Nikko Revisited

A fellow SS/L employee who’s been here multiple times was complaining about Japan (this is about his 6th 2 week long trip). We started talking and I realized that he’s never been sightseeing outside Mito. Now, Mito is not exactly a hub of culture or nightlife or anything else. In fact, pretty much the *only* advantages it has are that it’s easy to get to from the airport and that it has a Holiday Inn where the staff speaks English. So I offered to go back to Nikko this weekend – I’ve been meaning to see that waterfall for real anyway. Faced with the choice of a hotel room wall to stare at or the chance of seeing a live monkey, he chose the monkey.

We skipped the whole temple area this time, and went straight to the waterfall. While it wasn’t exactly a clear day, the sun did poke through the clouds a little and we could actually see the falls.

Here’s the repeat picture, minus the rain and the Redhead.





We also paid the 530 yen to ride the elevator to the bottom (there is no trail), so we got a view of the entire spectacle. Wow! Unfortunately, I don’t think my pictures do it justice. You really need a wide angle lens to get all the little waterfalls at the bottom.


The next stated goal was a hike to the top of the local volcano – Nantai-san. We managed to locate the trail, and started up the steps. About then is when we figured out why there were so many dragonflies all over – they eat the masses of little black biting flies that swarm around you any time you stand still long enough to catch your breath. Since we had no bug spray and it was really too late to be starting on such a hike anyway, we chickened out and turned around after only about 100 steps. Besides, the lake had duck boats for rent! (They had helicopter boats too, but the rotor didn’t turn as you pedaled so we agreed that was too lame)











Sadly, there were no monkey sightings. But I think it was still deemed a better view than the hotel wallpaper.