Adventures Outside the Prefecture 3: On the right track

*The companion pictures to this story can be found here


I got off the train at the correct station and started wandering around a bit. An intercom announcement seemed to say that a train to Nikko was arriving on track 2; I was on track 3. Just to be sure I checked out the signs to see if they were saying the same thing; I’m sure I looked massively confused. A Singaporean couple approached me, asking if I needed help. I told them I was going to Nikko and they said ‘oh, you don’t have very much time!’ I had left the house at a semi-decent time, but my little detour into the middle-of-nowhere, Japan cost me a good deal of time. As it turned out they were going to Nikko as well, it was a favorite vacation spot for them whenever they came to Japan. They explained to me that you didn’t actually transfer trains. The 4 car train split apart. The first two cars went towards Nikko, the last two cars went in a different direction.

*

Talk about a WTF moment. They themselves weren’t sure what track the train was coming in on. I thought it was track 2, but since they weren’t sure I assumed I had heard wrong. Once the train pulled in we realized it was indeed track 2 and we ended up having to do a little jog to catch the train.

Arriving in Nikko well beyond my target time, I headed straight for the information center to get map of the area. Unjustifyingly confident in my navigation abilities, I headed up towards the World Heritage listed shrines and temples. On the way up, as is usual in areas of this nature, I passed a small shrine; this one nicely accented by cherry blossoms. I also saw some really nice and wintry looking mountains. Not foreboding, but they provided a nice mountain setting. Around the same time I started getting hungry, and I realized that usually the main road leading up to the attractions usually have snack stands and gift shops. Where were the snacks? So after turning the corner past the small shrine I walked to the intersection and broke out my map – tourist style.

A little old man rode up on his bicycle and asked where I was trying to go. When I pointed to the area on the map he said first, ‘oh, you’re on the wrong road!’ then ‘you don’t have very much time.’ I was slightly aware of the former, and fully aware of the latter. Thankfully he showed me a still relatively easy way to get there. I thanked him and started walking; actually trying to walk as if I had a heightened interest or sense of purpose in my destination because he had actually urged me to hurry. A couple of minutes later he pedaled up further to me and said ‘well, since you don’t have very much time I want to show you where you can go.’ He proceeded to scribble over places on the map that I didn’t need to see, and circle the important places. He was such a cute, helpful old man! After maybe 15 minutes of walking and wondering, I rounded a curve and found myself opposite a beautiful bright red bridge with gold accents. Surely something of historical significance!