Rainy Days & Mondays Never Get Me Down in Japan Utsunomiyia

Love the way you tear open the packets of coffee and pour your hot water over.  Great way to start the day.

Now down to the lobby for some breakfast.

Visited the fairy museum but no photos allowed.  Elaborate fairy doll displays and pictures of fairies along with old books were fascinating.  We looked at some photos with an eyeglass to find some hidden fairies in a photo.

We visited the Utsunomiya Futarayama Shrine which is located on the top of Mt. Myojin in the center of Utsunomiya City. History states that after being burned down several times, the shrine was reconstructed into his present form in 1877. Boasting an ancient history of about 1600 years, the shrine is closely tied to the lives of the residents through their prayers against misfortune and for academic success, so many worshipers come to visit. There were lots of people there for being so early in the morning.

   Lots of steps to get to the top to reach the shrine. 

 After our visit to the Futarayama Shrine, we ventured down the street to view Chestnut Street hoping to see some fall foliage.  Leaves are beginning to turn and since it has been raining, a lot of leaves have been knocked off the trees.

We have reached our next touring location called the Modern Tochigi Prefecture Office.

The modern Tochigi Prefecture Office is impressive. The building is a 15 story, 81 meter-tall building and has a small museum/shop exhibiting and selling traditional products from Tochigi Prefecture. Also at the top is a restaurant with terrific views and wonderful food made from local ingredients. We were all impressed with the view of Utsunomiya from atop this building.

Beautiful views of the city

I enjoyed looking at all the things that Utsunomiya is known for.

Some construction going on as we left and the road barriers always have some character on them.  This location has the Tochigi boy.

 We have reached the popular shopping haven Orion Dori (street).  Lots and lots of stores and shops.  Mary and I found some cute skirts with pants attached to our granddaughters.  GREAT FIND I'm sure they will love their gifts.

I'm getting hungry, time to find some gyoza (aka stickers) which is what Utsunomiya is famous for.  Just for a fun fact, Utsunomiya earned the #1 Dumpling City as it beats its rival city Hamamatsu.  Lots of varieties of fillings in gyoza making it good for all. We stopped in a small shop in Orion Dori to eat some gyoza.  Great place to stop for a small plate of delicious dumplings.

Shopping and saw this, how cute?

Decided Mary needed to enjoy a pastry from our favorite cafe.  Marlon and I both got siphon coffee, very interesting watching the coffee being made.  

We are now heading back to the hotel.  We took a stroll down by the stream and enjoyed the sounds of the water rushing and the pretty fall colors.  It's still raining but that has not stopped us from enjoying Japan.  Stopped to see the Buddha of the 3 Beans .   

Since it's been raining all day the water is flowing very fast down the rain chain.  Enjoy

On our way back to the hotel we followed this stream and, as you can see, leaves are just starting to turn beautiful colors. 

We are now getting closer to the hotel and the Tagawa River is rising from the rain.  Prior to our arrival in Japan, typhoon Hagibis hit Japan.  It was considered to be the most devastating typhoon to hit Japan since 1958.  As of Oct. 20, 2019, 86 people have been confirmed dead and 8 others are still missing.  If you look closely at the pictures you can see just how high the water was.  Lots of debris in every post along the river.

 Finally back to the hotel after a long rainy day.  Rested and then walked to the Volcano Ramen restaurant for some delicious ramen. 

When they bring you the ramen and pour in the sauce you have to hold the paper in front of you to prevent being splashed by the hot bubbling mixture.  Do not put your face in the steam as it hot.

 

Our final stop was Samurai's nicknamed Sammy's, for a nightcap.  Mary and I had a drink named chu-hi made from a Japanese liquor (Sho-chu) and orange something,  It sure helped us relax.

Nikko Yayoi Festival ~Let it Rain..........

Our trip started at 9am to attend the Yayoi Festival in Nikko City, Japan.  I had no idea we were going to be picking up 2 adult students of Ugie's history class.  1st lady picked up Tssuneko and 2nd lady's name was Yoko.

What an adventure going to Nikko.  The road had a beautiful canopy of some cherry blossom trees and some cedar trees.  What an amazing adventure so far. 

When we arrived in Nikko another surprise, Kashiwamura~san's entire class of students were there waiting on us.  More students even joined up later. Kashiwamura~san  did a lot of talking about temples and shrines and the parade but we could not understand any of it.  Keiko tried to tell us some information, which really was great information. 

 It has started to rain, and within minutes, it was pouring the rain.  I love rain chains and saw this one hanging from a temple.  

 The parade has started and there will be 11 beautifully adorned floats called hana~yatai from each town. Any mistake causes allot of trouble, which is why this festival is also called gota matsuri.  12 festival floats decorated with flowers go around the town with traditional musical instruments. Tourists also got the opportunity to pull the huge floats.  Marlon was asked if he wanted to help pull and took a turn pulling the large float.  

This is the man who asked Marlon to help pull the float.

Marlon toeing the line, toeing the line.

Ready guys pull, pull, pull

special shoes worn by the many people of the temple.

Talk about a downpour of rain.  Wow, it's raining so hard.

So many umbrellas and so many people trying to stay dry to watch the ceremony.

This little girl was such a cutie pie.

 The rest of the pictures are from people in the ceremony.  Enjoy because I really enjoyed this cultural experience. 

Thanks, Kashiwamura~san and Keiko for another adventure in Japan.