Day 6, Tuesday 17th March


Lights of Asakusa by =Floatyman on deviantART


Decided the night before that would use the day to do a trip to Nikko. Even though it is a fairly long trip I picked it because it was going to be a pretty cheap day as you can buy what is called the 'World Heritage Pass' costing around 3600 Yen and it gets you there and back, travel on the buses in Nikko area and entry into all the major sights and discounts into the others.

Got up and left pretty early to get to Asakusa station by 8:00am to get the first train. Once again had a terrible stomach ache and had to make an emergency stop at a station bathroom. To my horror the only toilet there was one of the squat ones which I had no choice to use it.

Had to keep going and managed to find my way to the office to buy the pass I needed in time. The office wasn't open yet and there were a couple of other foreigners waiting but it opened at 7:50 so had enough time to get the ticket and get the first train. The trip took about two hours but it was good to see what Japan was like outside of the city centre. There were still buildings everywhere and not what I would have called country areas plus some of the small fields made me laugh on the inside having come from farming in Australia.

Got to the station and started to have a conversation with the only other traveller that was by themselves. His name was Bon and he was a South African now living in Canada. He was pretty nice and it was good to have someone to walk around with and talk with (and help distract the attendants in the temples you weren't meant to take photos in....). Got the bus from the station up to the temple area and started the epic walk. There is just so much to see in this area it is hard to describe. You start off by seeing Rinnoji Temple (houses large, gold lacquered, wooden statues of the three deities that are regarded as Buddhist manifestations of Nikko's three mountain), Futarasan Shrin (dedicated to Nikko's sacred mountains), Taiyuinbyo (Mausoleum of Iemitsu, the third shougan), and the most impressive site, the Toshogu Shrine (the lavish mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun).

It was probably here that I really started to see issues with my camera. I hadn't really wanted to spend most of my time trying to find the best camera settings but the auto really didn't want to take the best pictures. Even by setting everything manually I wasn't really happy with the results and no matter what I did I just couldn't get in the grove. This issue and feeling pretty well continued the whole of my trip of Japan making me fairly depressed. It was probably a these temples and shrines that my deep hatred for Japanese stairs started. There were just so many of them and then, usually the ones going into the shrine/temple, were of a horrible design! Have a look at a set of stairs some time and you will see that they are not the same height as the depth OR the height is not greater than the depth. It was also here that my frustration of what was allowed to be photographed and what wasn't started.

After the Tokugawa shrine Bon wanted to go up to the Lake Chuzenj but I had really had enough walking and that was going to be a pretty big hike. So we parted ways and I went back down to the station and had a bento box for lunch. I then got back on the train and headed up to Kinugawa hot spring area. I had intended to go to Edo Wonderland (a Samurai village based theme park thing) but didn't really have time plus it was going to be a hassel to get to and back from so went to the information desk at the train station and asked where the closest and best Onsen (hot spring) was. They pointed me in the direction of this very fancy looking hotel so headed up there and with a bit of confusion I got my very small towel (think half the size of a tea towel) and pointed in the right direction.

It was a bath house inside with a small onsen outside and no one was there so I thought it was pretty sweet! Did the routine of washing myself then got in the hot bath and was enjoying myself when I heard some people come in so I turn around and about 10 - 12 Yakuza walk in! Yakuza are Japanese mafia. The only Japanese people with full body tattoos are Yakuza plus some cut off their little finger so show how macho they are. I am not ashamed to say I was pretty well freaked the hell out! It wasn't like I could go running off either with just half a tea towel around me and you have to follow procedures and dry off properly! While sitting there thinking what I was going to do (and trying not to change the colour of the water) they washed themselves off and got in the hot bath that I was in. I just stayed there trying to mind my own business but then they tried to start up a conversation (while trying to 'compare' and not look to obvious, something I am told all Japanese guys do to foreigners)! Pretty much though, they knew no English and I knew no Japanese so all I could get across was that I was from Australia which was good an bad, they liked Australians but not how the Japan v Australia soccer game had gone from what I could tell. Thankfully they weren't there to cause trouble (and it was obvious they were unarmed) but they were there to use the hot springs. Most hot springs have signs up saying anybody with a tattoo is not allowed to use them, but I guess if a group of yakuza turn up it is going to be hard to say no! Looking back it is pretty funny and seems pretty harmless, but it is a lot closer to some very dangerous and crazy people than I ever wanted to get.

I got out of the hot bath and went outside to the proper Onsen while the yakuza staid inside. It was pretty cold out there but the water was wonderful and the view fantastic of the mountains. After a while of that I got out, dried off, got changed and headed back to the train station. Unlike the morning where I had been able to catch a special rapid train to Nikko, there were only rapids going back so it took an extra hour to get back to Tokyo so caught up on a bit of sleep as it had been such a long day.

Got off at the station in Asakusa and since was there decided to see the temple complex there. Sadly most of the shops that are usually open along the shopping streets were already closed as it was fairly late (about 8pm) but the temple was still open and lit up and it looked very beautiful. There were also a couple of cherry blossoms out but my attempts at artistic photography failed.

Went looking for some dinner and found this fantastic little noodle bar. It had the regular models of the food but with a number (some had a little English with them), you then went to the machine on the left of the door, put the number of the one you wanted in, paid the machine then took your ticket inside and gave it to the chief. For a foreigner like me it was just what I needed! When I went up to the machine there was a wad of cash sitting in the change compartment. The guy before me, who had just gone in to the restaurant had forgotten to pick up his change. He must have used a 10000 Yen note as there was a lot of money so I took it into him and he was very happy and grateful. I then got my ticket and had dinner and it was so good and filling after a long day.