NIKKO - A SHRINE, A LAKE, AND A BREAKING POINT

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Nikko - Temples and Lake views

My original plan for this past weekend was to fly down to Nagasaki and explore, which, given how things turned out, probably would have provided some better and more successful exploration. But, due mainly to cost, I didn't pull the trigger and so changed my plans for a day trip to Nikko.

Going in to this, I knew there was a lot to see and do in Nikko. A UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as the gateway to a huge and beautiful national park, there is lots to do, and there's clearly a reason it's so renowned. So needless to say, I was pumped to go check it out.

Throughout the week, I did a good bit of reading up to see what all I should do and see while I was there. There is a number of temples and shrines there, all of which were fairly highly regarded. And the outdoors in me wouldn't let me pass up on the national park, so I definitely had that on the list.

To maximize my time, I planned on taking the first train up there and staying for as long as I could before making it back to Tokyo for a friends' birthday party (more on that later), which is also why I decided against staying up there for a night.

So I got up all sorts of early, got a little bit of sleep on the train, and got into Nikko fairly early, along with about half of Tokyo. Things started off pretty ok, but I was inundated with the mindset to hurry up and 'see it all' in the short day that I was there.

First thing, I walked from the station to the Shin-kyo bridge. It's big, beautiful, and red, and used to only be used by the local head monk (can't think of the specific name). The beautiful color of the bridge paired with the changing colors in the background made it picturesque for sure. Icing on the cake? There was a Japanese wedding procession getting pictures taken while on there with a few people in traditional dress. It was very pretty.

The UNESCO site is actually quite big, comprising of 5 or 6 shrines and temples. It's quite beautiful too, as it is all tucked nice and tightly within a forest at the foot of the mountains. I planned on going into two or three of them, but ended up only going into one. I walked by the Rinnoji temple to start, and saw the giant building they built around the temple for renovation. That in and of itself was pretty impressive.

While I was admiring the structure, I was greeted by a mass of tiny schoolchildren, all yelling 'hello' in unison. This was quite the day-brightener, as all of them used their English to say hi and talk to the completely strange, bearded foreigner. The most touching part was the gift of origami I received from the whole class. What a treat!!! Apparently this is a tradition, as all the school groups there that day were doing the same to other foreigners (I got a total of two such greetings and gifts on the day).

Well, I snapped a quick picture of their group, and their teacher also got a picture of me with the group. Sweet little kids. Also, what a welcoming and kind gesture. Not only does it show the true kindness and hospitality of the Japanese culture, but it's also instilling a mindset of acceptance and openness to such young minds. I wholeheartedly approve. Plus, each group of kids wears an identical hat for easy tracking, that's also pretty cool.

My meandering eventually took me to the Toshogu Shrine, an extremely elaborate and ornate complex with gilded and colorful buildings everywhere. There was a Bonsai tree exposition going on while I was there, which was neat to look at all the different types and kinds of the tiny, exotic trees.

Toshogu was quite beautiful, and in all honesty reminded me of Korean traditional architecture. Most of Japan's traditional buildings and such are very serene but plain - no colors, just the bare materials used. But this shrine clearly and elaborately strayed from that norm, with very bright and strong colors with gold all over the place. It was all pretty exquisite.

Within the complex are tons of detailed carvings, with a few very famous ones. There's the Hear No, See No, Speak No Evil monkeys, the Elephants imagined from a guy who'd never seen an elephant before, the Sleeping Cat, and tons of dragons and other stuff. Regardless of where I go here in Asia/Japan, the level of detail and craftsmanship that goes into these carvings is absolutely marvelous.

Unfortunately, this is when things started coming to a head. I was clearly going through Toshogu faster than my normal speed, not fully taking it in. That paired with the urgency to go up to the National Park area were working me into a bit of a rush. On top of that, there were tons of people everywhere, and my camera was on the fritz. This was the biggest one, because it was really pissing me off. The damn thing can't, couldn't focus!!! I need to get it fixed, but will have to wait until I get back to Portland to do so, which really sucks. So this was really getting in my head and making things a little sour.

After Toshogu, I thought about going into another temple/shrine, but decided to get up to the nature part of the day sooner rather than later. This was definitely a good call, because it took a while to get up there. The bus I got on was packed to the brim, and I had to stand up front next to the door the entire way up. Which was fine when we were moving, but the traffic was a bit slow towards the top.

