Daichakai sets sail in Hakone.

Nestled in the mountains of Kanagawa Prefecture, the town of Hakone makes for a great weekend or overnight trip from the Tokyo area. In addition to some of east Japan’s best hot springs, Hakone boats beautiful scenery, and a trip across Lake Ashinoko is a must-do for the views of the surrounding forests and, on clear days, Mt. Fuji.

On our most recent trip to Hakone, though, it wasn’t just the views from our boat that were beautiful, but the views of the boat itself too.

The Daichakai went into service on December 20. While not a completely newly constructed vessel, this remodeling of an existing Lake Ashinoko sightseeing boat was so extensive that it’s been given a new name. Written with the kanji characters 大茶会, Daichakai means “Grand Tea Ceremony,” and yes, the theme is tea.

Green tea-like hues are a recurring design motif, and the ship’s first-floor passenger area even has verdant strands stretching down from the ceiling to give the impression of hanging lanterns. Terraced tea fields serve as the inspiration for a unique open-air seating area on the ship’s top deck.

Along with tea-green, the other big player in the interior design’s color palette is gold, which you’ll find on the walls of the stairwell.

The most breathtaking spot, though, is the second-floor passenger area.

Stringed curtains provide a sense of relaxing seclusion while still maintaining a spacious atmosphere, and at the end of the central walkway is a bonsai pine tree crafted out of washi paper. If you step around to the other side of that wall, though…

…you’ll find a tea ceremony room!

When not being used for events, this space, called Kinpuan (tea ceremony cottages often have the suffix -an), can be used as a passenger lounge. However, when we looked at the tatami reed flooring we saw that there is indeed a rodotani, or sunken hearth, built in, so actual tea ceremony demonstrations can be held here.

You don’t have to wait for a tea ceremony if you’re feeling thirsty, though. On the first floor is a tea stand, called Chaten, that offers various green tea drinks, from regular matcha to matcha floats and even matcha beer. They also serve green tea sweets such as cake and pudding, as well as light fare in the form of rice balls and ochazuke (rice with hot green tea poured over it) with salmon.

The tea we got was freshly brewed and high-quality, served in a nice bottle that you can take home with you.

There’s a corner with souvenir sweets too, handy or stocking up on if you’re spending a night at one of Hakone’s ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) and want some snacks to munch on while you’re in your room.

The ship’s third floor also has a drink/snack bar, which was unstaffed during our press tour but looks like it’s ready to go for peak travel days.

Speaking of the third floor, it too has a tea cottage-style space, this one a half open-air one, called Ryokufuan, with a cool circular window for a classical Japanese villa feel.

Certain sections of the outdoor deck are painted a very eye-catching shade of vermillion, bringing to mind Japanese lacquerware.

However, it’s going to be pretty chilly in Japan for the next several weeks, so it’s nice that Daichakai has no shortage of stylish interior seating areas, and with pretty much every wall being a window, you can still enjoy the view while staying out of the cold in winter.

▼ The boat’s route takes it past the Hakonejinja shrine, whose torii gate stabds just off the lakeshore.

The Daichakai route starts at the Hakone Sekisho Ato port, at the southeastern corner of Lake Ashinoko, and after departing makes stops at Motohakone and Hakone-en. From Hakone-en, the ship usually sails back to Hakone Seikisho Ato, but two boats a day, the ones departing Hakone Seikisho Ato at 9:20 a.m. and 3:05 p.m., go on to Kojiri, at the north end of the lake, but without docking before coming back to Hakone Seikisho Ato, and the final boat of the day is just a hop from Hakone Seikisho Ato to Motohakone, leaving at 4:30 p.m.

▼ Note that the fares listed as “Round-trip” in English under the one-way section are for the full loop that goes all the way to Kojiri and back.

Full timetables for the Daichakai, and its sister ship the Sorakaze, can be found on their official website here.

Related: Daichakai official website
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