Nikko
18 Aug 2006
Every now and then it is possible to combine a business trip to our Yokohama office with a tourist weekend. This time I visit Nikko, together with Paulien, a Dutch colleague who works in the Shinagawa (Tokyo) office.
But of course there are also the dinners with my Yokohama colleagues. This time at a very special location, the restaurant of the husband of Kato-san. She is my Japanese successor. We get a special treatment, and it starts with a complementary sashimi dish.... delicious.
Kazuko Kato is lucky to have such a good cook for a husband.
Paulien checked our itinerary and booked a hotel. We leave early because it takes 2.5 hours by train to get there. Nikko is a pelgrim town, famous for its many temples and beautiful nature.
The hotel owner told us there would be an open air Nô performance. He arranges tickets for us and that evening we go to the square near the temple complex. We don't understamd a thing about what's happening on stage. It all takes place at an extremely slow pace. It can take some 10 minutes before they cross five meters. This is not the kind of theater that we can appreciate, but we wait patiently ...
The air is getting very dark. We all get rain ponchos, just in time. It starts raining, and in no time is the audience changed into a group of plastified dolls. But everybody stays in their seats. In the beginning, the actors get protected by some umbrellas. That doesn't help for long, After a while it rains too hard and everybody runs for cover. After about half an hour, the rain is gone and the performance starts again. But it looks like the players need to catch a train or something. The actors go into a higher gear and in no time is the performance finished, which is fine by us.
The next day it is dry again. We take the bus to the Kegon Falls, very impressive.
On the way back we visit a hotspring, where we enjoy a nice warm bath. After being well rested and refreshed, we decide to walk back to Nikko. A very nice hike, along a river and we run into this row of Buddha statues.
Nikko is a beautiful destination. I will surely go again with Carlos.
But of course there are also the dinners with my Yokohama colleagues. This time at a very special location, the restaurant of the husband of Kato-san. She is my Japanese successor. We get a special treatment, and it starts with a complementary sashimi dish.... delicious.
Kazuko Kato is lucky to have such a good cook for a husband.
Paulien checked our itinerary and booked a hotel. We leave early because it takes 2.5 hours by train to get there. Nikko is a pelgrim town, famous for its many temples and beautiful nature.
The hotel owner told us there would be an open air Nô performance. He arranges tickets for us and that evening we go to the square near the temple complex. We don't understamd a thing about what's happening on stage. It all takes place at an extremely slow pace. It can take some 10 minutes before they cross five meters. This is not the kind of theater that we can appreciate, but we wait patiently ...
The air is getting very dark. We all get rain ponchos, just in time. It starts raining, and in no time is the audience changed into a group of plastified dolls. But everybody stays in their seats. In the beginning, the actors get protected by some umbrellas. That doesn't help for long, After a while it rains too hard and everybody runs for cover. After about half an hour, the rain is gone and the performance starts again. But it looks like the players need to catch a train or something. The actors go into a higher gear and in no time is the performance finished, which is fine by us.
The next day it is dry again. We take the bus to the Kegon Falls, very impressive.
On the way back we visit a hotspring, where we enjoy a nice warm bath. After being well rested and refreshed, we decide to walk back to Nikko. A very nice hike, along a river and we run into this row of Buddha statues.
Nikko is a beautiful destination. I will surely go again with Carlos.