Video: Japan Part 2

Video: Japan Part 1

Nikko World Heritage Site

Earlier this week we realized that our time here in Tokyo is almost over. We have been to many or most of our “must-see” sights in the city so we booked a spur-of-the-moment overnight trip to the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Nikko, about a two hour train ride north from Tokyo. The town is known for two important Shinto shrines and the Rinnoji Buddhist temple and is the possible burial place of shogun Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu. (More on that later). One of the first sights to see is the vermillion red Shinkyo Bridge, a wooden bridge built in 1636 to bring visitors across the Daiya River to the shrine and temple complexes on the other side. 

Nowadays there is a modern road bridge with a crosswalk to take you to the World Heritage Area. The first temple we came to was the Buddhist Rinno-ji temple. This temple was founded by Shodo Shonin, a Buddhist monk and saint who came here from Nara in 766 in order to bring Buddhism to this region.

The shrine is known for its “Three Buddha Hall”, with three very large gilded Buddha statues showing the sage in different incarnations. Inside the temple I tried my luck again and paid for a fortune. This time, it read: “By and by your fortune will be better. But go steadily, or you’ll fail. If you have a wish, don’t be irritated, or you’ll fail. Marriage proposal: be patient, or it will be broken. Travel: no problem. Overall, your Fortune: Fairly Good.” Well, well, well...things are looking up for me!

The day we arrived was the 8th of April and we were again able to celebrate the birth of the Buddha by pouring ama-cha over the statue. Thanks to our tour with Takakao, we knew what we were supposed to do. 

We gave ourselves plenty of time to explore the Toshogu Shinto shrine. Many of the structures here are considered Japanese national treasures, including the five-story pagoda. The original 1650 pagoda burned down and was replaced by this one in 1818. Each of the five levels represents an element - earth, water, fire, wind, and the void/nothingness. 

The nearby Yomeimon gate is the most ornate and richly decorated gate in Japan. Up close you can really see the detail that went into its creation. With over 508 carvings it is said that you could look at it all day and never get bored. 

Well...I don’t know about that. What with all the scrolling people do on TikTok I'm not sure modern-day folks have the same attention span as a 17th-century shogun. But there were clever carvings throughout the shrine for anyone paying close attention. The three monkey motif (hear/speak/see no evil) was carved above the stable. 

A small sleeping cat rests above the door to the open-air staircase (more than 200 stairs! Trust me, I counted them going both ways!) that leads to the Inner Shrine Pagoda -- the final resting place of the shogun Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu. 

Or is it truly his final resting place? There is some controversy about whether the remains of the shogun are actually here at Nikko. When he died in 1616, he was originally buried at a mountain shrine near the city of Shizuoka, at Kunozan Toshogu Shrine. Supposedly a year later his grandson relocated his remains here in Nikko (closer to Edo) to  ensure that Ieyasu received his due reverence at the more-visited site and to strengthen the Tokugawa shogunate’s authority. A sign here at Nikko states that the grave has never been opened since the Shogun was interred here in 1617, so how do they even know for sure if they never checked on him? Regardless, we have no plans to visit Shizuoka on this trip, so I’m choosing to believe that we did indeed visit the correct tomb. 

We were getting a little bit “shrined-out” and my knee was complaining after so many stairs so we only walked up to the entrance to Futarasan shrine, but didn’t go inside. And anyway, we had an hourlong bus ride ahead of us to get to our hotel for the night.

Mistakes were made - we probably should've stayed the night in Nikko but we booked at Chuzenji lake instead. It was an hour by bus from Nikko to our hotel, and unfortunately we discovered too late that the lake ferry wasn't open for the season yet and the Akechidaira cable car that gives great views of the mountains was closed for repair. We tried to stop in at Kegon waterfall and it, too, was underwhelming. If you look with a magnifying glass you will see just a trickle of water cascading down.

But we did get to see a couple of Japanese macaques hanging out just near the path to the waterfall so that made the detour worth it!

On our last trip we stayed at a traditional ryokan inn, and after sitting and sleeping on the floor for two nights we had kind of decided that one ryokan stay per lifetime was enough for us. But we kind of accidentally booked another one for our Nikko trip -- even though the hotel did not have the word "ryokan" in the description, it was very similar to one. On check-in we were each given a yukata and slippers to wear. Our room was western-style but with a tatami mat area. At least we had a chair to share and did not have to sleep on the floor. It had a nice view down to the lake below, and swallows were building their nests along the eaves so that was fun to watch.

We had booked a set course meal at the hotel for dinner (good thing too, as this time of year there really weren't any restaurants open within walking distance). Luckily the dinner was excellent and the drinks were self-serve. We were also able to use the onsen hot bath that was at the hotel, so it was a very relaxing stay, overall.

If someone was asking my advice, though, I would only recommend staying in Lake Chuzenji in the fall -- the hillsides surrounding the lake were teeming with maple trees and I am sure this place would be extra special at that time of year. Otherwise, at any other time of year I would recommend staying in Nikko town just for convenience to the restaurants, transportation, and tourism sights. I mean, even the big sign next to Lake Chuzenji is telling us we probably should have stayed in Nikko.

