Upon booking the cheap Nikko National Park day trip tour package in Tokyo from Viator.com prior to the trip, I had fairly high expectations after reading and hearing about the place. I was told of the incredible beauty of the nature park ahead of my package trip to Nikko in the day, which itself supposedly stretches over 4 prefectures and that is a really huge area. The main park itself is on top of a mountainous region that is also the site of the fabled volcano Mount Nantai, which is ranked up there together with the other great volcano peaks in Japan such as Mount Fuji. There are also other scenic attractions of note which I will go into more detail later, but as I am a great nature person myself, all the mention of splendid massive waterfalls, tranquil shrines, serene lakes at the foot of the dormant volcano, onsens and beautiful hiking trails left me eager in anticipation. I was slightly taken aback by the relatively low price of the Viator.com tour package which initially left me wondering if I was going to leave Nikko National Park after the day trip feeling unsatisfied as it appeared to be as cheap as free guided tours in other parts of Japan, which is not available in Nikko itself, or if going on a tour might not be as good as being on your own How wrong I was at the end of the trip as it was the exact opposite - immensely fun and not a single cent wasted.
The Nikko National Park day trip from Tokyo was to start from the Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal in the capital city of Japan, which is actually at the same place as the train station. Since the tour group was to meet at 9am, I made an effort to leave my hotel early. The package included free hotel pickups at over 40 hotels in Tokyo but as I loved traveling on my own through the city, I decided to join the morning peak hour train traffic instead. Fortunately, they are not as bad as is often told on the grapevine - the trains are not packed to the rafters. Since my hotel was only 5 stations away from Hamamatsucho, it was not an issue. In the end, I was there at around 8.20am, enough time to sneak a breakfast at the World Trade Center food places above the bus terminal.
I realized that this day trip tour to Nikko National Park was organized by Sunrise Tours after reaching the meeting point at Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal. Have heard some good things about them, especially about their efficient handling of their packages. Naturally my expectations were notched up another level upon seeing that they were the local agency in charge, and it was also important to me for a Japanese group to be handling all administration and details such as logistics and minor stuff like the Nikko National Park admission cost and tickets to other areas wherever required. They would also have a better understanding of the local culture and tradition, as well as descriptions and telling us of the history and stories that abound in the country and destination of choice. If one were to go on a multi-day tour that includes Nikko budget accommodation, then most definitely the hotels or ryokans provided would be of high quality as well due to their familiarity. This was to be at the check-in counter within the terminal which is situated just in front of the escalators when you ride it down from the World Trade Center. We were all given a sticker badge in order to identify ourselves within the group - the usual tour protocol - and we had a lovely lady tour guide named Miko-san, who spoke perfect English. Fortunately, none of the other tour group members were late so we were able to begin our journey quite punctually at about 9am.
The first destination for our day trip as we got on our tour bus to Nikko National Park from Tokyo was to be the town itself, Nikko. This city is actually sited at the entrance of the park, and is not that big a town in terms of population. However, as we were told by Miko-san during the bus ride there, the actual span of Nikko is massive. Much of the reason why is that the Tochigi Prefecture the city is in, had actually seen Nikko combined with a number of other cities, and there are perhaps two main areas that one can explore when visiting. These include the nature park itself, as well as the temples and shrines for which it is renowned. Miko-san kept us enthralled with her tales of how Nikko came to be, and the highlights of the trip which were waiting for us. These included Japan's most splendidly decorated shrine and mausoleum of Tokugawa Leyasu - the Toshogu. Tokugawa Leyasu is also known to be the person who founded the Tokugawa shogunate, whom I presume to be one of the legendary shogun clans of Japan.
Miko-san's stories fascinated us so much that the ride was hardly noticed and before we knew it, the bus trip had concluded for the first stop and the bus had reached Nikko. The sight of the city entrance already held promise, as did the backdrop of beautiful nature that you could see surrounding it. We were fortunate that the weather was fine when we visited the place, with sunny skies but a light cool temperature due to the autumn season. Miko-san did mention that we chose a great time to visit Nikko and her National Park, as it was the famous place for autumn foliage in Japan. The lack of any rain also helped to make the trip enjoyable as a whole, especially when it came to viewing the attractions and scenery later on.
