The Temples and Shrines of Nikko

S and I spent the day in Nikko, a town 2 and a half hours north on Tokyo. On the way there, we missed our transfer, but we got to see some beautiful small towns as a result. It was our first time out of Tokyo city and, just 20 minutes out of the city, there are rice fields in every direction all the way to Nikko. Nikko is in the mountains and is home to some of Japans oldest temples and shrines, dating back to 1200. We spent the afternoon visting the temples and shrines. They were beautiful. S and I got several tours in Japanese from guides at the shrines and temples and clearly had no idea what was going on. We were able to piece some things together with hand symbols and reading up about later in our guide book.
Some of the highlights of the day:
- A random Japanese man waved us down on our way to the temple and made a photo taking gesture of us. I guess he wanted a photo of some awesome-looking white people.
-The owner of the Japanese-style lodge (tatami mats on the floor and a futon for a bed) is an interesting decorator. She has Raggedy Anne-like dolls all over the house. All afternoon she blasts American pop music.
- While walking through the shrines and temples, school groups of young Japanese children kept saying "Hello" to us as we walked by. Their hello always ended in giggling. Enjoying this very much, I started saying "Konnichiwa", which means hello in Japanese, to every group of kids I saw from that point on. On average, a group of 15 or so kids would respond by waving and screaming back "Konnichiwa" at me, of course ending in lots of giggles.

Click on the photo below to see photos.

Nikko~ 1st Day of temples and Shrines