Nikko

Tyler and I went to Nikko on Tuesday, about a two hour train ride north of Tokyo. It's famous for the carvings of the three wise monkeys (See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). The city itself has a ton of shrines and scenic areas, including one of Japan's tallest waterfalls.

Our first stop was the Shōyō-en Garden, a Japanese garden near the Rinnō-ji Sanbutsudō Temple. It's over 400 years old, dating back to the Edo period!

Tyler feeding the fish!

We were a bit disappointed that the Sanbutsudō Temple was under construction. They had encased the entire structure inside another building, and then painted what the original looked like on the outside. It was hilarious. We still got to see inside, where there are three, huge golden Buddhas. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

Next was the Tōshō-gū Shrine, home of the three wise monkeys.

Three wise monkeys!

The long route to the grave of Tokugawa 
Ieyasu,  the founder and first shogun 
of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.

We visited a couple other shrines, ate Nikko Yuba (food famous to the area), and then headed to Kegon Falls, one of three of Japan's tallest waterfalls. The falls were formed when the river was rerouted by lava flows. They had an elevator that took you through bedrock to the base of the falls. It was amazing.

Lake Chūzenji, where the waterfall feeds off of.

On our way back, we snapped some shots of the Shinkyō bridge, known as one of three of Japan's most unique bridges and then headed home. Unfortunately, you have to pay to actually go onto the bridge, and by that point, they had closed. It was still very pretty.

Studio Pierrot

Our anime class had access to a private tour of Studio Pierrot in Mitaka, Tokyo. They are the producers of Naruto, Bleach, and many other series, so it was pretty legit. With such big names, you'd expect a pretty amazing studio, but it was actually pretty tight quarters, each person to their own little cubicle where they'd be working on in between frames (the movement in anime), etc. Japanese anime is still hand drawn, and they said that one, 90-minute anime movie contains about 80,000 images. It takes them three months, with a team of around 200 people to produce one, 30-minute episode! The beginning animators only make around $11,000 USD a year, working insanely busy hours. That's dedication.

Shibuya

Just a regular, Friday night in Shibuya. There are SO many people!

Puri Kura!

There are photo booths in Japan, puri kura/print club, that make your eyes bigger and skin smoother. They're hilarious! We actually took these pictures a while ago, but I figured I'd upload them onto here for everyone to see, as well! :) Tyler's eyes got so BIG!

Hiroshima!

This past weekend I (Kelly) decided to go Hiroshima. Tyler is probably going to go some time in the near future, but he decided he didn't want to go with me on the trip and went back to Hakone instead. So I went by myself, as no one else could make it, and it was the only weekend I'd likely be able to go. I was a bit nervous to travel alone, at first, but it ended up being a really great trip and a lot of fun. Japan is such a safe country that there wasn't much to worry about, and on top of that, Hiroshima is probably one of the most peace driven areas in the world.

It was a four hour ride by shinkansen (bullet train), so I got there around 10pm on Friday night and checked in to my hotel, which was conveniently right next to the station. The next morning, I took the local streetcars (trams) and visited the Peace Memorial Park, which included the Peace Memorial Museum, Children's Peace Memorial Monument, the Atomic Bomb Dome, and several other monuments and memorials. It was all very sad, and I was very surprised at how little the museum focused on blame of the United States. I was even given paper cranes as a gift when I stopped by the gift shop. 

A watch stopped at 8:15 from the blast.

Glass embedded into concrete.

The Atomic Bomb Dome, remnants from the
hypocenter of the bombing.

After the Peace Park, I went to Hiroshima Castle, which was really pretty and very interesting. 

Then I visited the Shukkei-en Garden, which was unexplainably beautiful. The pictures I took do not do it justice. There were so many koi fish and all of them were HUGE. The cutest, little Japanese man gave me a tour.

After that, I went back to the hotel to rest before grabbing a bite to eat near the station. I found a Hiroshimayaki restaurant and am now officially obsessed. It's the best food ever, Hiroshima's version of okonomiyaki, which is a pancake containing a mixture of ingredients (lettuce, egg, meat, mayonnaise, etc.) Being vegetarian, I opted out of getting meat, but it was delicious. In Osaka, where it's famously from, they mix all the ingredients together, but in Hiroshima, they're all layered down and include soba noodles as well. The sauce is beyond delicious. 

The next day, I woke up early and left for Miyajima, an island near Hiroshima famous for its red torii, Japanese gate. It's considered one of the three views of Japan and was absolutely beautiful, despite the foggy day. There were a bunch of wild deer on the island that are completely tame, but they had ticks, so I didn't touch them. They're notoriously aggressive when food is involved, and I had to laugh at a boy who tried feeding them. About ten deer all started chasing him in a line down the road.

A traditional Japanese wedding at the shrine!

Five-tiered pagoda on the
island

After exploring the island, I walked through Momijiani Park and took the gondolas up the mountain. From there, I met some travelers, and we climbed up Mt. Misen together. It took about 45 minutes, but it was pretty amazing at the top, only 1,755 feet above sea level. I was exhausted, so we'll see how climbing Mt. Fuji goes in July, comparatively 12,389 feet.

That was the end of my trip!

Cat Cafe!

They have these little cafes in Japan where you pay to play with cats. 

The cats all hated us. :(

Pokémon Center, Tokyo

Hakone

We're a bit late in posting these, but we went to Hakone last week and stayed in a ryokan. It was traditional, Japanese themed, so we slept on tatami mats and were served a Japanese breakfast the next morning. The view from our room was of the beautiful mountains in Hakone and a river, so we really got the full experience. There was an open air onsen on the top floor, overlooking the mountains and river, which was super refreshing. When we were leaving, the hotel owner came out and wouldn't stop giving us gifts, telling us he was our 'ojiisan,' which means grandpa. He was super cute. We didn't get to see much of the town, but from what we did get to explore, everything was mountainous and beautiful. 

Our beds

Headed to the onsen in our yukata!

The view from our room.

Traditional Japanese breakfast.

No Nukes!

We went to Shinjuku today to participate in an anti-nuclear protest. There were tons of people lined up in lanes that had been shut down on the roads, marching with police sectioning everyone and maintaining order. Completely different than rallies and protests in America. There was a real sense of community, and Tyler and I even jumped in and joined for a while. A little, old woman immediately came up and sincerely thanked us, beaming. She was cute. We've been told that this was one of the largest anti-nuclear rallies in the world, as there were many parades of people all across Tokyo.

Tokyo Disneyland

On Tuesday, we went to Tokyo Disneyland. Not much of a difference from the US Disneyland besides Japanese-speaking rides and a recurrent Easter theme. Everything was mostly written in English, but it was still really fun! There were these Disney-themed, giant Easter eggs scattered across the park, which was really strange.