Day 3: Nikko
Our destination for the day was Nikko, a Unesco World Heritage Site and national park nearly two hours away by train from Tokyo. We got an early start by hopping on the shinkansen at Tokyo Station at 7:40 a.m. and transferring at Utsunomiya Station to a local line that took us to Nikko Station.
We arrived at about 9:30 a.m. It took me a bit to orient myself. Nikko Station, on the Japan Rail line, was down the street from Tobu-Nikko Station, which was on a private train line. We walked down to it because the bus platform was across the street. I’d planned on taking the bus to the Shinkyo Bridge, at the foot of Nikko Toshogu Shrine, but when I saw the crowd of tourists waiting to take the same bus, I knew I wanted to avoid getting packed into that sardine can. So we opted to walk the mile to the bridge instead.
The walk included passing by a shiba inu sprawled out on the sidewalk sleeping beside a sign that said, “Please do not touch Japanese dog.” A older man whom I think was the owner was standing beside it and he got a little nervous as Van got real close to take a picture of the dog without actually touching it.
Midway to the bridge, we came upon a grand Western-style building built in 1919 that was flanked by cherry trees in full blossom. A sign out front explained it was former Nikko City Hall. It still served as a municipal administration center and the surrounding area had been converted into a park.
The Shinkyo Bridge was quite picturesque but there was a charge to just walk on it, so we contented ourselves with just admiring it from the sidewalk.
We crossed the street over to the Nikko World Heritage site. Instead of going to the paid and most famous portions of Nikko Toshogu Shrine — and they do look sublime — we took the 5-kilometer Takino trail, which skirted around the most popular parts of the site.
The stone-paved path led us through ancient cedar trees to a series of smaller, must less-visited shrines and sacred spots. I really enjoyed the quiet, solitude and shade of the forest and the lack of people, especially after enduring the crush of Tokyo.
For lunch, we circled back to a beautiful Western-style stone cottage housing the restaurant Meiji-no-Yakata. The cottage was built by F.W. Horn, founder of the Nippon Photograph Corporation during the Meiji area (1868-1912). It really evoked something you’d see out of Anne of Green Gables on Prince Edward Island, or the Jordon Pond House in Acadia National Park in Maine.
We got a lovely four-course meal that included a pumpkin soup, bread roll and salad, our main entry — a deep-fried beef hamburg steak for Van, and crab croquettes for myself — followed by a slice of cheesecake.
