Nikko is Nippon

The advertising slogan for Nikko is "Nikko is Nippon," and it lives up to the slogan. With beautiful scenery, ornate temples, and refreshing onsen, Nikko certainly holds all that is the essence of Japan.

Kamakura

Once we had our fun in the sun, we moved on to Kamakura, a small city outside of Tokyo that has the largest bronze Buddha. We arrived late so we walked around town, and then got ready for dinner. While in Atami, Kelly found what appeared to be an aloe plant, so she took a leaf to put on Aaron's sunburn. The night we arrived in Kamakura before dinner, she coated him up. He insisted that he felt funny, but Kelly shrugged it off. While at dinner, Kelly began to feel strange, and then she realized she hadn't washed her hands after applying the "aloe." As you might have guessed, it wasn't aloe. We still do not know what it was, but we had an interesting, overly hilarious evening.

Buddha and his enormous shoes, in case he needs to go somewhere?

Inside the Buddha is hallow, so for a mere 100 yen we got to go in.

Atami

After Fujisan we wobbled to Atami a famous hot springs resort area near Tokyo for some much needed relaxation and a good night's sleep. We were lured by the word resort, so we broke out the credit card and booked a room. What we did not understand was that a Japanese resort is NOTHING like an American resort...so we ended up sleeping ondol style and eating traditional meals. It was quite the cultural experience all in all, but I imagine we would have enjoyed it much more had we been able to walk properly!

Aaron had a wicked sunburn from the mountain, so first on the agenda the next day was to find sunburn protective beachwear. Once we had Aaron decked out, we headed to the beach...a bit crowded and dirty, but once you swam out deep the water was gorgeous!

A few hours on the beach and we were ready for some sushi! So we started walking around searching for a sushi restaurant...not as easy at you might think. When we did find one, it was well worth the hike, perhaps the best we've ever had!

After lunch, we did a bit more touring around in order to find a proper bed to sleep in for the night. On our way we spotted "the photo spot" and some drying fish...not as delicious as the sushi we had earlier ;)

Above is a picture from our second hotel room in Atami.

With a good night's sleep on the horizon, we were feeling pretty good about the last few legs of our trip.

Fujisan

After Kyoto, we left for Fuji to climb the 3,776m mountain on the Fujinomiya trail. It was an unforgettable experience, one we never plan to repeat!

We started at station 5 (2400m) and hiked for 2 1/2 hours to the 8th station for a night's sleep in a cabin, the most expensive, dirtiest place we had ever slept but well worth the experience! The next morning we woke at 2:30 and continued to the top by sunrise around 4:30. We then continued to walk around the crater unsure if we were still on Earth in some places.

We made it to the bottom after a slippery way down exhausted and ready for a proper meal!

Kyoto...land of a thousand temples

After Osaka, we headed to Kyoto for several days. The first day we just took it easy seeing a few temples and eating a nice dinner. The next day we hit the temples with a passion that slowly dwindled after about 20 or so....We then decided if we were to see the rest of what we wanted, we had to get some wheels, so we rented bikes and saw the rest of the sites on our list. Here are a few highlights.



Kyoto station

Nijojo and a fountain at Jishu-jinja

Heian-jingu

Unknown temple and Ryozen Kannon

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and Jishu-jinja

Heian-jingu and Fushimiinari-taisha

Gion Yakatori bar and a Maiko (Geisha in training)

Yasaka Pagoda

We cycled over 26K in one day to see all that we could see. It was all worth it, but somehow we forgot that we were to climb Fujisan the next day...

Osaka

After camping on the hard ground for two nights, Aaron's tush could take no more, so we changed plans and headed for a hotel in Osaka. It was a great choice. Osaka is an urban jungle! We had a great time and ate excellent sushi and slept in a comfortable bed.




Streets of Osaka...a real night spot with Karaoke, slots, and all things Japanese...

Hep Five (an amusement park/mall) and hotel kimonos