Odawara is the gate to Hakone, and it knows it. The city, with two hundred thousand people, sits where the Sagami Bay coast meets the foot of the mountains, about eighty kilometres southwest of Tokyo, and for centuries travellers on the Tokaido highway stopped here before tackling the pass. The castle was the seat of the Hojo clan, who ruled much of the Kanto plain in the sixteenth century until Toyotomi Hideyoshi besieged and took it in 1590. The keep that stands today is a postwar reconstruction, but the stone walls and moats are authentic enough, and the whole thing is worth a short visit on foot.
For a rider, it is a practical place. Fuel stations are everywhere, convenience stores open all night, and the roads out toward the mountains are clearly signed. The coast road, Route 135, runs south along the bay with the Pacific on one side and small fishing towns on the other, and the first light of the day, with the sea turning from grey to pink, is a lovely thing to see if you start early. Odawara is also a good place for breakfast: it is famous for kamaboko, steamed fish paste, and for dried fish, both of which come from the local fishing tradition and are on sale in shops near the station.
Expect traffic. The Tokyo to Hakone corridor is one of the busiest weekend routes in Japan, and on a sunny Saturday the roads fill up with cars, coaches and motorbikes by mid-morning. The best answer is to leave early, or to ride on a weekday, when it is quiet. Japan has its own habits too: speed limits are modest and enforced, tolls are common on the scenic roads, and an electronic toll card makes life easier if you have one. Motorcyclists often gather at roadside stops and convenience stores, and a nod or a wave is usual.
From Odawara the road climbs into the Hakone mountains almost at once, through a forested valley with hot spring villages and old inns, and the temperature drops a few degrees with each bend. On a clear day, Mount Fuji appears over the ridges, but do not count on it, because clouds often hide it in summer. The air is cooler and fresher in autumn, and the leaves are beautiful in November.