Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Nikko to Karuizawa

David and I were well rested and hungry this morning.  We had an elaborate Japanese-style breakfast before we left the ryokan.  We boarded the bus for a gorgeous drive on the "Romantic Road" to the Nikko National Park. We were all surprised at how much snow was still on the ground in this mountainous area. We took a cable car (called a ropeway in Japan) to the Akechi-daira observation deck to see Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls.  Very, very beautiful!

The first picture below is Dev and Brette from India and the other Julia from the UK.  The second picture is Doug and Penny from Australia.  

This picture is of the two David's.  Our tour leader is David Lovejoy from Pasadena, CA.  He has lived in Japan for nine years and is fluent in Japanese.  He is a great tour leader and a fabulous photographer.  We really enjoyed being on his tour.

We left the observation deck and took the bus to the lakeside area itself and the Kegon-no-taki waterfalls, one of Japan's three most beautiful waterfalls, so we could see it up close. The views were breathtaking!

After viewing the waterfall we walked into the small town and had a hot chocolate.  We then walked to the end of the street to see more views of Lake Chuzenji.  Amazing!

Our tour leader finally drug us away from these scenes to re-board the bus for the gorgeous drive to our next hotel in Karuizawa -- an exclusive resort town famous as a holiday retreat. We were told the Japanese Imperial Family have a home here.  It was a lovely hotel with beautiful rooms but I didn't take any pictures of the room because the views outside our window stole the show!!!  The mountain in the picture is called Mount Asama, which happens to be an active volcano as well . The views were incredible and almost look like photographs.

Shortly after we checked in we had to board the bus again to attend a 90 minute flying squirrel watch.  I did not know there were such things as flying squirrels so this was a fantastic experience!  We went to The Picchio Wildlife Research Centre.  First of all the man who educated us about flying squirrels was so enthusiastic about the subject that he just tickled all of us!  He gave us a 30 minute power point presentation of the squirrel's history and habitat and then we had to hike about 2 miles into the forest to see one.  They make their homes in hollow trees (or in this case in boxes provided for them in this particular forest).  They are nocturnal so the flying squirrel manager has to make an educated guess every night as to what time they will fly out of their nests to forage for food.  On this particular night he predicted the squirrel we were watching would fly out at 6:34 p.m.  He was close -- the squirrel flew out at 6:40.  The cool thing is that the manager has cameras in the nest and we were able to watch a closed circuit monitor that the presenter brought along which showed the squirrel's actions in the box as he was waking up and starting to move about.  The squirrel stuck his head out of the box twice and looked at us, just like our presenter said he would. It really was an incredible experience. The squirrel itself from head to tail, stretched out, was about 3 feet long. When it flew it opened its body up like a parachute and glided approximately a couple of hundred feet to another tree.  Regretably we were unable to get any pictures of it because of the time of night.  Below is a picture I found online.  This is exactly what the one we saw looked like! Pretty cute, don't you think?

By the time we returned to the hotel it was time for dinner.  We were all seated at two tables in a very pretty restaurant.  The waiters were in black tuxedos and the service was very fancy.  Sadly I didn't have my iPhone or camera at dinner but Dion took pictures of the food and shared them with me.

The food was beautifully prepared and presented.  It was a lovely dinner at the end of a remarkable day!

Monday, April 3, 2017
Tokyo to Nikko

Got up early and had a buffet breakfast at the hotel.  We couldn't linger there long because we had to be packed and ready to leave the hotel on the bus at 9:00.  Today we headed to Nikko which was about a two hour bus ride.  When we arrived we had lunch at a popular restaurant.  David had grilled toast and one piece of the toast had a couple pieces of small yellow cheese cooked into it. The other pieces of toast were plain and he just spread them with a choice of really good butter, peanut butter, or raspberry jam.  I had a club sandwich. Both were very good!

After lunch we visited a UNESCO World Heritage site Tosho-gu (Japan's most ornate shrine complex), dedicated to the Edo Period's first shogun, Tokugawa leyasu.  He and his descendants ruled Japan for over 250 years. Just as a side note, Tokyo was known as Edo before it was called Tokyo. The shrine was originally built in 1617.  It was enlarged and about a dozen buildings added to the complex by 1636.

