Tokyo - Shima Onsen - Nikko - Ishinomaki: April 25-26

 We woke up early this morning with the intent of making it all the way to a small town called Shima Onsen to stay in the oldest hot spring inn in Japan called Sekizenkan Kashoutei. Hayao Miyazaki, the director of Spirited Away used this inn as inspiration. We had planned to ride a shinkansen (bullet train) for the first time, but of course we were just a little bit late and had to find a different way to our destination. We ended up taking local trains most of the way, but rode a shinkansen for about a half hour, and it was incredibly fast. It accelerates and gets faster and faster and when you think it's done it keeps getting faster. After our roundabout way of getting to Nakanojo station we were around two hours behind schedule, it wasn't a big deal because we could still catch a bus to Shima Onsen early enough to check in for the dinner they provide. The dinner they made for us was a traditional Japanese meal of many different small dishes, comprised mostly of pickled veggies, rice, fish, and a ball of mochi to finish it off. When we checked in, the host looked at my tattoos and told me the only hot spring I could enter was the private rooms. This was a surprise to me because I read online that you could enter the hot springs with tattoos if you can cover them with stickers, and I had heard you could buy stickers at the inn, but I was wrong. The hot spring I wanted to go to the most, which is public and outside, would be inaccessible to me due to my tattoos, but I wasn't gonna have it. The rules they had were that if you can cover it with a towel you can enter the public hot springs, so i planned to cover my shoulder tattoo with a towel and hide my forearm tattoos by keeping my arms at my side or crossed under the water. Luckily when we went to the hot spring no one was there but another american who either didn't notice or didn't care. I went rogue and it worked out, I played the role of the stubborn american who doesn't listen to the customs of the country they visit. Logically, though, if the only thing they are worried about with tattoos is people seeing them and being offended, then if no one sees them nothing I've done is wrong. Maybe its a cope but I feel vindicated. Anyways, after bathing in a hot spring it was time for bed because that really tired us out, and it dehydrates you by surprised because even though you're submerged in water you're sweating like crazy. We had to pound a few cups of water they provide immediately after, then hit the sack. Here's a picture of the beautiful bridge and inn

    The next day we were on a mission to have a day trip in Nikko and make it to Ishinomaki. Nikko is a town famous for its Buddhist and Shinto places of worship that date back to the 800's. It's also famous for it's local delicacy called yuba, which is a soy milk pudding made by boiling soy milk and scraping off the top layer that solidifies, and doing that over and over until you have a consistent pudding. I had to try it, here's what it looks like.

    We walked up main street and saw the old city hall, which only just recently was restored in 2022. It was the city hall until around 1950 and was converted to a hotel, but is now not used for anything.

    Then we saw the iconic Shinkyo bridge, unfortunately it was receiving a restoration treatment so no one could walk on it, but we could still take pictures.

    We then walked up a steep hill towards the ancient historical sites Nikko is known for

    We checked out Nikkozan Rin'noji Temple

    We headed towards Nikko Toshogu shrine, but it was also undergoing restoration, so we couldn't see the outside. The five story pagoda was visible at least.

    Then we headed to Nikko Futarasan Jinja shrine, it had this little fella out front who is a lucky rabbit

    Then it was time to visit the Kanmangafuchi Abyss, which is a beautiful volcanic gorge and river lined with statues of Jizo, a Buddhist deity which is a guardian of children and travelers. This was an exceptionally photogenic spot on this day trip.

    After we took all our pictures we went back to main street to grab some lunch before our train departed. We rode at incredibly packed local train that seemed to take all the locals home after work and school but we were packed in with our big travel bags just trying not to be a nuisance. It was a struggle to stay awake on the train but we made it to Ishinomaki at around 10:30 and walked to our hostel. We made sure to be extra quiet because it was late, but we found the next day that no one else was in the whole building.