Nikko

I have always believed that I will work better internationally as I better understand the local culture, so as part of that belief, I make it a point to travel to places overseas that are steeped in culture. OK... I wasn't buying that as I typed it, either, so let's just suffice to say that I like to travel. And today I traveled to Nikko, which is most famous for the Shinkyo Bridge spanning the Daiya River (pictured at left). Legend has it that a Buddhist priest by the name of Shodo Shonin crossed the Daiya River at this exact spot more than 1,200 years ago, on the backs of two huge serpents. Alrighty then... I see that sake was big here in Japan even 1,200 years ago... :-)

Today was kind of an historic moment for me, of sorts. In all of my traveling in Japan, I've been to Hokkaido (the northernmost island) and I've seen nearly all of Honshu (the main island) south/southwest of Tokyo, and I've even been down in to Kyushu, but I had NEVER been north of Tokyo on Honshu. Nikko is about 100 miles north of Tokyo, so at least now I can say I've been to that area of Japan (and a pic on the right to prove it - sorry for the hat hair). One of these days I'd like to make it way up to Aomori and Sendai and that part of Honshu, but I was limited today to just a day-trip.

There are dozens of shrines in the Nikko National Park, and they're all pretty cool looking. Many of them are adorned with carvings of monkeys (see left). They even have the "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" statues around there - I wonder if it's Japan where that whole thing originated. But in fact, as in most Asian shrines (not just in Japan), I really love all of the ornate carvings/paintings that are part of these temples. You'll see some of those in all of the pictures I took.

To the right here is a panoramic view of sort of a courtyard that was surrounded by all of these old structures (most of these shrines date from the 1630s). Sure all of this stuff was cool, but what I thought was most cool about Nikko is that ALL of it is old. Tokyo is all modern concrete and glass, and though shiny and neat, it's all modern. Even traditional ol' Kyoto has quite a bit of concrete and glass, as well. But in Nikko? Nope... it all seemed pretty old. Even the train I rode on creaked and squeeled along the rusty old tracks as it swayed back and forth. It honestly reminded me of the first time I rode on an old Kintetsu train from Nagoya to Chiryu way back in August of 1986. Man... that's OLD!!! :-)

Anyway, I had a great time up there, and am happy to have visited a part of Japan that I've never seen before. You can see all the photos I took, by clicking here for Facebook, or here for Flickr.