ROUTE 1 - HAKONE (steam mix)

Early on a day off, at the foot of the National Route 1 climb. The briny scent of the Seisho coast thins out, and the ocean horizon slips away into the depths of the rearview mirror. As the streets of Odawara give way and fall behind, the air turns a notch clearer, and the red open-top car—breath quickening—syncs with the pulse of the mountain.

Miyanoshita, Kowakudani. Beyond the guardrail, something white is rising; a faint trace of sulfur brushes past my nose, and the thought "I just want to soak in the hot spring already" pushes ahead even before my foot finds the throttle.

The higher the elevation, the thicker the fog grows, and the air against my skin turns cold. At every corner the view cuts away into white, and even the unease in my chest is amplified. Then, just before Owakudani, the white coiled up like a wall. Steam from the springs—or white smoke from the road?

A song that paints this high-mountain morning drive toward Yumoto, carried on high-speed eurobeat.