A hot spring town of warm buns and mochi
Hakone-Yumoto is the gateway to the Hakone hot spring area, about 85 minutes from Shinjuku in Tokyo on the Odakyu Romancecar express. The street in front of the station is lined with old sweet shops selling onsen manju, buns filled with sweet bean paste, and yumochi, a soft rice cake, so you can buy them warm and eat as you stroll. Then warm up at a day-use hot spring in the woods.
A small shop where a machine at the front bakes Hakone manju row after row as you watch: a soft, sponge-cake shell around white bean paste. You can buy just one, still warm, and eat it as you walk.
A shop that has made onsen manju for more than 100 years, steamed buns in two kinds: brown ones made with brown sugar and white ones, both filled with smooth red bean paste. Try one of each, and compare them with the baked buns down the street.
A sweets shop known for yumochi, a soft, pillowy rice cake made from shiratama rice flour, with small pieces of yokan, a firm sweet bean jelly, folded inside. It is gentle and chewy rather than very sweet, and boxed ones make a good gift.
A day-use hot spring set in a wooded valley, with open-air baths and private bath rooms you can rent. A free shuttle bus takes about three minutes from Hakone-Yumoto Station. Unlike many baths in Japan, it allows guests with tattoos.