"I was standing on the crowded train leaving Tokyo for the mountains. There was a gentle tap on my arm and a note was passed to me. I looked to see where it came from. It was from a young lady sitting next to where I was standing. The note was printed in excellent English. There was no doubt about what she was saying."

My trip started from Tokyo early this morning . It will be a trip lasting several hours to a town in the mountains of Japan.

I am taking the train (not the subway train) outside of Tokyo where I will stay for a couple of days. The train trip is in three stages. The first train I am on will go for about an hour of the journey. I will have to change trains once but I will still be traveling on the same ticket. The next stage I will need to buy another ticket for the remainder of the journey since it will be on a different rail line.

I managed the first part without too much delay, then, about an hour into the trip, it came time to switch railways. 

I found where and how to get the ticket I needed for the last section of my trip. This rail line does not have the names of the towns in English, though. I am not sure where my stop is.

Standing on the train, I asked the man next to me if this was my stop . He did not speak English, but, looking at my map motioned it was the next stop. He got off at this stop, though.

At the next train stop I got off and stepped onto the platform, since the man earlier had said the next stop would be mine. The names of the stations were in Japanese with no English version. 

As I stepped onto the loading platform, I showed my map to the young guy that got off just in front of me, just to double check if this was the town i needed.  He also did not speak English, but shook his head "no" and motioned for me to get back on the train. 

I jumped back on the train just in time before it closed the doors to move on. As I stood near the door of the train, someone touched my arm and passed me a note. It was a young women sitting next to where I was standing.

The note was printed and very clear. "I do not speak English", it said . Then it said Tobu Nikko (the place I had asked the man about) would be reached at 9:22. It was not yet 8 a.m., so I knew by that that I had plenty of time before my stop, so I found a seat to sit in.

One of the most recommended mountain areas outside Tokyo I have read about is the Nikko National Park. It has a lot of scenic drives with waterfalls and hot springs. Wild monkeys are also found along the many hiking trails. The Nikko National Park is to the west of town.

 At the entrance to the national park is the charming little mountain town of Nikko.

Nikko is about 100 miles north of Tokyo. The Japanese have a saying "Never say 'kekko' until you've seen Nikko". Kekko means beautiful, magnificent or, "I am satisfied". The closer the train got to Nikko the more sense the saying started to make to me.
 
I found my hostel with the help of a local man and checked in. Then I started my 'first day walking tour' that I usually do in a new place . The taxis were lined up outside the train depot. They have the side mirrors mounted on the fenders, not on the doors.

This is a pretty little town in the mountains. I walk around and look it over. I notice a gas station on the corner. There are no pumps, though, just hoses hanging from the ceiling.

At the tourist information center I come to, there is a water well. Dippers are available to drink from. The water is cold and very clean tasting. It must be some of the best I have ever tasted. What a pleasant find.

Near the edge of town I come to a bridge. My map says it is the Shinkyo Bridge ("sacred bridge"). It is ranked as one of Japan's three finest bridges. It stands at the entrance to the many shrines and temples in the hills above it. It was built in 1636.

The shrines and temples are located across from the Shinkyo Bridge in the mountains . Scattered through the hillside were many pagodas and shrines.  Nikko has been the center of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship for many centuries. The shines here have intricate wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaves make it stand out from others in Japan.

You climb many steps in different directions though the woods. I think you would need some sort of map to decide which direction to find certain shrines. I really enjoy the shrines that are scattered on a hillside and through the woods. The hike to them makes it a pleasant and beautiful adventure. 

Besides the pieces of paper people tie to the strings, there is one spot where a person takes a small clay disk and hurles it into a pile of other broken disks. They place a donation in a box before picking one of the disc to throw. I guess they make a prayer or wish first.

It was nice hiking all afternoon and I was able to find many of the shrines . I did not have time to find them all. That will have to wait until another day, maybe.

Heading down the mountainside, I get back to the town. Outside the town limits, walking along the stream, I head into the countryside, there are some statues I want to find.

I found the Kanmangafuchi Abyss. It was formed by an eruption of nearby Mount Nantai. It's a small but beautiful gorge. The walk to it is really nice up and down a narrow path. The river in the gorge is one of the prettiest I have seen. 

There are about 70 statues of stone at the abyss along the banks of the stream. I learn they are of someone named Jizo, he is a Bodhisattva that cares for the dead. The statues look out over the beautiful river towards the botanical gardens. They have been dressed with red caps and vests.

At the end of the day I wander back into town. This has been a really fascinating day. My first one in Nikko, Japan. Tomorrow I hope to head into the National Park for some hiking and sight-seeing.