We were brought to the Toshogu Shrine after spending some time looking around a part of the city. There are a number of nice little shops that sold some souvenirs unique to the city, and lots of other interesting shops that are definitely worth checking out in greater detail on our next trip to the city in the future. Miko-san led us to the Toshogu Shrine where we learned more about its history, and how Nikko is famous for being the epicenter of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship through the history of Japan. Personally, after seeing the surrounding nature landscape, I could understand how it was the perfect place to practice the religion and culture. You cannot help but feel an inner sense of calm and peace the moment you stepped off that bus and into the city. Toshogu Shrine was fantastically well built with very detailed and artistic architecture. It was amazing to know that such buildings of beauty could be established.
At this point I am reminded to provide a sound piece of advice for all travelers to Nikko National Park. Whether you're going on a tour package or on your own free and easy, make very sure to bring enough extra memory sticks for your digital camera, or additional rolls of film for other cameras, because there is simply so much to take photos of. I literally took gigabytes of pictures and am looking forward to lots of time spent going over them again especially the Kegon Waterfall which was my personal favorite as well as the very serene Lake Chuzenji. There are great views to be had too when you ascend the mountains and you're bound to be snapping away looking down from above.
Obviously there were lots to take photos of at the Toshogu Shrine. Lovers of fine architecture will definitely have a great time learning more about the history behind the buildings and bringing back memories on film on this day tour of Nikko. To me, it was only the start of something great and more fun as the trip unfolded. I'm more of a nature person myself, so the rest of the budget day trip to Nikko National Park was the highlight for me. I had never seen a natural waterfall in person before that and was actually very excited about the prospect, especially after seeing so many spectacular ones onscreen. According to Japan, the 351 foot Kegon Waterfall ranks as one of their best ones in the country and I can tell you that the pictures you see does not do enough justice to the real thing once you get there!
After the Toshogu Shrine, we had some more free time looking around Nikko and the surrounding park areas which included more artistic shrines, luscious greenery, amazing autumn foliage and even a fair share of wild animals like their famous monkeys (very safe and tame), squirrels and various birds, before we had to gather back at the coach headed for our next destination on the tour. This was to be the drive up the Irohazaka driveway to the mountain tops. The special thing about this drive is that it will go through about 20 curves, which they have called hairpin curves. The drive itself was very pleasant, and you get to see increasingly wondrous views of the sprawling forestry as you are transported higher and higher up the highlands. There is a definite destination to this drive which will be the Lake Chuzenji located at the foot of Mount Nantai. The latter is a dormant volcano and like many other famous Japanese mountain peaks, it has a legend associated with it and is thus considered a sacred symbol not only within Nikko and its National Park, but also the country herself.
It was about this time that lunch was finally upon us. We were ferried to a restaurant and served Japanese food for the meal. It was included in the Nikko National Park budget tour package but there were a few tour members who opted to have their own meals, which I understand would make the package cheaper. We preferred to sample local cuisine as much as possible and this was our chance and after all, with the package's low price, how much does it cost to tour Nikko National Park? Not really that expensive really. The meal itself was quite good and featured fresh sashimi and lots of sushi.
After our meal and a short rest, we continued with our Nikko National Park day trip from Nikko city and proceeded to Lake Chuzenji, found in the park itself. The lake was supposedly formed by the lava flows from Mount Nantai many centuries ago. Good thing the volcano is now dormant. Strangely, it helped to make the surroundings peacefully quiet, very tranquil with the sounds of birds chirping in the distance, still water flowing and echoes of other sounds of nature. Despite some human traffic due to tourists like us, you could still feel the calm presiding over the area and enveloping both your body and mind. I spent some time just sitting by Lake Chuzenji and soaking in the atmosphere. It was one of the most peaceful moments I had ever experienced in my life, and not just on the Nikko National Park tour.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
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