Nikko is about 150 km north of Tokyo. We entered the phone number of the Nikko visitor information that we had obtained from the hotel Concierge into our A5 navigational system. The rest was a blur of highways, toll booths, and friendly female voice of our MMI to let us know how much Yens we paid for the tolls.

The cultural highlight of this region is the Toshogu, Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine complex and mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Unlike most Japanese temples and shrines, the buildings here are extremely gaudy and ornate, with multicolored carvings and plenty of gold leaf. There is the famous three wise monkey wooden carving. These wise monkeys embody the proverbial principle to "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil".

Nikko is about 150 km north of Tokyo. We entered the phone number of the Nikko visitor information that we had obtained from the hotel Concierge into our A5 navigational system. The rest was a blur of highways, toll booths, and friendly female voice of our MMI to let us know how much Yens we paid for the tolls.

The cultural highlight of this region is the Toshogu, Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine complex and mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Unlike most Japanese temples and shrines, the buildings here are extremely gaudy and ornate, with multicolored carvings and plenty of gold leaf. There is the famous three wise monkey wooden carving. These wise monkeys embody the proverbial principle to "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil".