Japan Family Trip: Exploring the Shrines and Wilds of Nikko

We had originally planned on taking the bullet train down from Tokyo to Kyoto for a day or two. While being epically fast, it was a bit spendy for the four of us. 

After talking to Brooke's coworker we settled on a two day trip to Nikko and its World Heritage Sites to break up our week in Tokyo. This turned out to be an amazing decision. The town is teaming with beauty from ancient shrines to epic waterfalls and some of the best meals we had on our trip.

Kyoto didn't seem all the appealing to me when I started researching which location to go to. I too am glad we chose to head north to Nikko. 

When we booked our Tobu Nikko Spacia X tickets I upgraded to the premium seats thinking that we'd be sitting facing one another. Instead we ended up with 4 seats, two in the first two rows and two in the last two rows. It turned out just fine with the kids sitting in front of us in two groups.

Meadow and I were seated at the front of the car.

Once in awhile we'd pass a town where the school children would all be waiting to wave to the train.

Some notes on booking. We used Klook since it seemed less confusing than Tobu's website. If you get the Nikko Pass it includes the slow train and unlimited travel within Nikko. It doesn't get you into any of the shrines at the World Heritage Site.

If you want to go on the faster Spacia X you also need to book tickets for your journey there and back. So you end up with a Nikko Pass for each person plus tickets for each leg of your journey if you want the express train.

A fun thing that Japan has is stamps at train stations and stores. The kids added the Tubo-Nikko station stamp to their travel journals.

Another great thing about Japan is their coin lockers to hold your suitcases and bags.

A few different times we needed to store luggage. In Nikko we weren't checking in until much later in the day. But you will need lots and lots of coins. You'll often find ATMs and coin machines nearby to break your large bills. In this case I had to get change from the staff at the information desk.

The lockers are deep too. We were able to fit all of our luggage in one. 

Sorry, I just love the public bathrooms. They're all super clean and private. 

She did not tell us that she was taking photos in all these bathrooms. While the toilets were great, I really don't get the lack of soap at the sinks. I think they just don't do soap.

We hadn't done a ton of research before coming here. Sometimes on our trips we like to go unplanned to see where the day takes us. We looked at the map and had Theo pick which temple or shrine he wanted to go to. He picked the Toshogu Shrine. 

If there's one thing we learned it's to get something to eat before going on an adventure.

After our first few places were closed for lunch, we ended up at Ramen Bonten. Theo was amazed by the neon green Suntory Pop Melon Soda.

I'd always known Suntory made beer. I didn't realize all of the major breweries were also soda manufacturers. 

The ice cubes over here are also so perfect. Really a picture can't do them justice.

Brooke, Meadow and I got ramen. Mine featured the local delicacy, tofu skin. Theo ordered fried rice and dumplings.

And only $5 a bowl!

The current exchange rate makes eating in Japan incredibly affordable for Americans.

Something about Nikko reminded me a bit of being in Leavenworth, Washington.

Except Nikko is really a series of towns, not just one little mountain village. Nearly 75,000 people live in the area.

This building was once the city hall.

Another added bonus to going to Nikko was getting to be in the forest.

The shrines were surrounded by massive Japanese Cedar.

When we approached Toshogu Shrine's Pagoda, I knew we'd made a good choice heading to Nikko.

There's something about seeing the temples in person. I can't quite explain it, it's just so much better than seeing it in a photo or video.

My photos really don't do Toshogu and the other shrine's justice.  

We also just missed a snowstorm a few days earlier. 

This shrine is famed for its bas relief depiction of the hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys. 

To enter the Toshogu shrine you had to pay with cash or your Suica card. We needed to add more balance to our card. Having our Suica cards on our phones made it so we could do that. Otherwise you have to add cash at the machines at the train stations.

At the Sleeping Cat shrine you had to walk up 240 steps to get to Tokugawa Ieyasu's burial place.

The ornate and brightly colored buildings were awe inspiring.