We left the hotel right after breakfast on Thursday morning so that we could catch an early bus back down the mountain and do a bit more sightseeing in Nikko before catching our train back to Tokyo. We ended up at the very beautiful Kanman-ga-fuchi Abyss. The word "abyss" makes it sound much more terrifying than it really is. It is just a gorge with the Daiya River running through it.

The name wasn't the only terrifying thing about this place. In addition to signs warning about the danger of leeches in the area (!!!) there were also these nightmarish bear warning signs. The bears here in Japan are no joke and this past year there were 238 encounters with humans that resulted in injuries and sadly 13 people have died after being attacked. Now we understand why so many hikers on the busy Mount Takao trail were wearing bearbells. 

The gorge was formed about 7000 years ago when  Mount Nantai, a nearby volcano, erupted. In the 1600s a monk built a small temple here because the sound of the water against the rocks sounded like a mantra being chanted. 

There are supposed to be about 70 or so jizo statues lining the pathway. The flood that happened here in 1902 washed many of the statues away or damaged them. Legend has it that every time you try to count the statues you’ll get a different number.  

We spent an extra 1000 yen (six US dollars!) to upgrade our return train seats to the club cafe car at the end of the express Spacia X train. With big windows and the clear glass partition to the caboose cockpit we were able to take in some lovely sunny views of the countryside. 

The Tobu railway has been running an express route to Nikko for over a hundred years, and the Spacia X limited express gets you to your destination in style. While it doesn’t reach Shinkansen speeds, it is a very pleasant and direct way to get between Tokyo and Nikko. 

We were on a schedule to get back to our apartment because Kevin had booked us a table at the Blue Note Tokyo. A popular Japanese jazz trio (H ZETTRIO) was playing with a visiting Korean trio (Yun Seok Cheol trio).

We made it to the club with time to spare and we were absolutely amazed by the skill level of all six of the musicians. There’s definitely some world-class jazz here in Tokyo. We're really glad we've been able to see a couple of great shows while we've been here!

Views from the heights: Tokyo Skytree and Mount Takao

On Sunday we took a morning walk back to the Meguro River to stroll around the canal one more time before the cherry blossoms fall and the trees leaf out. It did not disappoint. 

Remember this photo from March 18th that I posted a couple weeks ago? 

Kevin took this one from the same spot and this is how it looked on Sunday April 5th. 

Later that day we headed to the Tokyo Skytree; it’s the tallest structure in Tokyo and currently it’s also the world’s tallest freestanding broadcast tower, at 634 meters/2080 feet high. 

While you can’t go all the way to the top, you can pay to take the elevator to the Tembo Galleria 450 meters up. The gallery is kind of a tube-shaped walkway that spirals around the outside of the tower.

The views are very similar to what you can see from other observation decks around the city (although the objects below are smaller because you’re much higher up). On a clear sunny day you can see Mount Fuji, but the weather today was too cloudy. We had a good view of the cherry trees along the Sumida River right below the tower. 

As part of our ticket we also had access to the lower Tembo observation deck, which is at the 350 meter mark. The views were very similar but this level had a small glass floor so you could see the ground waaay down there beneath you. 

We took a short bus ride (made longer by us taking the wrong bus at first, and having to switch and walk a bit further than intended). Our intention was to visit the Kameido Tenjin Shrine for its famous Wisteria Festival that had just started the day before on April 4th  according to all the enticing posters we’ve been seeing on the Metros around town. 

Haha, I guess we were the April Fools! This was the state of the garden so I suppose the dates on the posters were more of an educated guess as to bloom time. These barren vines still have quite a ways to go before they resemble anything like the photo on the poster. I imagine they'll be at their peak by early May.

The temple’s cute decorated ema plaques were also hyping the wisteria. Similar to the ones we saw in Taiwan, worshippers write their prayers or wishes on the back of these votive tablets and leave them at the temple hoping the god will grant their wish. My wish would be for the wisteria to have been blooming. 

We walked back to the Sumida River and made it just in time for the golden hour right as the sun was setting. The building behind Kevin with the golden …er…flame? horn? piece of…? is the Asahi Beer Hall company headquarters. The taller building to the left of it is supposed to look like a mug of beer. Architectural design is not the company’s strong point, obviously. 

What an incredible sunset it was though!  On second thought my ema wish for the temple would’ve been to have skipped the wisteria fest and have stayed up in the Skytree to see the sun setting over the city. It still looked pretty great from ground level. 

After the gorgeous sunset the illuminated cherry trees at Sumida Park were just a tiny bit of a letdown. We had thought the atmosphere would be similar to the Meguro River, with food stalls and vendors. This was much more quiet, just a few groups here and there having their hanami picnics with blankets and tarps spread out on the pavement. Maybe we were on the wrong bank of the river, but there wasn’t a whole lot going on even for a Sunday night. That's okay, we have certainly made the most of Sakura season during this trip!