First you enter the Shinto Gate.  The traditional gate symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred.  You should bow as you enter the gate.  

Here are two of the carvings on the storehouses right inside the gate.  They were carved by master carver Hidari Jingorou.  One is the "sleeping cat," and the other is the famous three monkeys -- hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.  

After spending a lot of time exploring the shrine and the surrounding buildings and forest, we checked into our traditional Japanese ryokan.  

The ryokan had an onsen -- a Japanese hot spring -- so we had our first opportunity to soak in it before dinner.  Onsen water is said to have healing powers derived from its mineral content.  Males and females bathe separately and there is a bit of a ritual involved.  You must shower before getting into the onsen and you must be naked.  This onsen had an indoor pool which was huge and an outdoor area with lounge chairs and two small pools. One pool was cool water and the other was the hot spring water.  David and I both bathed and it was very relaxing.  After soaking, most people shower again to wash the minerals off their skin.  Soap, shampoo and conditioner and body lotion were provided to use after your bath.  I'm sorry I could not take any pictures because the setting was lovely.  

We were given yukatas to wear to our group dinner.  I must say they are VERY comfortable!

Here is the first group picture taken on the trip.  There were four couples from the UK -- three of the couples were friends and travel together frequently.  One couple was from India and the other couple was from Australia.  All in all a great group!

The presentation of the dinner was beautiful!  The white square box contained the beef that I cooked in the hot pot shown on the upper left corner.

We had a great evening and when we returned to our rooms our beds were made up for us. They were surprising comfortable and we had a very good night's sleep.

We truly enjoyed our stay at the ryokan and wish we could have spent more time there but we had to move on the next day.

Sunday, April 2, 2017
Tokyo

We had a leisurely morning and a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel.  All of our breakfasts are included.  We did not have to meet the other tour people until 11:00 which was great.  We were to meet at the river to take a waterbus so on the way we visited Tokyo's oldest temple, Senso-ji.  Then we strolled through a garden to see the beginning of the cherry blossoms blooming.

The river front was packed with people but we found our group and boarded the waterbus for a ride down the Sumida River. It was very crowded so we didn't have good views, but I did notice this sign on the boat and it pleased me.  "May peace prevail on earth."  

We only traveled on the waterbus a few stops and we got off and walked through Hama-rikyu gardens.  They were once the private playgrounds of Japan's old shoguns.  Our tour leader walked us to meet our bus and a local guide to visit another temple.  On the way to meet him we walked on an elevated walkway and we noticed this gigantic clock!  Very cool. 

The local guide took us to see the Meiji Shrine dedicated to the deified spirts of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken.  He was emperor of Japan from 1867 to 1912, during which Japan was dramatically transformed from a feudal country into one of the great powers of the modern world.  The picture below is of the Shinto Gate leading into the 170 acre forest where the shrine is located.  

Such a gorgeous weeping cherry tree!

While we were visiting the shrine we were lucky enough to see a Shinto wedding procession.  The bride wore a simple but beautiful white gown.  Our guide said there are many reasons why a Shinto bride wears white, but one explanation is that the bride is a blank canvas and the groom can "paint" the bride with his expectations and wishes for their future together.  The guide also explained one reason why the bride wears a white hood is to cover her "horns," which she will uncover when her husband is too overbearing or demanding.  

Outside of the shrine we saw many rows of these standing cement "babies" approximately 18 inches high.  There is a very sad explanation for these.  When people die, they cross into heaven on their own.  The adults, of course, have legs, so they can cross the river into heaven. Babies who die (unborn or infants who are unable to walk yet) obviously cannot cross the river to heaven so their parents put a cement baby at the shrine to represent a Shinto baby diety who will carry (or assist) the human baby across the river into heaven.  As you can see, many parents dress these babies for the weather or with other clothing personal to them.  This picture really touches me. 

When we left the Meiji Shrine we boarded the bus for a trip to the Tokyo Metropolitan Governent building which is very new and modern. When it was built they included a public area on the 45th floor which has amazing views of the city.  Such a huge city!

That was the end of the tour and we were delivered back to our hotel.  We were on our own for dinner that night so David and I just had some snacks in our room and went to bed early. This sightseeing stuff really wears us out!