Eventually, we got to the rope way right before Lake Chuzenjiko, so I hopped off and decided to set my eyes on a nice view. Sadly, there was a big cloud front rolling in, taking away the bright bath of sunlight on the area, but still everything was still gorgeous nonetheless.

While waiting in line for the rope way, I ran into a few embarrassments of the human race. In front of me in line were two airheaded chicks that did literally nothing other than take selfies with their goddamn selfie sticks the entire time we were in line. Then, one of the dudes they were with was facetiming with someone the whole time. Literally? How moronic can you be? Needless to say, they were not on my tolerable list of encounters.

Idiots aside, I got in the cable car and made my short way up to the lookout. The way up was beautiful, the entire valley was providing a plethora of colors on the tail end of the seasonal change. The reddish, orangeish and yellowish hues mixed with the evergreens riddled on the mountainside was absolutely beautiful. There was a particular knoll with a few really bright red trees that really caught my eye, but all of it was gorgeous.

At the top, the lookout had a great spot overlooking the main part of the Nikko National Park. From there, Kegon Falls (apparently one of the top three most beautiful waterfalls in Japan) was right in the foreground, Lake Chuzenjiki right behind it, Mt. Nantai off to the right with clouds encircling the peak, and valleys of trees in full fall color covering the rest of the landscape. It was quite a sight to behold, and the fresh mountain air just made it all the better.

Coming back down to the road, I decided to huff it out over to the town (just past the waterfall) instead of waiting for a bus. It was only about a half an hour, and was a perfect way to go. Once I got to the town though, I wasn't really sure what to do. I wanted to go further on to another waterfall on the other side of the lake, but that would've taken a while to get there. There was a temple and a lookout on the south side of the lake, but that also needed a bus ride. I was in a bit of a frenzy trying to figure out what to do, but couldn't pull the trigger.

At some point I kinda just gave up. Rather than doing anything that required waiting for and taking a bus, I decided to take it easy and calm down. I sat by the lake for a good while and drank a beer while enjoying the calmness and the water around me. It was definitely the right decision. The clouds were big and dynamic, and the water and activity on the lake gave me a chance to just take it easy.

I eventually walked over to Kegon falls but didn't pay to go down to the viewing platform. I was still in the dazed mood, so I just went and sat in line for the bus to get back down to Nikko. As I said earlier, there were people everywhere, and that wasn't just limited to the temples. The line was nuts and packed full of people that had the same idea as me. I finally got on one but I had to stand up again the whole way down.

The saving grace was that the road down was nuts!!!! As I said earlier, there were switchbacks that switched back under themselves, 6, 7 switchbacks one right after the other. The dang thing went literally straight down the mountain. It was nuts. It reminded me a little bit of Trollstigen in Norway, but this one takes the cake based on sheer compactness of the climb.

I eventually made it back down to Nikko, found the train back, and had to sit through two hours of this annoying little Indian girl with her parents and her sporadic blood curdling screams, and then a Chinese family whose Mom would randomly start yelling at her daughter. Sleep was short, and then once my phone died I was definitely ready to be out of there. But eventually I made it back home and survived an interesting day.

Party Thyme

Thankfully, I had a party to go to that night, and boy did I need it. A frisbee buddy of mine here in Tokyo had a birthday during the week, so to celebrate, he booked an all-you-can-drink shindig at a place in Shibuya and it was time for some fun.

One thing that they have here in Japan, usually connected to a restaurant, are small rooms you can rent out for a set fee per person, and get all-you-can-drink access to the tiny bar in the room for that time frame. Also, you can decorate it however you'd like, play your own music, and essentially just take the place over while you're there. It's a great concept, and makes for a damn good time.

Well, we all took advantage of the all-you-can-drink aspect of it. I don't remember the last time I was that drunk. Eventually we had to leave the party room, and then we went over to a club for a while (which I only remembered the next day in the afternoon). After that, things got hazy. However, I do remember leaving at some point and planning to walk home. I looked at my map and knew there was no way that was going to happen.

Yes, this is an actual sign... Seen at the Chuzenjiko bus stop

So I somehow hailed down a taxi, and told him to take me to Azabu Juban, or at least as far as I could go with 1000 yen. I knew taxis are extremely expensive in Tokyo, so my drunk self safeguarded against that. Boom. Long story short, I made it home, and after a long and unpleasant struggle got to sleep.