On Mondays, many of the museums and attractions in the city are closed. It was the perfect day to take a long train ride to Mount Takao. Takao-san is about an hour west of Tokyo by train, but its natural beauty is a true contrast to the bustling city. The mountain is only about 2000 feet in elevation and there are several hiking trails that lead up to its many spiritual places, including sacred trees, lanterns, and temples. This mountain has been considered a sacred site since the 700s, and is a very popular daytrip from Tokyo for tourists and locals alike.

In addition to the trails up the slope, there is also a funicular cable car and a ropeway lift that will both take you about halfway up the mountain. Since I am still having issues with my knee from overdoing it in Taiwan, we opted to take the ropeway up to shave off some of the hiking distance to the summit. The views as we climbed higher were stunning. I would've taken more photos on the way up but you can maybe tell by this picture that Kevin was super nervous I was going to drop my phone.

Once we got off of the chairlift I was able to get some less risky shots of the view. Looking to the east you could see Tokyo waaay off in the distance, and to the northwest you could see the mountains at the eastern edge of the Chichibu Tama Kai National Park.

It helped that there was a beer garden at the top of the ropeway so we could fortify ourselves for the steep hike ahead to the summit. Since our goal was to be sure to reach the top, we fortified with green tea, not beers.

The main hiking trail is paved, with plenty of stairs. It walks you right through the Yakuo-in Temple which was founded in 744 and it is known for the Buddhist practice of Shugendo (mountain asceticism). This spiritual practice merges physical hardship and trials (like mountain climbing, for example) with meditation and rituals so that the practitioner becomes strong in both body and mind. Maybe Shugendo will help heal my knee.

There are also statues representing Tengu spirits. These are supernatural creatures from Shinto legends that have long noses and usually bright red faces. They pre-date Buddhism and through the centuries they have at times been considered threatening, sometimes protective. Here at Yakuo-in they are revered as the guardians of the mountains and forests, and masters of the martial arts. Despite looking a bit like Cyrano de Bergerac they seem mighty fierce -- don't mess with them!

After a long climb, we finally reached the summit of Mount Takao and were greeted with expansive views of the mountains to the west, including Mount Fuji.

What, you don't believe me? Look closely, I swear it is there -- it's covered in snow and blends in with the white haze behind it. Here, maybe if I draw an outline, that'll help it materialize for you. I call this masterpiece "The Thirty-Seventh View of Mount Fuji".

Just be grateful I didn't use AI to fake a photo. Although Kevin tried. He gave the AI that same photo of me with the prompt "can you adjust the background to make Mount Fuji more visible?" thinking it would simply adjust the background contrast. But here's the AI's cheeky response -- a completely altered background showing the mountain from a very different angle! Ha!

My reward for reaching the summit was a view of Fuji-san, Kevin's reward was a bright green matcha-flavored ice cream.

After our victorious summit of Mount Takao, we took a day off from strenuous sightseeing today. We stuck close to home and went over to the Daikanyama neighborhood for a nice lunch and a tour of the Kyu Asakura ("old Asakura") House, a well-preserved traditional Japanese home built in 1919. This beautiful home has survived the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, bombing raids during WWII, and the steady gentrification of the Daikanyama area over the decades. It has been preserved as an excellent example of Taisho era architecture.

Quick sidebar: I know I keep repeating phrases like "Edo era" or "Meiji era". Basically Japan's history is broken into eras based on where or who the rulers were (before 1868) or by Emperor name (1868 to modern times). So for example, here are a few important ones with dates:

•   Nara (710-794 AD) Nara was the capital of Japan during this time
•   Heian (794-1185) Imperial court moved to Kyoto
•   Kamakura (1185-1333) Shogunate in Kamakura ruled even though emperor was in Kyoto
•   Edo (1603-1868) Tokugawa Shogunate began, capital moved to Edo (modern day Tokyo)
•   More recent: Meiji (1868-1912), Taisho (1912-1926), Showa (1926-1989), Heisei (1989-2019), and Reiwa (current)

And now you know.

Okay, back to the Asakura residence! The house originally belonged to Torajiro Asakura who was a politician in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in the 1920s. He needed a space where he could formally welcome other VIPs and entertain them in style. The house is traditional in style, with tatami mats on the floors and beautiful wood paneled sliding doors (called fusuma) and paper covered sliding doors (called shoji).

A central feature of the home is its mossy green garden which turns into a showcase of red maple during the autumn. Even though we visited in spring, it was still beautiful to stroll the grounds.  

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped for a drink at a cafe called "Epulor". This bar and coffee spot was worlds away from a Starbucks. The barista made coffee and drinks while also acting as a DJ, choosing vinyl records from a massive collection and playing a selection of light jazz and other chill music (with the exception of one ill-chosen Weezer song, which I could've done without). Relaxing with a nice cafe mocha was just what I needed!