Nikko (the town, not my roommate)
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2009
1
5
15
Trip End
Nov 17, 2009
Nikko, Kanto, Japan
Saturday, November 7, 2009
I was really looking forward to this day trip b/c it allowed us to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train). We reserved JR passes, before the trip, which allowed us access to the Shinkansen and any other JR line trains including the Yamanote subway line in Tokyo. All we had to do was flash our JR passes to the station attendant near the turnstiles and we were through. The train we went on was one of the larger trains. It was a double decker train. The interior of the train was pretty nice. It was very spacious and clean. There was a ticker at the front and back of the car which told you what the next station was (in both Japanese and English). The audible announcement was also in Japanese and English. One of the things I appreciated was whenever the conductor or food cart person enters or leaves the car, they would bow. We packed sandwiches and drinks which came in handy for the pleasant train ride. The ride took us less than two hours. We had to take a connecting local train to Nikko itself.
Once at Nikko, navigation was easy: we just followed all the other tourists. Since it was the weekend, the town was packed with tourists. We stopped by a post office to get some money from the ATM (only the second time I've ever used an ATM!). After about a 15 minute walk, we made it up to the Shinkyo Bridge. I was a nice red bridge that crossed over a deep canyon lined with trees in their autumn goodness. Right behind the bridge was the entrance to the Nikko national park. Up some steps and through some sacred gates, we made ourselves to the first temple - Rinno-ji. The meat of the sightseeing took place at Tosho-su. This was a complex with many shrines and a big temple. There was a sacred stable that housed a white horse. Decorated at the top of the stable were wood carvings of the infamous "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys. All the buildings were colorfully decorated as most were in Nikko. Tosho-su was the first place where we actually had to take our shoes off before entering. We entered one of the halls that was of sightseeing interest. A giant dragon was painted on the ceiling. A monk demonstrated to us the acoustical properties of the hall by clapping two sticks together. When he strikes the sticks right under the dragon's mouth, you can hear kind of a sonic echo sound (like the dragon is "roaring"). You don't hear this anywhere else in the hall. We saw a few women who wrote kimonos I guess to take some nice photos with the ancient buildings. We also saw a couple that looked like they just got married. The last complex we visited was Futarasan-jinja. It was less crowded so it had more of a peaceful feel. There were a couple of smaller shrines, large old trees, and for some reason a ring toss game.
It was starting to get dark so we headed back to the train station. One the local train back, we actually witness someone who collapsed! I didn't actually see the person fall down but I saw someone laying on the train floor. Kind of scary. The only reason why I'm noting this is b/c this is not the first train incident we encountered during the trip. Anyways, the person seemed to be alright and the train ride resumed. We got some Bento boxes for the Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo.
I was not that tired when we arrived in Tokyo. I think this was the first day I got over my jet lag. So we decided to go over to the Tokyo harbor area to visit Muscle Park. Muscle Park is a mini amusement park with strength, agility, and mental activities. The real reason why we came was b/c they had replica obstacles from Ninja Warrior (Sasuke as known in Japan). Larry and I have seen some of the shows so we thought it was be really cool to try some of the challenges. At Muscle Park they had the hand bike (you pedal across this horizontal area using your hands), cliffhanger (you have to maneuver though these ledges that are as thick as your finger tips), salmon ladder (a pull up bar where you have to kind of pull up and at the same time get the bar to a higher rung), and a ring maze (you're suspended and holding onto rings where you have to move along this jagged course). My brother was first and I laughed when he failed at all the obstacles (they let you continue to the next obstacle if you fail to complete the current one). I was next. I made cleared the hand bike using my legs for momentum. I was proud but my arms were already dead! Next was the cliffhanger which I fell almost immediately. It's absolutely impossible to get any grip on the ledge! Then there was the salmon ladder which I had no hope on b/c I was worn out. Didn't even get the first rung. I'm convinced it's b/c the obstacle was meant for short people and I couldn't really use my whole body as momentum. I did make it through the ring maze halfway. I was holding on strong but my left arm could not get the ring above a certain hump in the top bar. Guess I know which arm to do more bicep curls on. My brother and I mistakenly brought another set of tickets (language barrier alert!) so we foolishly decided to subject ourselves to the Ninja Warrior torture again! I did just about the same the second time. My left arm failed me again on the ring maze! Overall it was a really fun experience. I guess you can say that I kind of survived a Japanese game show!
