Rhythm is the right word for the Hakone Turnpike, because the road does not so much challenge you as set a tempo. Near Hakone, with Yugawara down the hill and Odawara on the coast, it climbs through broad bends that follow the shape of the old volcano, and after a few kilometres you find a steady pace in which gear changes and lean angles settle into a pattern. It is a road for enjoying rather than attacking, with smooth tarmac, clear sightlines and a limit that police take seriously.
What makes it memorable is the changing light. Cloud often rolls up from the coast and fills the valleys, so that the road climbs out of grey into sunshine, with the ridges standing like islands in a white sea. At other times the whole thing is wrapped in fog, the bends appear from nowhere, and the engine sounds louder. Take it slowly when visibility is low, and use your lights. In winter, the shaded sections can hold ice into the late morning.
Near the top, the open grassland of Sengokuhara, on the northern rim of the caldera, is covered in silver pampas grass in autumn, and the whole slope seems to glow when the sun is low. The Hakone Open-Air Museum, with its sculptures on a hillside, and the many small museums and shrines in the area, give you reasons to stop. Hot spring inns are everywhere, and the baths, often outdoors and facing the forest, are the best way to finish a day.
Yugawara, six kilometres away, is a small hot spring town of twenty-seven thousand people on the coast, with fuel and a good selection of places to eat. It is quieter than Hakone and less touristy, and a good alternative if the main town is crowded. Odawara, further along, offers all the services of a city. In peak season, particularly on weekends in autumn, the Hakone roads can be very busy, and traffic crawls. If you can, ride on a weekday and start early. A slow ride on a good road, with views and baths at the end of the day, is among the great pleasures of Japan.