Day 2 – Nikko

4,41 AM, Ueno – The number of times I’ve hit my head on my hotel doorframe: 4.

9.11AM, Somewhere North of Toyko – I left the hotel at 6.30AM, wandered down to Tobu-Akusasa station and sat on the bank of a river taking in the sun. The Tobu Sightseeing Office didn’t open till 7.45AM, but I didn’t want to sit in my hotel wasting away the holiday. Surprisingly there weren’t that many people around at 9AM in the morning. As I walked up the main street I must have passed around ten people in total. After photographing some people who were on their morning runs, I switched my attention to the Tokyo Sky Tree – a gigantic tower currently under construction (it’s due to finish in Spring 2012). It’s a cool structure and it dominates the skyline – it’ll present a great view when it’s completed.

I’m currently somewhere in the countryside, passing through towns, rice paddy fields and in the distance, the mountains. What’s facsinating is the Japanese standard house design – all their houses look fantastic, especially the roofs. Also worth mentioning is the warmness of the people; everyone is very polite and helpful. They are always willing to help and smiling goes a long way.

Japan is also extremely efficient and you can tell the Japanese take pride in that fact. For example all the train attendants and drivers  wear smart uniforms and even the man in the street looks presentable – there’s no scruffiness, litter, graffiti or loutish behaviour.

2.16PM, Nikko – Things I have discovered today:

• Japanese women are generally quite hot
• Japanese crows are three times the size of ours
• Nikko, despite being a world heritage site, could do with a lot more English signage
• Bring an extra jumper when visiting the mountains

I’ve decided to skip the lake and waterfall (I was going to get the bus), because it begun to rain and the clouds were blocking the view of the mountain. It also meant I’d had to have gotten the last train from Nikko which gets in quite late. Never mind though because the mountainous shrines and temples were some of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. My Lonely Planet Guide kindly explained what the Japanese signs didn’t. A couple of the shrines were closed for renovations (including one of the big Temples (you could still go in, you just can’t see the outside) but it wasn’t too disappointing.

On show is a amazing collection of traditional Japanese architecture – in fact, if you picture Japan Nikko is what comes to mind. It’s also one of the few collection of temples that is gilded. The photos I’ve taken don’t do it any justice, but they’ll still be cracking to see.

It’s also clear why they were built where they were – it’s wonderfully peaceful inside and out of the buildings, and the fact there wasn’t anyone visiting helped maintain the tranquility. I can imagine it gets busy in Golden Week, but today was practically empty. I only spotted four non-Japanese people the whole time – proof that the earthquake is still keeping people away.

It’s a bit surreal considering two days ago I was at home in my garden…

Anyway, food – I had egg and chicken rice. It came with some odd thing which I tried and it had a peculiar taste. Traditional tea was the supplied drink and it wasn’t that bad (we all know my hatred of tea). It also came with a broth that I wasn’t sure what to do with – it was a fairly big bowl – I wasn’t sure if you were supposed to drink it or pour it into your main bowl, so I ignored it (there weren’t any spoons).

I’m proud – it was the first time I ordered something in a language I have no comprehension of – none of the staff spoke English so it was a case of point, indicate I was done, and then be ushered to the till to pay.

Another interesting thing is the way the Japanese say yes after everything  - it’s confusing the first time because Hai – pronounced hi with vigour – gives the impression they’re saying hello in English, but they’re not. It’s supposedly a great importance that you show attention when listening to someone – I suppose we say mhm, ye, sure and other forms of aknowledgement, but not to the degree they do. I’ve only seen one example of bad English so far, ‘launch discaunt available’ – didn’t know the midday meal could get you to space…

3.12PM, Shimo-imaichi – I just had a nice fifteen minute chat with a man called Tim, an Australian Japanese teacher who’s over here for a couple weeks holidaying. He was nice and friendly and  helped me avoid missing my train – I misread the platform for the number of cars (it wasn’t that clear…). I should be back to Tokyo in 2 hours. He recommends Kamakura, my next day trip on the 28th. I’ll do the Tokyo museum tomorrow as it’s supposed to shower, hopefully it’ll clear up for the trip to the coast

I want to see Senso-Ji, the fish market and the park near it, the imperial palace, Ginza and Electric Town, so it’ll be another busy day on my feet.

4.39PM, Somewhere North of Tokyo – I’m pretty tired now, I’ve been awake for around fourteen hours now and jetlag’s continuing to play havoc with my mind. I’m going to chill out when I get back and try to make it to around 7PM. Hopefully I’ll have a long sleep and reset my body clock.

Everyone dresses the same over here – obviously in England we have school uniforms, but it’s a different uniform for every school. Over here they all seem to wear the same thing, or at least to the untrained eye they do. The girls also wear really inappropriately short skirts considering their age.

332 photos in two days… I’ve got space for around 2,500 but I’ll surely need some more memory cards before the trip is up – lucky that I’m in the land of Nikon then… What else!? People seem apprehensive about sitting next to me on trains. Speaking of trains, they’re spot on to the second; you can set your watch to them, they’re that good.

Oh yeah! The facemasks – I thought it was just a Tokyo thing because of the worry about pollution but plenty of people had them at Nikko in the fresh mountain air. It must be something to do with disease – it’s totally normal over here, you’d be ridiculed if you tried to wear one in London.

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Tagged: 2011, day trip, Japan, marco fiori, Nikko