Sunshine Kinugawa Nikko

... a little air dryer for your backside). There's an internal fan that comes on to avoid any unpleasant odors. There's probably a button to cause wheels to appear so you can drive the thing down the street... Anyway, suffice it to say that the Japanese have advanced the technology of toilets.<br><br>Now, could somebody explain to them to adopt toilet paper with a little more heft than single ply?

... gestern aufgemacht, einen der ach so beruehmten Tempel und Schreine Nikkos zu besuchen. War ja auch sehr schoen... aber sonst gibt`s kaum etwas, dass junge Leute wie unser eins sehr ins Staunen versetzen koennte... (mal abgesehen von der schoenen Natur... wenn wir halt nur mehr Freude am Wandern haetten... ;)<br><br>Unser Jugendhostel war eher... naja. Ich wuerde sagen, das beste daran war das Japanische Bad. Das ist schon was feines, so eine ...

... and scallop), beef, tempura and some unknowns that tasted great. Washed down with a big, cold Asahi beer!<br><br>Then, bath time. Wow. First time in a Japanese bath. Private, not a sento, but hot enough to peel paint and just the thing for sore muscles. The whole Japanese process where you shower/rinse first, then get in the tub to soak.<br>

... Dorf (95 000 EW) an.<br>Unser Youth Hostel war nicht allzu schwer zu finden, ist aber im Vergleich zum Khaosan in Tokyo, ein RICHTIGES Youthhostel, wie mans sich schon eher vorstellt... ein bisl abge****t halt XD aber die Hosts sind echt nett, ein altes Ehepaar. Und wir haben seit gestern abend schon mehr Japanisch gesprochen als die letzten 10 Tage in Tokyo ;D<br><br>Heute gehts mal auf Tempeljagt. Hier solls echt schoene Exemplare geben. Also ist fuer ...

... hiked up the hill toward the temple and just enjoyed the scenery. The moist environment mixed with the pine tree forest makes for some really beautiful areas around Nikko. Different varieties of moss coat the forest floor and grow up and around the trees. If you have ever seen the forest scenes from "Princess Mononoke" it sort of reminded me of that. <br><br>The temple was interesting and quite large. I looked around it for the better ...

... was its roar. The main hall of Toshogu was boring and I skipped the Sleeping Cat carving and Ieyasu's tomb, because I had to buy an extra ticket for them. The last important place to visit was Taiyuin temple, which is Iemitsu's tomb. It was simpler and more peaceful than Toshogu and I liked it.<br> <br>The ticket for 2 shrines and 1 temple cost only 1000 yen and I think the price is ...

... They were very helpful and we got public bus tickets, expensive $20 (like everything else here) and rode out a half hour up a windy mountain road to Chuzen-ji Lake. From the bus stop we walked 300 meters to Kegon Falls, pretty nice as far as falls goes, similiar but not as nice as Akaka Falls, Hawaii... I'm just saying. Then we walked to the lake and was a little bummed out by the hiking trail options and it started to ...

The trip to Nikko(UNESCO World Heritage site of temple and shrines) began early (and I mean early!) this morning as I awoke at 5:45am to begin the journey. I took the train towards Tokyo and couldn't believe that I saw men in suits on the train, obviously heading to work. Here is is 6:30am on Sunday in the middle of the biggest vacation time in Japan (Golden week) and yet some people can't tear themselves away from work. I guess that is why ...

... WWOOFer" was also staying at the Lodge. Monte was from Seattle, had been living in Japan for 4 years, and was currently transitioning from a career as a stunt-jet skier working at Japan's Universal Studios Theme Park to a new career as a web designer. Monte wasn't actually signed up to be a WWOOFer- he was supposed to be doing web-design for the Lodge's while staying there, but he somehow got stuck with WWOOFer-like jobs (cleaning, cooking) plus more. So Aaron ...

... to the Tokyo Art Festa 2005, its an ar festival with artists from all over the world and within Japan. It was amazing, I`ll show you all my pictures cuz its too hard to explain what we saw. And it looks like we`ll be seeing you all soon enough... Marianne