Japan Day 20 (ni jū)

Daytrip to Nikko

Today we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) out to Utsunomiya and from there a rickety train to Nikko. Nikko is a resort sort of town in the vein of Solvang, a small mountain town that's very touristy and scenic.

When we got to the Nikko station it was drizzly and overcast, which actually was a relief from the Tokyo weather. It was about 10-15 degrees cooler up there.


The bus station was very confusing so we found a stewardess (information girl) and asked her what was up. She spoke passable English and gave us an English version of a map that made things much easier. We figured out what bus ticket to buy, and she told us where to wait.


After slowly slogging up the hill through some sort of traffic jam, we got dropped off at the base of the shrine area.



The first Shinto shrine contained three awesome statues that were about 30 feet high, made of wood and covered in gold flake. Of course we weren't allowed to take pictures. If there hadn't of been anyone else there I would have though. Conveniently there was a tour guide going through the same time as us, inconveniently, his commentary was in Japanese.


The next stop was a Buddhist temple. Once again, no inside pictures.


It had a nice garden next to it. Wish we had monsoonal rain here so I could have one like that.


Everything around here was gorgeous.


This is the path up to the main shrine complex.


Once through the big torii, you get to the first gate, which is dwarfed by the giant trees.



From this courtyard you can then see the big main gate. The wooden carving on it is amazing.



Once through the gate you can see the main shrine.


They've got a nice supply of sake here :)


Under a sleeping kitten, and the start of innumerable steps to get up to Tokugawa's tomb.



The step's go up, and up, and UP!




Once you're up in the clouds, you find the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, that ruled Japan from 1600 to 1868.



After that we headed back down the mountan to check out the other shrines in the area. Here's the view looking down into the courtyard from the first gate.


We rounded a corner at the bottom and headed up towards the next shrine.


We exchanged camera shots with a nice Japanese couple.


I believe this is one of the oldest shrines in Japan:


Down a hill and around the corner, another big gate, and another big shrine.


All of these shrines are in the middle of an amazing looking forest.


We headed back to the bus stop and took the bus back to town.


Of course Debbie had to stop at the Hello Kitty store.


We hopped the rickety old train back to Utsunomiya. We had to stand because a load of Russian tourists got there ahead of us and took all the seats.


It was a relief to see the shinkansen come into the station. We got on after a small amount of confusion in the station, and finding the right track. The ride back to Tokyo was nice and smooth.