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Published: April 18th 2024
The Japanese culture values hard work and social harmony. As modern as this country has become, they seem to continue to practice their traditional values and spiritual beliefs. It is refreshing to visit Japan because the people are polite and respect their elders. This was demonstrated a couple of times when younger people offered us a seat on the train. Yes, it made us feel older, but the kindness and respect were evident.
There is also great reverence for the past and many Japanese value this greatly as evidenced by the shrines and embracing traditional clothing. All this is evidenced in our travels.....
Nikko A short train ride from Tokyo is the town of Nikko with a population of 80,000. It was nice being out of the hustle and bustle of Tokyo even though we enjoyed Tokyo immensely. Many people make Nikko a day trip, however, we opted to spend one night and slow down a bit. We opted to stay in a traditional ryokan, which are Japanese-style inns often found where there are hot springs. The inns have tatami rooms, traditional Japanese baths, and local cuisine. The onsens are a great place to bath and relax, especially
after a full day of activities and a wonderful meal. We took advantage of the baths many times while in Japan.
The shrines of Nikko are a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the national park attracts many hikers. When in Japan you will begin to understand the two main religions of Shinto and Buddhism. Wikipedia describes the differences as Buddhism emphasizes the idea of transcending the cosmos, which it regards as being replete with suffering, while Shinto focuses on adapting to life’s pragmatic requirements.
After getting settled into our traditional Ryokan we headed out to visit these famous shrines. UNESCO supports the protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world. We don’t know the details, but it is rather rigorous to be named a UNESCO site and we believe they have criteria of how the property must be maintained. When we travel, we attempt to go to as many UNESCO sites as possible as they are well maintained and give a sense of the people and culture.
The shrines in Nikko are no disappointment. We laugh as we travel the world and always comment that all the beautiful things to see are up about
300 to 1000 steps. The shrines here were no different. When you get to the top you will find two Shinto shrines of The Tôshôguû and the Futarasan-jinja and one Buddhist temple called the Rinno-ji – at this point you realize the steps were worthwhile. The shrines fit harmoniously into the hills and trees where they were erected, and they are a joy to explore.
We checked with the front desk for recommendations for dinner and were unable to locate the restaurant they recommended on a dark backstreet but found a mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant that had amazing food and the family was very attentive. We were happy to have found this quaint location. We were the only customers seated until we were leaving but they did a brisk carry out business. Chinese cuisine in Japan….why not?
With full bellies we waddled back to our room and rested for a bit playing on the internet, sitting on the chairs next to the large windows which gave us an excellent view of the river below us and enjoying the golden hour as the sunsets behind the mountain. We opened the windows to enjoy the sounds of water rushing by. In
Beef Noodle Soup
Nikko- near the shrineJapan, when they take you to your room, they remind you to take off your shoes before entering the sleeping space of the room. They provide slippers to wear as you move around the room. We took advantage of the pools as well. More on bathing in general later on…..
One more note about the place we stayed in Nikko. We asked if we could have breakfast the next morning as we had not arranged for it in advance. When we arrived that morning, we were asked to select the type of fish we wanted. They had several on display. We selected the Barracuda and were ushered off to our booth. Again, the Japanese are into privacy as the partitions between each booth was tall and they pulled a curtain one your food was served. They served tea and a vast array for bread and foods. Only the picture can explain the artwork of a meal in Japan. It is an experience.
We were lucky in this location as we were the only people in the pools at the time we chose to go so we each had our pool experience alone. At the Ryokan in Nikko there
Our traditional room in Nikko
Kozuchi no Yado Tsurukame Daikichi was a smaller thermal hot tub on the left and the larger thermal pool on the right. After soaking for a good long while we noticed a door covered in steam and discovered a pool outside on the patio where you could relax, enjoy the moon and the cold winter winds that were whipping around that evening. There were two lounge chairs available to relax in after bathing but on this night the winds were too fierce to take part in that. This was a marvelous experience and made us smile.
If you only want to explore the UNESCO site and shrines of Nikko you could easily do it in one day as a day trip from Tokyo. Nikko is surrounded by mountains and has the lovely Kinugawa River flowing through the town. We were visiting in off season and many of the shops and restaurants were closed. We suspect they will reopen in a few weeks when the tourists come in larger numbers. We enjoyed visiting Nikko.
Japanese Trains Now is the perfect time to discuss the joys of riding trains in Japan. The public transportation system in Japan is unlike any other in the world.
Their trains are fantastic and seemingly always on time. As we mentioned this was a big birthday trip for Dave, we splurged on the green car on the trains. The Shinkansen (more well-known as “bullet trains”) allow easy travel to many places in Japan. When you’re in a green car, you ride first class and make reservations in advance easily. Many times, we were at a station and representatives were extremely friendly and helpful. Now, you can’t ride the Shinkansen everywhere, but the other trains are extremely nice and of course, on time.
