hakone Komagatake Ashi no Sora” (Hakone Komagatake sky of Ashi). It has an about 400-square-meter observation deck and a 10-meter-long, 1.5-meter-wide protruding deck next to the summit station. On the other side of the building, there is a giant photo frame measuring 3.6 meters in width and 2.5 meters in height, large enough to include Mt. Fuji in the frame.

The other observation deck, built at a square in front of Owakudani Station, is called the “Chikyu no Tani” (Earth valley) as visitors can feel the living Earth of the Owakudani volcanic valley where steam comes out of the rough, rocky ground and the smell of sulfur hangs in the air.

Also in front of Owakudani Station is “Kaze no Wa Terrace” (Wind ring terrace), a circular deck spanning 18 meters in diameter. Another deck called “Ibuki no Deck” (Deck of breath) that hangs about 11 meters over the valley floor was built near the ropeway. The terrace’s floor is made of wire mesh since Odakyu Hakone Co., which operates the facility, wants visitors to feel the strong wind of the Owakudani valley, creating a memory of their trip. The deck’s glass floor allows visitors to see withered trees blackened by the steam below them.