The next morning was rough, no doubt about that. Thankfully, I was able to watch the Buckeye game, sip on some water, and pathetically eat some granola as I laid in bed. After the game, I went to frisbee practice to help and heckle, but the entire way there was a full-out struggle bus ride. Long story short, I got over it, finally ate something, and watched practice on a windy day. Being injured definitely sucks, but I am working on my discipline to get healthy and fix this body up right.

/begin personal problems

My Breaking Point

As I mentioned earlier, I was having some troubles during the day. First off, my camera problems. The damn thing has been on the fritz for a while, and it seems to be getting worse. Half the time, autofocus thinks blur makes for a good, sharp image, then the other half of the time, it finds a spot to focus on, but what it shows as the focal point and actually chooses as the focal point are two separate things. Plus, the light metering will sometimes be quite off, and it's all putting me into quite a fluster.

Next, the people, there were tons of them. I'm used to being in large crowds (read - living in Tokyo) by now, but for some reason this got to me. I think I envisioned it all being somewhat more relaxed and quiet, but being a weekend in one of Japan's most regarded travel locations should have tipped me off that that was not going to be the case.

Lastly, and most notably, I was getting flustered in trying to do too much in too short of a period of time. I knew I had one day to be there, and I knew there was a lot to do in Nikko. Being the person I am, I wanted to do and see it all. If I had slowed down to realistically think about what I was trying to accomplish, I would have known it wasn't all going to happen. But somehow I was blind to that and went forward with it.

Lately, I've gotten into way too much of a checklist mentality here in Japan. There is just so much to do here and I feel like I've gotta cross it all off... Nikko was a clear case of that. Planned on jamming way too much stuff into one day, but kind of convinced myself I could do it and still enjoy it. I've never really been bad in this respect, or at least I've never had it catch up to me so severely. I'm usually the one going slow and really soaking in everything I do and see.

I got mad at myself for this too, as it essentially fell right into line with the typical stereotype of Americans. We've got a checklist, and as soon as we see or do something, no matter how little actual involvement with it that we have, boom, check it off and move on to the next thing. This is not something I want for myself, and thankfully this is the first time I've really felt that I've fallen into that category.

I think this all mainly has to do with the short time frame and time pressure of being here. I know I'm only here for three months, and I've only got a month left of that. In order to maximize my time, I'm doing as much as I can, which has clearly intensified over the last couple of weeks.

This clearly is not the right course of action for me. I need to slow down and be like the old man in this picture. I need to fully enjoy the different things I do. I'm not going to be able to do and see everything that's on my list. That is completely unrealistic. Even if I did get to everything I want, there's no way I could truly enjoy it all to the level I would like.

It all came to a fever pitch as I was leaving the temple area in Nikko and heading up to the lake. The time chillin with a beer on the lake was a good way to slow down and reflect on this issue, as it's not going to go away, but will require me to think realistically about what I'm trying to do.

So how am I going to fix this? I'm gonna keep doing my thing, enjoying and exploring Japan when and where I can, but I'm going to take it slow. I can't get all worked up at the thought of not getting to see or do something. That's a fact of life; I can't achieve everything. But for the things I do get to see and experience, I am going to take it all at my own pace and enjoy it. Take it all in and really appreciate the things that I am doing and seeing over here.

It's going to be a slow recovery, but that's ok. I don't need to rush it ;-) I've got plenty of stuff to explore and experience, and all of it will be taken in and enjoyed and I'm definitely looking forward to it!!!

I Can't Live Life through a Lens

Something that I took note of, and which probably contributed to my little freak out was my dependence upon my camera when I travel and explore. It's great, because normally I'm able to capture some decent shots of the places I go, enjoy the atmosphere of where I'm at, and be able to look back on those places at a time later on down the road, usually when I'm wishing I was back there reliving that experience.

But something I need to be wary of is how much of my enjoyment of a place depends on the quantity or ability to capture it through a lens. Obviously I want to take nothing but pristine images, but that's not gonna happen. I definitely got that feeling in Nikko, where I was trying to make every shot an award winner. Not only was that out of the question because of my camera problems, but I'm not an award winning photographer to begin with; all of my good shots are mostly either due to luck or accident.

I need to reel myself back from the dependence upon my camera. Things can and should be enjoyed for what they are. Getting a picture of it is great, but that should not be the only factor in my being able to enjoy something.

