The 日光 (Nikko) Excursion

Hello everyone! This weekend was a huge chapter in my journey in Japan because it marked the first time I truly left Tokyo, and got to see the real, historic Japan. It was incredible, I honestly can't put it in words how amazing and eye opening this trip was for me. I have also come to the conclusion that other than Tokyo, Japan is a lot like a more populated Montana with an incredibly rich history. So, here we go:

Before I show you this weekend, here are a few photos of my new host families home and surrounding area right now (I moved here at the start of November, and will switch to my last host family at the beginning of December):

This is actually my house, an apartment located on the 6th floor of this building.

So Firstly, we left Tokyo, and went to a place called "Edo Wonderland, this was a place devoted to making you feel like you are in the old Japan. I thought it was really cool, and alot of it had to do with Ninjas which I liked although I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the shows that they had that involved ninjas which is a bit disappointing since I can't show them to you. However, here are the photos of it that I did take:

This was found at the end of a Haunted House, dedicated to what the people of Edo thought about the Buddhist beliefs. Interesting to say the least.

We are in prison, playing Shogi (Japanese Chess)

So I found this thing here that said Ninja training, and found some other foreign exchange students and decided to roll with them afterwards, so that was fun!

1/3 Ninja training challenges complete!

2/3 Complete!

This one, the shuriken throw, I did not pass :(

However, I did pass 2/3 to complete the Ninja training! :D

After that, we decided to head to our hotel, which is 800 YEARS OLD. NOT EVEN KIDDING. This hotel was just incredible.

There is a heater underneath this table, which is feels wonderful

Before this, I had just used the "Onsen" Which is the bathhouse that consists of a natural hot spring that they have pumped from the nearby mountains to use here. Instead of having a shower, you go there and use it. And yes, it is the only one here, so it was me and a few other people all naked using it at the same time, interesting to say the least haha. This here however was dinner.

Myself and the owner next to the sign in front of the hotel. In the total 800 years its been here, only 5 families have owned it so far, I was told.

One of the natural springs

The hotel

After staying at the hotel, we decided to go and check out a place called 日光東照宮 (Nikko Toshogu), which is a World Heritage Site that is dedicated to a man named Tokugawa Ieyasu that played a huge role in the unification of japan back around the 1600's. If you haven't heard of him and enjoy history, I suggest you check him out.

Massive dam that we stopped at

Other side of the dam

Made me laugh, tobacco vending machine

Turns out this was under construction, so they had a large picture of what it looks like. However if you go inside you can see lots of  Buddhist statues and things that are ridiculously incredible (Around 1200 years old statues that are massive), however I wasn't allowed to take pictures.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures I've taken.

So thats my trip, thanks for looking!