"Japan's Niagara"

Raph outside the Turtle Inn, Nikko

The woman behind the reception at the Turtle Inn had predicted more rain for today. Fortunately the downpour of yesterday had come to a standstill in the night, the rainclouds above Nikko having seemingly disgorged themselves.

Do the Japanese have a word for "lie-in" I wonder? At 8.31, we received a phone call from reception to say that breakfast was awaiting (we'd asked for service at 8.30). If it's not cleaners, it's receptionists...

At 10 a.m. we found ourselves waiting at the bus stop for transport to Lake Chuzenji, 18 kilometres to the west in the Nikko National Park. I could have sworn I saw the sun trying to break through.


Information overload on bus

At a certain point as it climbs towards the mountains, the road starts to curve very sharply. The recorded message on the bus' PA system warned us to strap ourselves in as the hairpins might shake us around from side to side. Talk about stating the obvious! This is the kind of information overkill that is typical of Japan. Don't try nodding off on a bus or a train, it's just like Ryanair, the announcer will wake you up before you know it (see previous remark about lie-ins).

We alighted at the bus station in Chuzengi and decided - as the weather was definitely holding - to walk along the lake shore. To give an indication of its size, a full circuit of the lake would take the best part of 8 hours on foot. This was not our intention.


View from the Italian villa

We strolled 30 minutes in a clockwise direction leaving the the cafes, hotels and trinket stalls behind us. Eventually we stumbled across the Italian Embassy Villa Memorial park in a wooded bay on the lake. Dotted along these shores were numerous (former) embassy villas which served as summer retreats for diplomat staff. You could hardly imagine a more wonderful place. The Italian villa was built in 1928, but the main residence is now a museum. The building is spacious, airy and serene, and visitors - who are few and far between - can sit and relax on lounge chairs sipping complimentary teas on the verandah admiring the idyllic views across the lake. What an absolute gem!


Raph enjoying the view

Spiritually revived, we walked back along the road that skirts the shore and took on board the most expensive coffee and cheesecake I've ever experienced at one of the many restaurants. The main hub on the lake is Chuzenji-onsen and this corner is dominated by the shapely slopes of Mount Nantai (2486 metres).


Mount Natai

At the outlet to the lake are the Kegon Falls. Dropping 97 metres, these are the highest falls in Japan, which had been swelled by the surplus of surface water overnight. So much so that the falls were barely visible from the viewing platform that visitors could access by descending 90 metres by lift and a series of galleries. The spray from the falls had made the platform a virtual no-go area and those without rain protection had to seek refuge in the souvenir shop, only briefly venturing out to snap the gushing torrent. There is another viewing platform at the top which gives an overhead, but less complete view of the falls. A passer-by there, on seeing that we were foreigners, remarked, "Japanese Niagara!"


Kegon Falls

It was still only 2 o'clock and there was not much left to see before the late afternoon train back to Tokyo, so we headed back by bus into Nikko. Browsing around the Information Centre there, a photograph caught our eye of jizo statues, a series of stone statues which give protection to travellers. We discovered that these were located along a riverside walk in Nikko, away from the main temples and shrines. With an hour to kill before the train, this was the ideal end to our brief sojourn in Nikko.


Jizos, Buddhist statues in Nikko

We arrived back at Asakusa, Tokyo at 7.30. Raph had spent some of the time on the train reading Lonely Planet and decided we just had to go to the Senso-Ji temple a few blocks away from the terminus. And thus ended our two-day jaunt away from Tokyo.


Senso-Ji temple, Asakusa, Tokyo