Day 57/58 - Apr 17/18 2010 - Trip to Kinugawa/Nikko

Day 57/58 - Apr 17/18 2010 - Trip to Kinugawa / Nikko

Half of the participants in our program decided to go on a tour of the world heritage site at Nikko and stay in Kinugawa Onsen (Hot Springs) for the Sat/Sun weekend.



Because we have foreign passports, we were eligible for discount tour packages that included tickets into the world heritage site and all the needed train and bus tickets/transfers. We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel in Kinugawa where there are natural hot springs to relax in at the end of a long stressful week. The hotel appeared to be western style from the exterior, an architecture from the late 60s when Kinugawa onsen must have really had an economic explosion of building and expansion. The rooms were traditional Japanese tatami mats where during the day it was a normal living room with table and pillows and then transformed into traditional Japanese sleeping area while we were at dinner.

After our 7pm dinner we headed to the hotsprings on site and enjoyed the natural healing waters of Japan. We spent about 1 hour before going upstairs changing and headed down the road to a small drinking / karaoke evening spot. We drank and sang late into the night and then headed back to the hotel where we reviewed pictures of the day. We laughed and laughed at some of the pics we had taken, I'm sure some of the other guests could hear us.

The next day, before heading back to Nikko to finish seeing the sights, we explored around Kinugawa and enjoyed the nice spring weather. One of the best parts of this trip was simply enjoying the mountain air away from the big city.



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