On the road again... (just can't wait to get on the road again)

Tsugi wa, Yamagata!

The views from the train towards Yamagata were amazing and even though the shinkansen was going pretty fast, the mountain ranges in the distance completely blew me away.

I arrived in Yamagata just after midday. So, with map in hand and a bus schedule from the hotel, i headed over to Zao Mountains to see the famous Juhyos. These snow monsters did not disappoint, and my only regret was that I couldn't stay to see them being lit-up in the evening. The last bus back to Yamagata left at five, so I only had a couple of hours to absorb the sites. I took as many photos as I could (which, for me, was somewhere in the hundreds... though not all of them came out as well as I'd hoped) but it was just too cold to stay outside for long.

Here are some of the highlights:

Nikko Day 2 - part 3

After Chuzenji Lake, it was starting to get dark so I rushed to Narabi-jizo, just outside of the National Park.

The area has rows and rows of Jizo 地藏 statues. According to wikipedia:

"Jizō, or Ojizō-sama as he is respectfully known, is one of the most loved of all Japanese divinities. His statues are a common sight, especially by roadsides and in graveyards. Traditionally, he is seen as the guardian of children, particularly children who died before their parents. Since the 1980s, the tendency developed in which he was worshipped as the guardian of the souls of mizuko, the souls of stillborn, miscarried or aborted fetuses. In Japanese mythology, it is said that the souls of children who die before their parents are unable to cross the mythical Sanzu River on their way to the afterlife because they have not had the chance to accumulate enough good deeds and because they have made the parents suffer. It is believed that Jizō saves these souls from having to pile stones eternally on the bank of the river as penance, by hiding them from demons in his robe, and letting them hear mantras.

Jizō statues are sometimes accompanied by a little pile of stones and pebbles, put there by people in the hope that it would shorten the time children have to suffer in the underworld (the act is derived from the tradition of building stupas as an act of merit-making). The statues can sometimes be seen wearing tiny children's clothing or bibs, or with toys, put there by grieving parents to help their lost ones and hoping that Jizō would specially protect them. Sometimes the offerings are put there by parents to thank Jizō for saving their children from a serious illness. Jizō's features are also commonly made more babylike in order to resemble the children he protects."

Sorry about the wall-of-text, I just thought I'd put it in context!


Behind the rows of Jizos (up the stairs behind the jizo in the foreground) is Bake-jizo, the so-called scariest place in Nikko, which is in fact a Monk graveyard. It was pretty spooky, but not enough to stop me from using some of the graves as tripods, lol. Nighttime in that graveyard would be a different story though...


To finish the day, I returned to the onsen for a soak and had an awesome vegetarian dinner prepared for me by a monk that lived/worked at the hostel I was staying in. It was definitely a great day! Tomorrow, Yamagata!

Nikko Day 2 - part 2

Sooooo.... From the temples, I got the bus to Chuzenji Lake. It took about 40mins and we travelled up one of the curviest roads I've ever been on. Literally hair-pin turns every 50 metres - the yellow road surrounding Kegon Falls in the pic below.


Chuzenji Lake was awesome, but very cold and extremely windy. It's a good thing I put on a pair of leggings under my trousers. It was also the first snow I'd seen so far on my trip.

Next stop was Kegon Falls, where I witnessed my first bit of hentai Japanese male behaviour...

It was very windy on one of the viewing platforms and I was by myself until a couple showed up - the girl wearing a pleated mini skirt and the guy dressed in almost school uniform attire. As I turned to face them, their backs were turned towards me and the girl's skirt was being blown upwards by the wind without her realising. The guy then reaches round, cameraphone in hand and starts taking sneak photos of his girlfriends underwear, admiring them too whilst she's still staring at the waterfall! When he realised I was watching him do it I gave him a dispicable look and shook my head, hahaha. I almost wanted to tell the girl but there would have been too much of a language barrier: "um... ano... boyfriendo wa hentai desu...?"

Anyway, I hope she dumps him when she accidentally stumbles across the photos.
Here's Kegon Falls:

Nikko Day 2 - part 1

So, on my first night at the hostel I had Japanese curry for dinner and spent a good hour soaking in an outdoor onsen just around the corner. It was wonderfully relaxing bathing outdoors and to top it off I had a beer afterwards, with a nice Panamanian guy from San Fransisco that I'd met at the hostel.

I snuck in with a camera and took a photo of the place, kekeke, though the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

The following morning's breakfast was toast and coffee and then I set off to explore Nikko properly. I spent 2000yen on a bus pass which would take me to Chuzenji Lake in the mountains and all the major tourist sites in the area. The following pictures are from the Futarasan and Toshogu Shrines and the Rinnoji Temple. The shrine are is also famous as the home of the monkey carvings in "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" poses (which I failed to take a good photo of).

Oh no! You can see up my noes and all of my 5 chins!

People bowing as a priest chants scripture

Behold! Three different types of Japanese lantern! Wah, sugoi!!

The coolest old-man ever, sat at the exit to the temples with a cat on his knee, blowing on a bird whistle.

On the Road - Nikko he Ikou!

Rail pass: Check!
Passport: Check!
Money: Check!
Too much luggage: Check!

Wahoo! My first shinkansen ride to Utsunomiya

The Nikko train!

Nikko train station. The weather remained this awesome for my whole stay.

Check-in time wasn't until 3 so I stuffed my luggage into a locker and went for a wander around town...

A grey, japanese, tail-less version of Ginger?

One of my favourite pics from Nikko

Shinkyo - Sacred Bridge of Nikko. Considered a National Treasure.

An awesome cast iron dragon water feature

One of the entrances to the Futurasan Shrine

Path of lanterns leading up to the entrance pictured above

Awesome icicles extending from a frozen water dripping feature