Shogun-Town
At 4:30am the lights come on and I pretend to act asleep as a guard comes over and checks me out. He doesn’t wake me nor say a thing on the matter. I arise and buy a coffee(out of a vending machine), before going and unloading my ‘change of diets’ poo. It is not the right colour, texture, smell or feeling. I then act on a brainwave from the fairly sleepless night from before. If I get the first bus to Yamuto-Onsen, I can regather my sleeping bag! So I kill an hour by waiting inside and then jump on the first Tobu line bus that I see.
The view outside the bus is more dramatic than I remembered from the previous day. The sun is coming up through a vast field of fog and what looks likely to be snow clouds. By this point, I had already realised that I had overlooked my childhood dream of seeing snow for the first time. It is so beautiful and cleansing on the outside environment. It takes the grace of a lace cloth gently draped over the trees and hills.
I get out at Yamuto and meet the Taiwanese bloke again. We have a chuckle as I explain my chickening out. He tells me not to be down on myself. We chat about the hot springs and about the landscape. He tells me to just ‘waltz in’ to the hotel he stayed at for a hot spa in the natural waters, which I store away in the memory bank. We say our farewells and then they hop on the bus, at which point I sneak back my sleeping bag from inside the waiting room. I head for the visitors centre where I find that it is closed. I read a map which shows me the location of a temple and a hot spring within a short walking distance. I head in the direction, following some decorative stone lanterns to the temple entrance. I slip over on the ice at one point and feel a damn fool. The temple is closed - but then again, it is 7am.
I take a snow covered bridge out over the sulfur spring. It smells like a billion bad eggs cracked into a bain-marie. The colour of the patches of hot water are a cobalt blue mixed with a bakelite green and it bubbles and brews. I then take up the idea of just waltzing into a hotel and using their onsen. It works a treat, even though I have to double back for a towel and kimono right past a staff member who welcomes me with a ‘konichiwa’.
The water is so hot it hurts. It must be about 50 degrees. It stinks like eggs and has little white bits floating in it, but I guess that is what makes it a natural hot spa. I then sit on a bucket and cleanse myself of my own filth and the filth of hot sulfur water. I feel like a real person again, I change and head for the bus. A brush of the teeth and some deoderant and I am fresh as a daisy. I have a few minutes to walk in the snow covered block before the rumble of the diesel engine. The bus gets moving back to Nikko and I am ready to relax and admire the view.
Right as we get to Churizenko-Onsen, I notice a haze about the air. As there is a scheduled stop, I get out and walk in what is my first experience of falling snow. It is so cold, yet so beautiful. I ask politely if my bus driver could take a photo of me, which he does and then mumbles in Japanese ‘you must be cold in just a Tshirt.’
Back on the bus and there are a few nods of the head as I slip into a slight sleep. Awaking just before the station, I get up and stow away my bag at the train station lockers. I walk up the road to the visitors centre and ask about accommodation. Turns out ‘Yusu Hostero’ is the Japinglish term for cheap accommodation, as the guide puts me in the right direction.
As I ascend the main drag of Nikko, I get to the historical 17th Century bridge. There is no way I am paying to cross it, so I snap a few photos from the main car bridge anyways. I then climb the stairs up into the World Heritage Precinct of Nikko.
Back in the day, a guy who worshipped the green mountains set up a religious sect of the Shinto religion. The Shogun got behind it and they built a whole bunch of shrines and temples for the worshipping of their Shinto gods. When the shogun died, they housed his spirit in a specially built mausoleum. This is basically what Nikko has to offer, a precinct of buildings and stunning natural forest AND A BILLION TOURISTS. Upon coming to this part of the town, I was swamped with gaijin BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, heaps of Japanese tourists. It turns out that every Japanese person has Sunday off, meaning it is the day to do roadtrips out of Tokyo. I try to overlook the hoards of people and experience the temples and shrines in a quiet and peaceful manner, however it is hard when people are yelling out “Is it in focus” or the equivalent in Japanese. After an hour and half I walk down the hill in the light snow and try to determine my next move. The crowds of people had turned me off the idea of staying in Nikko for another night, so I decide to get back to Tokyo and have a good nights sleep.
I board the train and fall asleep immediately after smashing some chips and a packet of Pocky. When I awake, I am close to Asukusa and my end point of what had been a fun time outside of Tokyo.
Back in the real world and I decide to get back into the capsule hotel that I had been staying at a few nights prior. It was cheap and because they remembered me they gave me a discount! I get set up and then go across the road to get my negs developed and cd’s made of my first 5 rolls of film. I purchase some face masks from the 100Y shop and then get some noodles from the local cheap place. I chat to some of the other travellers staying at the hotel. They span from Sydney, Oxford, Cambridge and Utah. We drink a few beers and get chatting about art and all the usual small talk you have with other travellers. A fairly nice group of people in the end. Sleep.
