Day 2: Nikko

My first full day in Japan was a Saturday, and since Shane wasn't working, he, Maria, and Brooklyn, joined Mom, Dad, and I on a day-trip to Nikko. When we were discussing the itinerary for the trip, Dad suggested we got to Nikko. I asked what was there and he said, "I don't know. It's cool." Shane, also, wanted to go to Nikko, but when I asked him what was there, he also said, "I don't know. Shrines and stuff."

So after riding a couple of trains, we finally arrived in Nikko, and we weren't quite sure what to do. On top of that, it started to rain.

We ended up huddled under one of the shrines, watching the rain pour, while we waited for the bus. Shane and Maria were gracious enough to buy us each an umbrella. Mom and Dad, meanwhile, bought us each an ice cream.
I tried to get Shane to do a Gene Kelly, "Singin' in the Rain" shot on the mon, but I guess that's probably disrespectful. Which raises interesting thoughts. We spent a lot of time walking around shrines and temples. In fact, one temple allowed us to see what was going on inside. I was slightly bothered that I was tramping around other people's sacred worship places in flip-flops, but I was more disturbed by the people selling things outside the shrines.
I don't know if you can see the raindrops falling through the trees, but I thought they were kind of cool. The rain wasn't too bad, but we were concerned for Brooklyn, so we caught the first bus back to the town and found a place for lunch.

For awhile, she was sitting on Shane's lap, looking out at all of the passing sights. However, when I reached for my camera, she started to cry, and he put her pacifier in her mouth.
The place where we ate had us sit on tatami on the floor, in a room that was raised above the rest of the restaurant. As you can probably see, I had cold soba noodles, which I make at home, and I was slightly disappointed to realize that they tasted the same. I guess that means I make them right, though. Mom had a slight mishap getting out of the room, but she was fine.

We decided that, before we headed back to Tokyo, we wanted to see Kegon Falls nearby. The six of us got on a bus headed to the waterfall, and, on our way up, we got stalled because of an accident in which one car overturned. On the way, we saw a cool bridge that would have made a good photo opportunity. This was the best photo I could get of it:
When we finally got to the top, it was a little cold, but the waterfall was beautiful!


While I was in Utah, I visited Grandma Oka. I had previously asked her what she wanted me to bring back from Japan. She said she didn't need anything. This is probably true, but I wanted to bring her back something anyway. When I saw her last week, she showed me the Oka family crest and said that if I just happened to find something that had the crest on it, I should get that. She stressed several times that she didn't want me to go out of my way to find anything. I scoffed at the idea that we would just stumble upon something with the Oka family crest on it, and when I got there, Shane and Dad and I discussed possible places to find such an item. As luck would have it, we found a shop near the waterfall that displayed several Japanese family crests. And, lo and behold, there was a wooden carving that looked like the Oka family crest.

The man who ran the shop offered to carve Grandma and Grandpa's names in kanji, along with their wedding date. Above is a shot of Dad and Shane explaining to him exactly what they wanted. I think that, because he was willing to carve our names into whatever we bought, we bought a lot more stuff. I actually saw Dad get choked up at the idea of being able to get his mother something she actually wanted. She needs nothing, at it's pretty hard to get her a present she wants or can use that doesn't involve legalized gambling. All in all, we decided it was worth braving the rain for the experience of Nikko.

This is approximately what the finished product looked like. This is actually one the man made for Shane and Maria. The one for my grandma has the same family crest, but has her name and my grandfather's name and the date they were married.

Also, Shane and Maria saw some monkeys. Maria and I ran all over the street trying to find them again, but we never did. Hence, there are no pictures.