Hunting Red Leaves in Nikko

October 2015. First time in Japan. First time in Tokyo. First free day in the city. Great! Let’s get out of the city. Where to for hunting red leaves?

Yes, in the title.

Nikko (日光), a historical town located in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo. What is more attractive to me about the place is that it offers scenic landscapes and tranquility, being away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. It was autumn, and engaging with nature especially during this season is not to be missed. Though Japan’s expansive network of transportation is convenient, it can be somewhat confusing for first time travellers in a foreign city. So, pray we did not get lost on the way there.

At this time, I should mention that I never took notes or recorded my trips in any way, and my brain has poor storage capacity for memories (so, I was always deemed useless in telling stories or providing information). For this post, I have spent a lot of time conducting an extensive investigation and scouring old photos. I then gathered that the journey to Nikko took approximately 3 hours.

10 min walk from hotel to Shinjuku Station —> ~11 min rapid service train via Chuo Line to Kanda Station —> ~10 min subway via Ginza Line to Asakusa Station (fuzzy on this part) —> 1 hr 40 min limited express train via Tobu Railway to Shimo-Imaichi Station

We arrived safely. I think there's a 10-min bus ride from the station to the shrines and temples area, but we walked through the town instead. After a lot of doubts and qualms in between the transfers of trains, we were comforted by the cool weather, and spellbound by the beautiful view.

Brilliant hues of red, orange and yellow set off against the green foliage. A traditional vermilion bridge crosses the river where the white foam forms at the bottom of the ravine.

Shinkyo Bridge across Daiyagawa

Sorry guys. I forgot to plan about food for lunch as I often do when I'm travelling. So, we had some Dango from the street in town.

Dango - Japanese dumpling

And continued exploring.

Surrounded by the forest!

Daddy and mummy

I was more obsessed with the colours of autumn than the historical sites. After admiring the nature, we headed back to Tokyo, stopping by to say hi to Tokyo Skytree and to Hachiko Memorial Statue in Shibuya. Thus ended our day trip to Nikko.