(Day 9) Wise Monkeys

The Toshogu is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868. The shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Ieyasu and two other of Japan's most influential historical personalities…

…The lavishly decorated shrine complex consists of more than a dozen Shinto and Buddhist buildings set in a beautiful forest. Initially a relatively simple mausoleum, Toshogu was enlarged into the spectacular complex seen today by Ieyasu's grandson Iemitsu during the first half of the 17th century.

- - Japan Guide

Even if you didn’t read that above section, you’ll figure out what Nikko is about by the end of this blog. I’ve never been to this place before, but it’s an important site as far as Japanese history is concerned. I’ve wanted to go for a while, and Maya’s boyfriend offered to take us – how kind! So we were up early and preparing for our journey.



Another surprise at breakfast today:



Nara-zuke or literally translated as Nara's pickles (Nara is a city near Osaka) is a type of tsukemono or pickles which are aged for a long time. How it is made: Gourd is dipped in salt water (20% salt content) until it becomes limp. Then it is pickled in salt to draw out excess moisture and when the timing is right, they are washed to get rid of excess salt. The partially pickled gourd is then aged in fermented rice (byproduct for making sake) and mirin (sticky rice wine) and shochu (distilled alcohol made from rice) for about a month or two. This process is repeated several times.

- - japanesecookingandfood.blogspot.com

This particular pickle at the Suzukis was covered in hot mustard. OI! I tried one, of course. While it would be best summed up with a crazy face, let me just give you this: ヽ（`Д´）ノ

We picked up Mayuko at the train station and then made our way out of the city heading north. It’s a bit of a drive to Nikko, with no less than three toll booths, demanding 2,000 yen a pop. Yikes.







In Japan, they have these magical places along the highway called “Service Areas” which is like a rest stop in North America, but Japanized. This means full-scale restaurants, convenience stores, and no axe murderers just waiting to kill innocent travelers. I’ve seen service areas on some of my Japanese TV shows, and I was thrilled to experience one first-hand.







Once we arrived in Nikko, the swarms of vehicles all migrating up to the site made it impossible to move. So we sat in the car and inched our way toward a parking lot somewhere off in the distance. In the meantime, I was enjoying the koyo (leaves change color).






This funny ojisan was doing…something. He looks ridic.







We finally arrived at a parking spot and I was thrilled to crawl of the vehicle at that point. I get carsick. Blech. We were hungry but decided to explore a bit of the grounds first and hopefully find something along the way.








We aren’t in Tokyo anymore!

















We finally decided to eat at the only fully non-Japanese restaurant on the grounds, Meiji-no-Yakata. Sounds Japanese though, doesn’t it? It’s certainly not.




An American’s vacation home. Perfect.






I ♥ curry.







We re-started our journey, and this time we fully intend to actually enter the shrine. Can we battle through the hordes of tour groups that have assembled like an army? Possibly. Let’s find out.














Three wise monkeys indeed.









There were swarms upon swarms of tour groups here – all Japanese! I suppose that it is a very popular destination for those Tokyoites looking to escape the city during the weekend. I was drowning.









A very traditional thing to buy when visiting a shrine is an omikuji – a fortune. Since they were advertising English fortunes, I decided to give it a go. I must not have waved enough incense at myself, because my results were a little less than desirable.


Better luck. Like, better luck next time?


Nemuri-neko

What came next was a steep-ass climb up some old stone slab steps to the former shogun’s tomb.






Aw! Cute little bunny. I have no idea what this is about.


Entrance to the tomb.


The urn which contains the ashes of Tokugawa Ieyasu.


Doesn’t this picture kind of look like a cool old samurai village or something? Perhaps a samurai who likes pudding might live here.











I attempted a vertical panoramic this time (click to enlarge):



Before long, darkness had arrived and we meandered our way back to the car, only stopping for souvenirs before busting out of town.



Again, we decided to make a stop at a service area (aka “sabis aria”), though this time it was a different, far more popular spot. We had a hard time finding a parking spot.




OHMYGOSH look at that headless guy in the foreground. DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE when I was taking the picture. How can you not notice a headless man? I’m speechless. I hope he’s okay.

This sabis aria even had a “Pets Only” area – no owners allowed! Somehow I feel like I’m back in Elementary school and this is like, “No boys allowed!”



Funny story. Maya’s boyfriend doesn’t speak English. He doesn’t want to try to speak English. This is perfectly OK with me. For this reason, I decided that I would try to speak Japanese to him. Maya and Mayuko had headed off to the washroom and I was standing alone there with him. I wanted to know if we were eating here, at the service area, so I crafted the perfect sentence in my head. I thought “koko wa tabemasu ka” = “are we eating here?” He became kind of flustered and confused and tried to tell me to wait for Maya to come back/don’t try to talk to him further. I get it - sometimes Japanese people don’t want to hear my foreigner’s Japanese. WRONG. Mayuko had a good laugh when I tried to explain the situation to her and why I was confused that he didn’t understand me. Turns out I asked, “Do you want to eat cocoa?” Can I just say = ヽ（`Д´）ノ

Anyway, by this point we were well back into Saitama and decided to stop at a mall for some dinner. I was delighted to discover that they had a Baqet shop in the mall and kind of insisted that we eat there. They are so kind.





Baqet is a restaurant where you can take part in their bread buffet – a great assortment of flavoured mini-buns. Tastiest carbs ever!











Oh what fun. Thank you!

Tomorrow I’m back to square one of hanging out with myself. Good thing I enjoy it. I’m going to go to Odaiba and sit on my duff and read a book. And then also do some other stuff. See you there!