http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Japan , Tochigi , Nikko en-us Sat, 12 Dec 09 11:11:29 +0000 Sat, 12 Dec 09 11:11:29 +0000 from asakusa station to nikko by train about 1.30 h. one of the highlight of our trip to japan.the forested landscape and mountains are wonderful amd the gilded shrines spectacular. from nikko station we caught a bus to the shrine area. first we saw the gracious japanese bridge and then walking uphill we visited dozens of fantastically decorated temples and shrines. a thin layer of snow covered th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-459592.html .Today saw us take our first Shinkansen train north to Nikko. We waited on our allocated triangle on the platform and two minutes before departure time the 16 car Shinkansen train pulled up precisely in front of us. I discovered that my Hong Kong bargain wristwatch was running 20 seconds fast as we pulled out of the station. I canrsquot believe that it was due to depart at 1027 and 20 seco http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-393743.html NikkoThis must be the shortest entry in my notes for 26 Feb. It apart from the printout of train timetables consists of a single word Nikko This was the last day of our 7day JR pass and I wanted to use it to the maximum extent so even though going to Nikko by Tobu railways would have been much more direct an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-382677.html Day 3We spent the morning in Tokyo. First was a visit to the Imperial Palace gardens the actual Palace itself is not open to the public often. A quick trip on the city loop to the Sony building in the Ginza area expensive shops like top of Collins. Here were the latest on offer from Sony including a new organic screen which will likely replace LCD. Only available in 10 inch so far. Then off t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-381902.html Night had already fallen when our train neared Nikko our destination for two nights and one full day. As we pulled into the station I was ecstatic to see that snow covered the ground and was gently falling from the sky. Nikko is about a two hour journey outside of Tokyo by express but the temperature difference between the two places was startling. I had my face pressed to the window on the taxi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-380215.html I have not written any blogs recently mainly because I have not gone anywhere. So after a long time and many messages from travelblog saying We want you back I am writing again.If you wonder at the strange title for the blog my explanation is as follows. We live in depressing times. Itrsquos a never ending stream of bad news showing neither any signs of slowing down nor changing its course. Fa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-359559.html I think I figured out the bath thing I need to take my shaving gear in. The 10 minutes it takes gives me time to cool down before the next dip. I must also be doing something else right if when I walk in a guy nods at me now just wait a second before you get the wrong idea there gives me a big smile to say hello and after I've been washing a while grunts and smiles again gesturing to the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-348699.html 5 Lakes 4 Degrees 3 Bowls of Steaming Noodles 2 Monkeys fighting 1 Mt FujiEvery country has its famous landmark France has the Eiffel Tower England has Big Ben Australia has Sydney Opera House Japan is unusual that its landmark was made by nature over a 400 thousand year period in the form of Mt Fuji San.The word San is used as a term of endearment like one of the family not close http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-347471.html Over the weekend we headed North to Nikko Japan. It was about a 2 hour train ride. Most of the Japanese people on the train are very excited to be on the train. What I mean about excited is they are drinking heavily at 800 am in the morning. We made some friends outside the train station who happily pulled us into pictures with them. Turns out they were staying at the same hotel as us so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-343602.html The Ashes of the Last Shogun and the Beauty of Japanese Buddhism and ShintoSo I finally went and did something quite touristy and interesting and got a billion new pictures which I am not sure how I am going to put on here but I'm sure this entry will have a lot more photos than previous ones.Nikko was the first Buddhist temple in Japan originally a small site in the mountains about two hours n http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-331856.html After Shikoku came Nikko after one day of sleep and washing followed by a bon odori summer style traditional dancing festival at night which we ended up getting to by Shinkansen. We stayed here for two days and two nights at a beautiful little place called Nikko Park Lodge with the most accomodating man running it Zairyo a buddhist monk who had practised in the US for 20 years who ran a pr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-325501.html przepraszam tych co odwiedzaja bloga glownie rodzine za lekkie opoznienia no ale coz... zyciewyjechalam z tokio. choc bylam bardzo krotko to juz zdarzylam sie przyzwyczaic i polubic ten tlok i ten halas. tak jak sie spodziewalam tokio to milosc od pierwszego wejrzenia. choc troche meczaca to bardzo ekscytujaca.a wyjechalam do nikko male miasteczko poloznone w gorach gdzie znajduja sie j http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-313390.html Our last day in Nikko was interesting. We awoke at 645 to get to the yoga lesson put on by the monk and eat breakfast at 8. The yoga lesson was interesting. We did a few things that I have done before and a few I had never seen nothing too exciting just a bunch of stretching. Then near the end we did some kind of meditation thing and the monk did a few oooommmmmmmmrsquos and said a prayer. It http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-306145.html The train ride from Tokyo to Nikko was around 2 hours and involved 2 different trains so we arrived around 230 or 3 and started walking to our lodge. The place we are staying is run by 2 Buddhist monks even though we only saw one were sure the other was around somewhere. A soon as we stepped off the train things were different the weather was actually very nice. Nikko is about 1500 ft. above s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-305020.html My last couple days in Japan were certainly memorable. We were all pretty tired when we all got back to Tokyo. Most of the group wanted to go meet Stephen Harper at the Canadian Embassy but I was too exhausted to care. I had met him last year and I got my picture taken with him then and that was good enough for me. I went out to a nice little sushi restaurant with a couple of other people an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-300315.html Up early and we took the shinkansen again....oh yes want to get our monies worth to Nikko a small town North of Tokyo. We were unsure about trapsing all the way up here as we were starting to feel the strain of rushing around but made the effort and we're very glad we did. Nikko was deffinately the best place we visited in Japan the temples and shrines were out of this world....all set http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-298704.html Went to Nikko this weekend with Haley Chelsea Amy and Chris almost everyone else went too but left later left at 645 am on Sat. morning and took the subway to Asakusa had to switch 1x to get there took 45 min. Then bought a World Heritage Pass for 36 which included the train to Nikko and back and buses and entrance to all shrines. Took the train to Nikko which took 2 hours. We packed l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-293519.html I was all cashed up from an influx of private lessons and didn't have to be back at work till Tuesday so I packed up a bag hopped on a train and transported myself out of Tokyo to the beautiful country town of Nikko. The day before I'd searched online and booked myself into the most promising hostel I could find Nikko Park Lodge. I wasn't disappointed. The hostel is a gorgeous little place in t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-290565.html I love Japan and always will. It's a perfect marriage of past present and future. There're meikos geikos and geishas entertaining tired businessmen in tiekwood teahouses shinto shrines rising up between office buildings women walking down the street in traditional kimonos and dolce and gabbana bags and welldressed schoolchildren checking out the futuristic sony inventions. The best part o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-271731.html Up very early this morning and leaving the ladies behind to head out to the ancient capital of Nikko which has something like 9 world heritage sights. Sadly the weather had regressed from merely overcast to full on heavy rain and by the time I had taken my first shikansen train out to the mountains it was really starting to dump down. From the train station it was about a half an hour walk up into http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-265319.html