I'm also amazed at how much the Japanese clean. There was a man picking up every pine needle and leaf in this rocky area.

I'm guessing that some of these traditions are lost in translation. Is it just their tendencies as Japanese or part of their Shinto and Buddhist religious traditions.  

Inside the shrines we had to take off our shoes and no photography was allowed.

Unfortunately by the time we got to Futarasan Shrine and Taiyan Temple they were closing for the day.

Why is everything here so cute? 

The shrines close at 4 in the winter. We saw as much as we could before having to leave.

We walked back to the main town passing by Shinkyo Sacred Bridge. I really wish we could've seen Nikko after a snowstorm.

To treat the kids we got ice cream at Nikko Pudding Tei. This seemed to be the most popular place in the entire city.

We wanted to try their pudding but they were mostly out. So we got ice cream instead. 

You know you're from the north when you eat your ice cream outside when it's 40 degrees.

I had read that the older train station was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I thought it was odd that it didn't really look like his work and assumed it was just from his early years.

The upstairs was the waiting room for the upper class.

Apparently the internet has misattributed who built Nikko Station (some wrongly say Frank Lloyd Wright designed it, it was actually Akashi Torao). Nonetheless, it rules.

The kids got another stamp since this station is run by JR and totally separate from the nearby Tobu-Nikko Station.

Scott does a pretty good job at finding us places to stay. He'll usually tell me about them but I don't really look at it. When we get somewhere it ends up being a surprise.

This is the funniest thing I've found out about our relationship in ages. I guess I find it endearing that she trusts me this much. I also have to admit that this place ruled.

Mostly because he shares lots of places he's looking at and I never remember which one he picked. 

We 100% endorse staying at the Rakuten Stay, but I will note it's a bit of walk from the train stations. In hindsight we should've picked up dinner from the nearby grocery store or the even closer 7/11 on the way. We sadly only ate sweets for dinner at the sitting table. I tried to order pizza, but there was no online ordering. Ah, well.

The hotel does have a vending machine for meals. Though we decided against for some reason and our microwave wasn't working.

Another surprise to me was that our bathroom had an artificial onsen (hot tub) bathtub.

I too had forgotten about this, but suffice to say that Brooke and I took turns using it at night and in the morning.

This place had all the high tech gadgets. The "bedroom" also included a pull down screen and projector. Really wish we could have stayed here more than one night. 

We watched a little bit of the winter olympics.

How do I get one of these at home?

We so need one of these up in the parents wing of our house.

Day 6

In the morning little munchkin went the opposite way of the rest of us. I panicked for a few minutes before finding him around the building.

If only we had known that we were this close to a 7/11 when we were trying to order pizza.

For some reason, once we got to our hotel everything seemed really far away.

While Tokyo felt nothing like any American big city, Nikko at times felt like a strange cousin to American rural life. 

Yet, totally Japanese in the same breath.

We weren't sure we'd find a breakfast place so picked the first one we saw. Then later saw there were more options. Oh well.

Think this was just the cafe for an older hotel. It would do.

We needed to fuel up for our hike.

We stopped by one of the many matcha and confectionary shops.

Our strawberry iced matcha lattes were a work of art.

I am still not totally used to the time change. Matcha is a must. 

Nikko National Park goes far beyond the world heritage site. We thought about taking a taxi up to the Kegon Falls. After seeing how much it would cost we decided to stick to things that were within walking distance. 

Our Nikko Pass only covered the World Heritage sites and we didn't have time to take a 2 hour bus ride and whatever it actually was.

I found Kanman-ga-fuchi Loop on All Trails.

I doubted if it would really be cool, but I was totally wrong.

The trail meanders through the streets of Yasukawacho, Takukmicho and Honcho districts and descends into a peaceful valley.

Eventually the quaint neighborhoods gave way to the abyss lined with statues of the guardian deity of children.

The abyss felt like a spiritual wonderland. The merging of the spiritual with nature felt unlike anyplace I'd ever been to before.

