The Backpacking Ballerina

Higaeri in Japanese means day trip, I feel like I need to come back to Nikko to really experience it. Based on our trip I would recommend that you stay here for at least 2-3 days. Our day trip was not enough to go around Nikko and in the end we were rushing to get back to the station and go home.

Nikko literally means sunlight or sunshine, it is famous for its Toshogu shrine, and the mausoleum of Tokugawa leyasu. A city in the mountains, There is so much to see here in Nikko and I was so disappointed that we only had time to go to  Lake Yumoto and back down to Lake Chuzenji and since the weather was so bad when we were here we could not even go and walk to the shrines and the gardens. We just passed and looked at them from afar.

How to get there: We took a train from Ikebukuro which took us two hours to Nikko. There is also a train from Asakusa to Nikko, the Spacia. When you get there you could buy a bus ticket which could be purchased at the ticket office. You could buy the ride all you can bus ticket so that you could get on and off different bus stops and go around. Nikko is a big place, its kind of like Hakone except more complicated because there are only buses and there is traffic on the way down.

Where to go: The Kegon Falls is one of which I wanted to visit but could not go to. The Tobu world heritage square, Lake Chuzenji, Nikko Toshogu shrine. There are still a lot of places to see here and I am sure that after coming here you will realize that there isn`t a lot of time to do everything.

There is a Japanese saying, that you “Never say Kekko until you`ve seen Nikko” (kekko in Japanese means “i am satisfied”, splendid, wonderful or sufficient ) Hope I could go back again here for an overnight trip. It reminded me of the time I went to see the Kurobe Dam, which is one of Japans largest Dams. It was beautiful, just like Nikko. Japan has so much beauty to offer. As my mother always says, “日本は自然が奇麗だからね”, (Nihon wa shizen ga kirei dakara ne)