There is a saying in Japan, "Never say kekko (beautiful) until you have seen Nikko!" Nikko is a very beautiful town around 1.5 hours from Tokyo and a day trip is always good.
I've found that the best places to get to are when you go to a place that everyone goes to. Then you go one step further from there, to the place that fewer people go to. Then you go one step further from there, to the place that fewest people go to. It means a lot of travel time, but it is worth it at the end.
Nikko Railway Station.
Nikko ranges in elevation from 200 m to 2000 m. It has a beautiful skyline with mountains.
A family wedding photograph. I like the way everyone reverts back to historic costumes for weddings - just like jeans-wearing Indians abroad now seeking their Indianness through saris and dhotis at temples!
I also like taking group photos when they are posing for someone else! Often, interesting facial and body angles can be caught just before they freeze into their usual smiley faces or after they begin to relax.
The almost deserted bus stop at Lake Chuzenji from where I walked.
A souvenir shop: Japanese fans colored in blue, laughing Buddhas decked out in wood, masks frowning down and dolls nodding at each other - these were a few of the assorted things!
Color discrimination in cats! I couldn't decide which one I liked better. But as Deng Xiaoping famously said, "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice (or tourists in this case)."
Lake Chuzenji - view of the mountains.
Portrait of an artist painting a scenery. I wondered if the artist was also painting himself into the scenery - like M.C. Escher.
Sometimes, a thought strikes me: maybe railings are meant to save the beauty from us?
Skyline from Lake Chuzenji.
Skyline from Lake Chuzenji-2
At Futurasan shrine, Chugushi
Futurasan Shrine at Chugushi
Landscape at Lake Chuzenji
Landscape at Lake Chuzenji-2. The town nestling at the foot of a mountain fades away in the distance while the wind blows ripples ever so gently across the lake.
Landscape at Lake Chuzenji -3. A pier leads down to where a boat can come in against the tyres. A single red chair beckons invitingly to pause and rest a while.
Kegon Falls
I liked these two ice-creams sitting there, with socks on because the weather was cold.
These two Japanese girls were thrilled to bits when I asked them for their photograph. They giggled away, and I took it before they composed themselves.
A shop in Nikko selling their rice buns and green tea.
A food stall in Nikko with fish skewered on sticks.
Taiyun Mausoleum (1651) of the third Shogun, Tokugawa Iyemistu. It seems like whoever powerful died became a deity, especially emperors and shoguns and their power to grant wishes continued.
Iyemitsu unfortunately ended the patrilineality of the Tokugawa dynasty since he was bisexual and was killed in a lover's quarrel in a bathtub by his homosexual lover.
Iyemistu crucified Christians and expelled Europeans, a policy that was continued for two centuries, keeping Japan ingrown as a civilization.
Five story Pagoda, Nikko Tosho-gu, which enshrines the remains of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who established the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan for 250 years.
Shinkyo Bridge (built 1636, restored 2005) reserved for use by the Emperor during the Edo period, but thrown open for 500 Yen to tourists. I find it better to look on the bridge than walking on it!
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