At times it felt like I could be on the North Shore of Minnesota. Another reason we picked Nikko as we wanted to be experience nature in Japan. 

Dozens of statues of the deity Jizo wearing red scarves and hats led us down the riverfront path.

Compared to how busy it was at the shrines yesterday we were basically here by ourselves.

About 100 years ago a flood came through and ruined some of the statues. I like that still dress the heads even though they aren't attached. 

A small suspension bridge lead us back over the river back to the commercial and residential district.

We were heading back to the shrines when we saw a sign for Jakko Falls.

It was something like a half hour walk to the falls. After asking the kiddos if they could handle the hike we ascended the road to the falls.

I couldn't believe that not a single car passed us on our way up. It seems most people just go the shrines.

When we started seeing more statues in the forests we were almost to the falls.

We had this place all to ourselves.

Before Jakko Falls was a small shrine atop a winding stone stairway.

I love that there's shrines just randomly throughout the whole city.

And in this case deep into the wooded National Park.

Still can't believe we didn't see a single person come up here.

I think technically the parking lot was closed for the season. It took some hearty adventurers to hike up the road.

And then we hiked back down the road.

Which went way faster than going up. We thought there might be a trail that connected back to the shrines. It looked like it didn't connect and would probably take us longer than going back down the road. 

We passed a few abandoned summer homes. We weren't sure what this was for. I tried to look it up on Google Earth but couldn't get any clear views.

It looked like it could've been a pool or a tennis court. It's economy is healthy, but not the powerhouse it was during the 80s and 90s. There is definitely undercurrent of decline in the countryside.  

We also passed the abandoned Japan Traffic Control Technology Group Resort. 

Yet most of the homes seemed to be occupied either as vacation homes or permanent residents.

The local hockey team even had a house up here on the mountainside.

Right around here Theo tripped and fell on his face.

Meadow and I waited while Brooke consoled our little guy.

Walking back to town we passed the Shaka-do Temple.

Some of these burial sites were from the 1600's.

We were walking past an old hotel and noticed next door was the accompanying Cottage Inn and Bakery. We were hungry and thought this would be a good place to get lunch. I got the Japanese beef stew.

I went with Tonkatsu and Japanese Curry.

The kids both got sandwiches that were huge.

Katsu Sandos. 

I think this was probably once of the best meals of the whole trip. In fact most of our favorites were found just walking down the streets of Nikko and Tokyo.

We then took a self-guided tour of the Kanaya Hotel History Museum.

No photo inside, but we snuck a few outdoor shots.

This home was once home to a samurai chief and later became a hotel for Western Visitors. It was amazing seeing this home that's stood for nearly half a millennium.

It was really cool getting see a traditional style hotel as well. 

We found another shrine tucked between two homes.

By it's side an even smaller shrine where Theo paid his respects.

We were intrigued by an odd building and decided to walk in.

It turned out to be a very large gift shop where we picked up a few knickknacks and even a locally brewed beer.

I hope this place is normally busy. We were the only people here and it was huge. It also had the biggest bathrooms that I've seen so far in Japan. If you're looking for castello and Japanese confections, this is the place to stop. 

There was one more store I wanted to go to before leaving.

I guess the Japanese currently love wearing American sports gear. I saw a teenager wearing a UW Green Bay Basketball sweatshirt.

This was not the store Brooke wanted to check out, but I checked it out while Brooke and Meadow shopped at the pottery store next door.

We passed this ceramics store when we had arrived and I wanted to get myself a tea cup.

I wish I could take home lots of ceramics. 

Meadow also got herself a ceramic gyoza.

Another chopstick rest for her suddenly growing collection.

We could've probably stayed for another day or two, but we had to get back to the Tokyo for the last few days of our Japan family vacation.

This time Theo and I got to sit side by side in the standard seats for the train ride back. Until next time, Nikko.

Also Theo's poor face from his fall. He scratched up his nose and cheek and got himself a fat lip.