I have neglected my blog in the most horrible way. I am truly sorry. I am just busy and lazy and lame.

Anyway, I went to Nikko yesterday. It was beautiful. It was the most perfect day to go. I had the day off, Tuesday, I am not sure why, but no one that works for my branch had work that day. well i took the opportunity to miss the weekend crowds and trek up to Nikko for the day. Nikko is a small town in Tochigi prefecture. Its famous for its shrines and temples. One in particular, the Toshogu shrine. It is a very flashy temple you might say. Its covered in intricate carvings and painted bright colors. Its very uncharacteristic of some of the other Buddhist shrines I have seen here. It reminded me of the sort of Buddhist shrines we saw in Darjeeling.

The train ride up took 2 hours. I love riding on trains though, so that was a treat for me. It was SUCH a nice day too. The sky was so blue and I had the best time just looking out the window.

The town of Nikko is not very interesting. I basically headed straight for the temple complex as soon as I arrived. Its about a 15min walk from the station. On the way you pass a very famous bridge called the Shinkyou bridge. It is very beautiful.

Then you enter the temple complex from near the base of the bridge. Its a bit like a temple park. There are several temples and shrines on the grounds. Both Shinto and Buddhist. The most famous is the Toshogu Shrine, but another really interesting one was the Rinnoji temple. I also saw a Buddhist service of sorts. I really wanted to take pictures, but it would have been inappropriate. But there was a monk and he was chanting in front of a fire. It was really interesting.

I wondered around the grounds and visited all the temples and shrines. It was a really nice day. Its fall so many of the leaves where changing, which was especially nice in this area.

I was pressed for time so i did not visit Nikkos other famous attraction which its National Park, with waterfalls and a lake. I must go back. Also wanna visit one of the onsen!

Oh yeah, and there was this little shrine for children. I dont know what little children pray for. Maybe good weather so they can play outside. Or maybe toys or candy, well you got me, but it was really cute.


OK well this is a pretty boring entry. The only funny thing that happened was when I was riding on the train home I fell asleep and put my foot up on the seat across from me. Only a little bit of my shoe was touching and it was not even touching the seat itself, it was on the front of the seat. Anyway, I got yelled at by the man sitting across from me. Old men are always yelling at me.

If you wanna see more pictures of Nikko check out my Picsa gallary. Just follow this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Marjoriebyrd/Nikko