I'm thinking I might do some trips without a camera, just get back into the full enjoyment of places. This might be too difficult, or too much of a break from myself, so maybe I'll just limit myself to a certain number of pictures per adventure or something like that. I'm not sure how realistic these goals are, but at the least I need to reduce my dependence upon my camera, and know that I can truly enjoy somewhere or something without having a 3" x 5" of it.

/end personal problems

Train Stations like Woah...

The train system here in Japan is nuts. Efficient, packed, and unbelievably widely used. Being a fan of trains and the convenience with which they provide in getting from one place to the other, I've loved enjoying the system, and I haven't even ridden a Shinkansen yet! (It's coming though, no worries...)

I learned a stat the other day that completely shocked me. When I first moved here, I lived in Shinjuku. There, I knew that Shinjuku station is the busiest train station not just in Japan, but the busiest train station in the world.

Well, one of my frisbee buddies dropped this one on me. Of the 51 busiest train stations in the world, only 6 of them are NOT in Japan.

Sidenote: Madd shoutout to my city Hamburg!!!

That's right, 44 of the busiest train stations in the world are all in Japan. This blew me completely away. HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?!?

Shinjuku is #1, Shibuya #2, and Ikebukuro is #3, and all three of those are within 15 minutes of each other on the same line. That's absolutely insane! But living here and using the system every day, I guess it kinda makes sense. Either way, it's pretty mind blowing.

Life's Purpose is All

I went out for Yakitori with a colleague and one of his buddies, and toward the end we got into some deep conversation. My buddy, if I correctly understood his mindset, essentially stated that his life will be a complete waste if he doesn't end up either finding the meaning and origin of life and the universe, or at least contribute in a meaningful way to helping future generations to do so. In saying this, he also said that life is essentially full of purely temporary happiness and pleasure, and that all of it is pretty much a waste.

This kinda blew me away, as it is completely different than anything I've ever contemplated and anything I've ever believed. Yes, everything in life is essentially temporary; we all die at some point and you can't take anything from here with you. But it being a waste? I definitely disagree. There's so much cool stuff to see, do, and experience here in this world, no way is it a waste!

As for the whole purpose thing, yeah, it'd be great if we found some clear cut defined origin of (I think he was meaning what led up to the Big Bang, i.e. what was life at t < 0?) life. But really? Setting that as your only goal and qualifier in life? That's a little far-fetched and will likely not lead to any sort of contentment. Hell, it took us as a species quite a while to figure out the world was round, how the hell long will it take to figure out what happened at the origin of the universe? I'd say quite the long time.

I've never really thought about this myself. I know I'm all about experiencing, learning, and contributing as much as I can as a singular human being. What form those three things will take is obviously to be determined. But I don't have one thing that will define my life, where if I don't achieve it, all will be for naught. And I'm quite happy and content with that. Putting too much weight on one thing is just a setup for failure and disappointment.

I'm all about enjoying whatever I can with whomever I can, wherever I can do that. Here's to a few more decades of that pursuit. :-)

Infidelity is In?!?

Apparently infidelity is an unwritten commonality here in Japan. My colleague's buddy that I met was a really fun guy, the bachelor type. Well, as I was walking to the train station, I found out he was married, but is still a total player and allegedly cheats all the time. At my surprise and disgust of this fact, my buddy filled me in and explained that this is total commonplace in Japan - the husband cheats, the wife cheats, cheating is essentially a part of 'marriage'.

I really hope this is wrong, or at least not as common and prevalent as my buddy made it seem to be, because damn, that's some messed up stuff. But if not, if this actually commonplace, let's just say I do not approve. What's the point of marriage if you're just assuredly going to end up cheating on them and them on you? What purpose does that bond serve?

I've been on the shit end of that kinda thing before, and could never wish that upon anyone. But maybe the meaning of a relationship here is also completely different? I don't know. All I know is that I could never fit into that kind of society/atmosphere where that kind of thing is ok and common. No way José.

Next Up

Another week of work. Meh, hoops to jump through. I've only got 5 more weeks of work here though, which is kinda nice. Coincidentally, I've only got 5 more weeks of being in Japan, which is kind of a bummer.

This weekend is the Tokyo Motor Show (it opens on Friday) and Halloween on Saturday. I still need to get a costume, and will probably head to Don Quijote tonight or tomorrow to see what I can find. I'd kill if I could find a Tigger costume here, but I doubt that will realistically happen. But, we'll see what they've got in store!

Original Publish Date: October 26th, 2015