Nikko Waterfalls

We are in the middle of Golden Week here in Japan.  Let's see... Golden Week consists of Showa no Hi (the former Emperor's birthday) on April 29; Constitution Memorial Day on May 3; Greenery Day on May 4; Boys' Day on May 5; and an extra day off on May 6 because some of those previous holidays fall on the weekend.  Whew!  What it boils down to is Japan has a shining week of no work or school!  Though this year it isn't as long as some years...

Tetsu and I took advantage of one of those day's off to go up to the waterfalls of Nikko.  We have quite a few and though they are relatively close by, we don't get up to them as often as we could.

This was a small waterfall (well, not that small but it looks small in the picture doesn't it?) on the edge of Nikko city.

We went on up the winding road to the top of the mountain and got a view of one of the more famous waterfalls in Japan; Kegon Falls.  Above that you can see lake Chuzenji and the resort part of Nikko.

Hmm.  Beautiful scenery, but I'm going to pop the scenic bubble.  Though the waterfall is beautiful, do you see that red spot there in the picture?  And moving left, a dark roof and then a small white building?  THAT is an elevator entrance.  An ELEVATOR!!!  In the middle of this nature!

And below the waterfall, there is an observation deck that is connected to the elevator by a tunnel...  So all the tourists can pay a pretty penny to get to the bottom of the waterfall and see the basin.

Okay... And I admit, a couple of years ago I took the tourist route and rode the elevator and walked through the tunnel to see the bottom of Kegon Falls.  Here is proof of that trip (2010).  So... beautiful, right?  But still, it seems a shame to disfigure nature with buildings and tunnels just so tourists can enjoy.... Of course none of us would get to the beautiful nature sites without the technology though... it is a dilemma.

On this day Tetsu and I didn't get any closer to Kegon Falls...  Someone offered to take our picture from the lookout.

Farther up the mountain we visited Ryuzu Falls which is a low waterfall leading INTO the lake.

My attempt to catch the motion of the waterfall by leaning over a rock.  Tetsu watched from a tree trunk shaking his head at my daring.

Oh dear... Too many pictures.  I'll end with a photo of the BACK of Mt. Nantai.  We can see Mt. Nantai on our morning walks with Choco.

Mt. Nantai from my house.