Sunshine City

This week’s post is going to be about my day trip to Nikko. In all its glorious coldness, sadness and fucking epicness.

Let’s Roll!

What’s that sleep thing you’re talking about?

I am a responsible and mature adult and because I knew I had to wake up early I of course went to sleep early. Except I’m neither responsible nor mature and so I went to sleep a little bit too late. How late you wanna know? Well, let’s say when I set my alarm it said it’s gonna ring in 3 hours and 18 minutes. At least some sleep, right? Nope, I couldn’t sleep for another half an hour. Needless to say, I was tired as fuck, but what’re you gonna do…

I left my dorm shortly after 5am. It was still dark and freezing. And I of course decided to take a shortcut through small, dodgy alleyways. Normally, people would be kinda scared of those creepy alleys, but this is Japan after all so I wasn’t really concerned.

The whole trip to Nikko took around 2:30h, however, I wanted to go to Lake Chuzenji higher up the mountain. So I had to take a bus up the mountain, which took another hour plus waiting time for the bus. I took the train at 6:26 at Asakusa station and reached my destination at 10:26. It took me 4 goddamn hours to get there and that doesn’t even count in the commute to Asakusa station. Damn… I mean, I got there and that’s all that counts, I think…

The Weather Fuckup

Before I bought the ticket for Nikko the previous day, I looked up the weather in Nikko. Of course, if it would have been cold af or raining I wouldn’t have done the trip. The weather showed a good 19 degrees at noon and not so cold weather in general for the day. However, the moment I got to Nikko I realized something about the weather seemed off. It felt way colder and it started raining ever so slightly. So I looked the weather up again, you know just to make sure. And sure as shit it was 6 degrees. I fucked up. I looked up the weather in Tokyo and not Nikko. And now, here I’m standing in my fucking shorts and wearing a sweater that was as useless for keeping me warm as gasoline is for putting out a fire. Well, there was no going back so I just sucked it up like the man I am and went on my way without complaining. Just kidding, my inner baby was just bitching and moaning the whole time.

I felt miserable for some time in the cold, complaining like a lil’ bitch and contemplating on going back home and just laying in bed for the rest of the day. That was until I saw this woman standing there and talking to her friends. She wore short leggings and flip-flops. Fucking flip-flops. Here I walk around bitching about my life and she just laughs it off. I manned the fuck up and went on my way. I gotta say, that woman single-handedly saved my trip. Alright, maybe I’m exaggerating… or maybe not, who knows. No witnesses means no one to confirm or deny whatever I write here.

Dieser Weg wird nicht einfach sein

My first destination on my day trip in Nikko was the Ryuzu Waterfall. The name Ryuzu, translated to ‘dragon head’,  was given to the waterfall because the twin falls supposedly resemble the head of a dragon. It was a good one hour walk to the waterfall. I could have taken the bus there, but that would have cost more money and because I have my priorities straight I decided I’d rather freeze to death than pay the meager fee of 600 Yen more for the trip directly to the waterfall. The way there was full of fallen leaves and fallen trees and it was directly next to the lake. The walk there was definitely worth it.

When I finally reached the Ryuzu Falls I just stood there in aw and watched the waterfall crash down onto the rocks. I stood there for a solid five minutes and stared at it. Probably not only because it was so beautiful, but rather because I was kinda tired and hungry.

Good thing there was a store selling souvenirs and a restaurant directly next to the waterfall. I briefly looked at the store and then went to buy some food at the restaurant. It was nearly noon and I didn’t even eat breakfast yet, despite being awake for like seven hours. I bought myself some soba noodles with tempura and sat down and ate it. God that felt good. Being hungry and cold made me kinda not realize the small tree standing on the table. I mean I realized it was there, but I kinda ignored it. However, after eating my noodles, I laid back and saw what was laying around the tree and was put on its branches. Coins. I was kinda confused at first, but it looked kinda cool. I guess it’s supposed to bring luck or it was their way of tipping the restaurant. Whatever it was, it was a lot of money as each table had one of those small trees.

Round Two

After eating and warming up for some time in the store I decided to head back and go to my next destination. It was the exact same way back, so there was not much new to see there. Just some new perspectives coming from the other direction. At least there was, from time to time, some warming sunlight on the way back.

He was the #1

The Kegon Waterfall, ranked as one of the if not the most beautiful waterfall of Japan, is truly breathtaking. The water crashes down a whopping 97m before hitting the basin of the waterfall. It was a good moment for me to rest and just stand there and watch the water pour down. The sun was shining and there weren’t that many people there, so I just stood there, gazed at the waterfall and sunk into my thoughts.

You could also take a lift down to the bottom of the waterfall to see the basin for anyone interested. I didn’t really care about that and I wanted to go visit the city of Nikko anyway, so I went back to the bus and drove back down. The hour of driving back down went by quickly, probably because I just dozed off and slept for most of the drive.

The Sunshine City

Fun Fact: Nikko means sunshine which coincidentally is also the meaning of my given name. It was probably destiny that I landed here in Japan and visited Nikko.

The red/orange autumn trees really blend well with the red temples. I gotta hand that to Nikko. Also I kinda fell in love with the deep red leaves of the trees here. Whatever their actual botanical name is, they were gorgeous and just for them I would definitely recommend coming to Nikko, if you are in Japan during autumn. There are also several temples in Nikko, all kinda built up the mountain. I visited them last, as I kinda stumbled upon them. However, I was kinda tired and just strolled around the temples and then went back.

Conclusion

I was kinda late with my day trip to Nikko, the leaves were already halfway gone and the autumn colors slowly faded. Everything looked a bit dreary and sad. Still, the occasional colorful and full tree, the lake, the waterfalls and the temples made the trip to Nikko worth it. If I visit Japan again in the autumn, I’m definitely coming back here at the right time just to get the full autumn experience here.

Also, maybe I’m coming back here in the winter to see the snow filled trees and mountains. I’d imagine that view is gonna be worth it too. We’ll see if it works out…

Thank you for reading and see you next week :)
Ash