For us, this was by far the choice of traveling around Japan. You literally can get anywhere by train. They seem to run about every hour, or half hour if you are going to a more popular town and the stations are fairly easy to navigate so you can catch your connecting train. The main station in Tokyo was a bit much, but the rest of the stations were fairly easy to figure out.
It is noteworthy that the JP ticket pass, which allow you unlimited travel for a set amount of time, just this year raised their prices for the first time in…..almost 40
Breakfast anyone?
Barracuda and so much more. years. Yes, you read that right. In our case, that meant that the green pass for 21 days of unlimited travel went up from about $530 to $800 dollars. In our opinion, still worth it if you are going to use the train system a lot. JP is a private company but runs many rail routes and even some city trams as well. The kind JP representatives help you plan your route and will let you know when you are not on a JP train. All in all, we did very well riding the trains and highly recommend it.
Hakone From Nikko we took the train back to Tokyo where we changed trains and headed to Hakone. Hakone is not far from Mt. Fuji and as our train sped across the Japanese countryside, we were very excited to see Mt. Fuji once again. You may remember we saw her clear as a bell while we were in Tokyo and here, she is again. Mt. Fuji is a lovely mountain so everyone on the train began snapping pictures and gazing at her in awe. It was a clear blue sky with no clouds to obscure her beauty. We had
Riding the Rails
Town to Town. On time, every time. read more than once about people traveling to Japan and not being able to see the mountain due to weather. We saw it both times and found it quite beautiful.
Hakone has a population of 15,000 and this is another town known for its hot springs. We walked the mile from the train station to our hotel and were happy to discover that our accommodations had both indoor and outdoor thermal pools. We had not remembered that from our early planning days.
The town was crowded on this weekend as the weather was fair, and spring was on its way. We walked the streets of this small town and took the tram up to a vantage point for some good views. We had hoped to go to the large lake in the area, but the trams were not going due to high winds in the area. Although a bit disappointed at this, we found a brew pub a few blocks away from the tram, which brewed their own beer and served pizza! This made up for a missed boat ride on the lake, as most beers in Japan are lagers, so being able to find other types like
IPAs and browns was a real treat. We sat at the bar for a couple of hours visiting with people who came to sample the fine beers.
On the days we were in Hakone it felt like many students must be on spring break as the shops and restaurants crowded with young people and families. Japan is well known for the large variety of pastry…. we must assume the Japanese have a sweet tooth as most of the pastry shops had long lines waiting to purchase daifuku – which are round cakes filled with red bean paste, fruit or ice cream. We saw thousands of black sesame cookies and matcha Swiss roll for sale. Many desserts use purple sweet potatoes and there is a plethora of a dessert mochi which is made of sweet glutinous rice flour. It wasn’t one of our favorites but is extremely popular with the locals. They are often flavored with matcha which is green tea powder… they are bite sized and chewy.
Each evening, we took advantage of the healing waters at our accommodation. The outdoor pool at this location was much larger than our previous one in Nikko. Part of the pool
was covered with an awning but most of it allowed you to see the night sky and enjoy the rustic nature.
One more note about the place we stayed in Hakone. We asked if we could have breakfast the next morning as we had not arranged for it in advance. When we arrived that morning, we were asked to select the type of fish we wanted. They had several on display. We selected the Barracuda and were ushered off to our booth. Again, the Japanese are into privacy as the partitions between each booth was tall and they pulled a curtain one your food was served. They served tea and a vast array for bread and foods. Only the picture can explain the artwork of a meal in Japan. It is an experience.
The Art of Bathing As we mentioned before, where there are hot springs, there are usually baths, called onsens. The Japanese make almost an art form about bathing and we were all in….literally. In Japan, bathing is not just about getting clean, water is associated with cleansing the soul. Most people bathe daily, and a shower does not count.
They provide slippers to
wear as you move around the hotel. Generally, you’ll find a laminated sheet with instructions on what to do when you go to the baths and diagrams are included. They provided other slippers to use when going to the pools and a Japanese robe to wear. There is a locker room so you can put your robe and belongings in while you use the pools.
Men and women use separate pools, you go into the pools in your birthday suit, and you are to rinse, scrub, wash, and fluff before getting into the shared warm thermal pools. The process of cleansing and preparing to use the pools seemed lengthy to us, they are thorough and do not rush the process. Often times spending 20 to 30 minutes compared to our 6 to 8 minutes.
When you get out of the pools, you bathe again. They offer several stations with partitions where you soap up and scrub. Soaps, lotions, shampoos, and cream rinse is all provided. It is a complete bathing experience and when you return to your room, you are relaxed and fully buffed. A good night’s sleep is soon in your future.
We do think the
Japanese have are on to something. Embracing the process and thermal waters is enjoyable and healing.
Where we stayed in Nikko: Kozuchi no Yado Tsurukame Daikichi
Where we stayed in Hakone: Hotel Senkel Plaza
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Piprey on wheels
Shona
Interesting train price hike
It is such a steep hike but was it required? UK trains are the most expensive of all. Are you allowed to wear something in the public baths or is it mandatory that you cannot?