Leaving Nikko, and hello (again) Tokyo! - Day 9

Amelia, Steve Leung

11 Nov 2025 — 3 min read

That big green wall? All moss

Last day in Nikko! Marcus and Steve got up early enough for one last dip in the hot springs before breakfast.

After checking out, we walked back along the quiet street that it's on.

The street is only barely wide enough for two really small cars to pass one another, so we had to be careful and stick to the very sides of the street

The main road has a good amount of traffic including trucks and buses so it's noisier

Near to our hotel is the Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa, which is a residence used by a bunch of past Emperors and Empresses of Japan. It's been converted into a historical landmark open to the public. Over the last few hundred years it's had additions but otherwise has mostly original buildings so you can see architecture of several Japanese eras at the same time.

There's a lot of individual buildings here but they're all connected. There are 106 rooms!

In the spring, a weeping cherry blossom tree would be in bloom, but it is not in season now.

It was pretty cold in the villa, because it was built in the olden days, and there was no heating back then. But every so often there would be a little heater set up. There are also tvs around to with videos to watch and there are heated rugs!

After that we waited for a bus to take us down to the main town, but it was too busy, and didn't stop. So we walked there instead.

We were getting hungry on the way, so we went to Lawson's. Amelia was not 100% so we went to look for cough drops. We didn't find anything though. But we got fried chicken, ramen, sandwich, and onigiri.

Back near the Shinkyo bridge area which looks nicer when it's not raining

We were able to catch the bus from here and hung out around the station waiting for our train.

Lunch break! Soba, gyoza, beef bowl, savory mochi skewers, and some chicken wings on the way

The train ride back was uneventful. We mostly napped, then checked in to our final hotel here and dropped off our bags.

Then we split up for a bit. Amelia and Rita looked around a nearby shopping street and Marcus and Steve found a place to watch the Shinkansen trains go by.