Nikko

Hi all!

I’m finally down to my last post from my Japan trip in Mar/Apr. My last full day in Japan was spent at Nikko. If you do not have a JR pass, you can get a day pass from the tourist information centre located right outside Asakusa station. However, my JR pass did cover the JR ride down to JR Nikko, so I bought the chuzenjiko onsen pass (2000 yen) from the local Nikko train station (right beside the JR station) instead. This made it cheaper and I could enjoy unlimited bus rides to/fro to the places I wanted to visit. Side track, my first and only picture with the Shinkansen, just for memory sake 🙂

I actually dropped off at the wrong stop and ended up at taking the ropeway (600 yen/adult) to a viewing platform. It is actually quite pretty to see the water flowing from Lake Chuzenji to form the Kegon waterfall. This was not in my initial plan because it was slightly pricey and my money was stretching slightly thin by then. But as I mentioned, I blindly followed the majority of locals who got off the bus, wrongly assuming it would lead to the observation deck to see the waterfall up close. It turned out to be an unorthodox hiking point of sorts for the locals as they started climbing up an unmarked path with warnings of bears into the forest. I was slightly befuddled and lost at this point and headed back down to the carpark to await for the bus. Spent some time looking at the bus stops led me to realise I got off 1 stop early. Silly me!

Finally at the correct place! The elevator ride (return) costs 550 yen and it gives you the opportunity to witness the falls up close. In my opinion, this is truly the best way to enjoy and capture the beauty of the falls.

Had suiton (vegetarian dumpling soup) at this store below – located right outside the Kegon falls elevator. It totally hit the spot in this cold weather. Topped it up with a yuba croquette (fried tofu skin) and a cup of amazake.

From here, headed down to Toshogu shrine (1380 yen/adult) which I was hesitant to visit because of mixed reviews about how overrated it was. But I genuinely enjoyed my time here even though part of the main shrine building was under construction.

The “hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil” monkeys are located here and they are honestly quite small (though not the smallest of the iconic wood carvings).

Right opposite the monkeys are the Sonozono elephants.

The tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The super small wood carving of the sleeping cat (nemurineko) of the Sakashitamon gate that leads to a flight of stairs to the tomb. 

Beautiful paintings of the dragon on the ceiling.

Aside from that, there’s the Honjido hall that house the “crying dragon”. This is due to the acoustics of the ceiling (where a dragon is painted). Only when one stands under the dragon’s head, can a ringing sound be heard when 2 blocks of wood are clapped together. This is performed by a priest and it is pretty cool to witness it. Unfortunately, no photography/videography was allowed in the hall.

Ended the day by popping by Shinkyo bridge which was located in the middle of the road. You can pay a fee to get on the bridge, but I think it is best seen at a distance (and free). Nikko can be fairly expensive to visit as a day trip, but it was worth it. Till the next post, bye!

Kamakura & Enoshima

Hi all!

Got a day pass (600 yen/adult) and explored Kamakura and Enoshima as a day trip from Tokyo. Both are small places so it is pretty limited in the things you can do/see. At Kamakura, it was pretty coincidental that I arrived at the Great Buddha temple just as the ticket sales begun (200 yen/adult). I was the first person that day and I literally had the whole place to myself. It is a pretty small temple and one round later, I exited the place just as a group of Chinese tourists entered. What good timing!

A cute little cafe by the road.

From Kamakura, I took the train to Enoshima island. The weather was pretty gloomy that day.

The wind and waves were really strong and 3 people who were hanging by the platform (that extended into the sea) fell off the edge into the waters. Only 1 of their friend was left. He had to run to get help as the platform was fairly isolated and it was still pretty early (~ 9 am) so not many people were in the area. Fortunately, help arrived and all 3 were rescued (1 male and 2 female). A shocking start to my morning.

Continuing on my journey, many of the shops/restuarants/attractions are located on a slope/hill. So lots of stairs were involved, although they did strangely built a one-way escalator up to view the attractions. But it’s really pricey. I took the steps up and saw temples, little garden and a good view of the city along the way.

I arrived at Samuel Cocking garden and headed within to view the Sea Candle (500 yen/adult for both attractions). The people were also really helpful and they refunded my extra ticket which I purchased from the machine (it was only available in Japanese). The garden is really small and pretty sparse as I think there was some relocating works going on for the plants. There was also a number of Chinese influences like the pavilion below in the garden. As I headed up the Sea Candle, it started to rain and the view from the top was pretty hindered.

I quickly left the garden and headed back down to town as the rain started to beat down even more. It left me soaking wet when I was back to the town area and I headed to have some shirasu don for lunch. Shirasu is a white fish (eaten raw in my case), that looks and taste like ikan bills – slightly salty. After lunch, I headed back to Tokyo as there was nothing much that was of interest to me left to see. Iwaya caves was closed for repair so there was not much point to headed further up beyond the garden. Till the next post, bye!

Kusatsu

Hi all!

I started the day with a cup of coffee from Tokyo JR station before hopping on the train for my long journey down to Kusatsu. Kusatsu is a town in Gunma prefecture, renowned for its onsen waters in Japan. I was largely fascinated with this place when I read that this place resemebled the bath house in spirited away. You can definitely visit this place as a day trip although the long travelling hours makes it quite a pain. But it is best to arrange for a stay over at one of the ryokans in the area to maximise your visit here. Because of my skin, I can’t do any onsen baths, so I can’t share any of that here.

When you arrive, the striking green sulphur waters in the Yubatake (located in the town centre) is what catches your eye. It is one of the main sources of hot spring water in the town. There’s also a free foot soak located near the Yubatake.

Old school post box

I had a Gunma specialty here, a thick and long (single) strand of udon served in a warm, light broth. It was surprisingly tasty despite the simplicity of the ingredients. After lunch, I had more amazake and a black goma soy ice cream (black sesame seeds). The ice cream was topped with freshly roasted black sesame seeds and the nuttiness from the sesame really adds a differently level of complexity to the ice cream.

My main reason for coming to this town was also because of the Yumomi performance (600 yen/adult) at Natsunoya (a bath house). Yumomi is a traditional way of cooling the hot spring water without having to add cold water to it. There’s a song and dance that goes with it that is pretty addictive.

After the performance, the audience have a chance to stir the water themselves with the wooden planks, you’ll also get a little token at the end of it. But I was rushing to catch the last bus out to the train station, so I had to give it a missed. Ended the long day with a meal at Tonteki at Shibuya. It’s a restaurant known for its pork chops though I found the meal pretty okay. Nothing I would rave about as the meat I got (from the original set meal) had too much fats. Definitely not my fav. I think you can choose the part of the pork you want, I’m not sure, but either way, I probably would not head back to eat here. Till the next post, bye.