On July 29th, the Dartmouth LSA+ students, Dorsey-sensei, and I all set off to go to Nikko. Let me copy Kimberly's introduction of Nikko from 2 years ago - though slightly edited, as she puts it very well:
"Nikko is located in Tochigi Prefecture, which is not too far from Tokyo. It is home to several famous sites, including Kegon no taki (華厳の滝、Kegon Falls) and Tōshōgū (東照宮、Tōshōgū shrine complex, which was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu and bears his remains). [Note: There is a mausoleum in the temple, but it is not believed to bear his remains.) Here are some maps for reference!
"
We met at Tobu Asakusa Station at 8:30am on July 29th (Sunday) and took a limited express train to Nikko. After arriving at Nikko around 11am, we left our backpacks in coin lockers and headed towards Lake Chuuzenji to see Kegon Falls. We took a bus, and I and a few others napped on the ride.
When we got to Lake Chuuzenji, it was a bit cloudy, but the weather was nice. We ate lunch first at a shop near Lake Chuuzenji that offered items with some of Nikko's famous "yuba" (tofu skin). I had a curry set containing a small serving of curry and a small serving ramen, as did some of the LSA+ students and Dorsey-sensei. I loved tofu skin since I was young (Chinese dishes use it as well!), so Nikko was a sort of paradise for me.
Afterwards, we went to see Kegon Falls. We looked at it from a free observation point, and then rode an elevator 100meters down to the base of the falls. Kegon Falls was very beautiful and majestic, but 5 minutes after we got to the base observation point, it started pouring - really hard.
We tried waiting out the rain, but it didn't stop. So, after Kegon Falls, we skipped wandering around Lake Chuuzenji, and headed to a Japanese inn called Oedo Onsen Monogatari. This inn is actually a chain, and it is famous for its hot springs. The inn also supplies its guest with a yukata to wear while there.
We stopped by the station again to catch a bus there. While we waited, we looked around the shops nearby and ate delicious snacks such as maple honey-ice-cream and fried yuba manjuu. One student, Sydney, was joining us later at the hotel (her dad was in Japan), so I took a picture of Dorsey in front of the Tobu Nikko station pointing to the stop of the bus that goes to Oedo Onsen Monogatari inn.
When we got to the inn, everybody rested until 6pm, when we met up to do karaoke. Sydney met up with us right before karaoke and sang with us. Dorsey-sensei sang with us as well! Afterwards, we all went and ate dinner at a buffet style. After dinner, we hit the hot baths, and then some of us did karaoke again before going to bed.
The next day, we woke up bright and early to eat a buffet-style breakfast and then checked out of the hotel by 9:45am. We left our bags in a coin locker again before going to Tōshōgū.
At Tōshōgū, we saw the 三猿 (sanzaru) or three wise monkeys. Their names are mizaru, kikazaru, and iwazaru - a pun of saru and the phrase "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." We took some pictures in front of them, mimicking the pose. We also saw the famous and adorable nemurineko ("sleeping cat") and some other extravagant carvings.
After Tōshōgū, a couple of us headed over to Shinkyo Bridge. There were chimes hanging right before the bridge, and they not only looked beautiful, they sounded beautiful as well. The bridge itself was also stunning.
Once we finished looking at Shinkyo Bridge, we hopped on a bus back to the Tobu Nikko station area. There, we had lunch and shopped around until around 4pm, before meeting up with everybody at the station to catch our train back to Tokyo.
We got to Tokyo around 6pm and headed to the restaurant Casablanca Silk in the Marunouchi building next to Tokyo station. There we met up with a bunch of Dartmouth alumni who were in Japan. There were several '18s and more recent graduates (I knew some of them!), but also people who had graduated 15 years and more ago! We had a lot of fun talking and eating. Everybody left before 9pm to get back to their homestay families, but some of us added each other on Facebook once we got back. It was a good way to end the Nikko trip.