06
06/08
10:25
If you’re in town, it’s best to check out this ramen… eh… soba shop. Ebi-Soba (海老そば) loosely translates to prawn soba. It’s pretty tasty. Reminds me a little of prawn mee back home. *drool*.
Here we are. The shop entrance!
04
06/08
11:57
If you missed part 1, it’s here. On to part 2!
This is another national treasure. The sleeping cat (眠り猫 nemuri neko). Sculpted by Hidari Jingoro, I think it’s supposed to symbolize Tokugawa Ieyasu since this sculpture rests on top of the entrance gate to his graveyard compound.
04
06/08
09:38
Alright! Did you know that there are many Toshogu Shrines around Japan? Basically any Shinto shrine which enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu, is a Toshogu Shrine! But, the most famous of all, is this particular one in Nikko (his final remains are kept here too!). I think I should point something out… The Kanji (東照宮) already has the word shrine in it. That last character. The actual name of the shrine is called Toshogu (from those 3 kanji-s). Calling it Toshogu Shrine is just a convenience for us English-speaking folk. The same goes for rivers too. Most names of rivers in Japan already have the “river” character in it (usually read ~gawa or ~kawa). Remember this when you see a sign that says Tamagawa River or Arakawa River ^^. I don’t know if many people notice this though. Anyway, sidetracked too much ^^.
Here’s the 5 storied pagoda right at the entrance to Toshogu. Yeap. The surrounding trees are just as tall!
03
06/08
18:02
I spotted this sign at the stairs leading to Rinnoji Temple from the carpark. World heritage site. No smoking anywhere!
02
06/08
17:41
Sorry for all the short posts lately. Family in town means I get to do lots of sightseeing. But that also means that I come home late and very tired ^^. Rented a car and took a drive out to Nikko (日光) today. I didn’t realize that it was that far away. The drive there took much longer than I anticipated. But the drive back was quick; partly due to the fact that the driving conditions were much better at night ^^. A 2.5hr drive there and a 1 hour 45 minutes drive back. Ok… Maybe I was speeding just that little bit. I had good house tunes on and, you know, went with the beats. (Please drive safely and do not speed irresponsibly). Anyway, I hope to upload some photos soon! This one was taken on our way there. I was pretty surprised that the highways nearer to Nikko were quite deserted…
