Edo Wonderland

We left the hustle and bustle of Tokyo today and headed for Nikko to visit Edo Village, a theme park that recreates life in Old Edo (old Tokyo) during the Tokugawa period.

We took a two-hour train to Nikko, then a 15-minute bus to get to Edo Village, or Edomura, as Maki and his dad called it. It's not a very big place, but it was fun.

We walked around, enjoyed the beautiful bridges, enjoyed wonderful tempura and soba noodles, and took in some performances. Surprisingly, CJ was great during the Ninja play. The whole theater went pitch black several times (CJ would simply comment, "it's dark, I can't see anything"), and there was obviously a lot of fighting on stage. He seemed to enjoy the show and clapped with the rest of us at the end.

CJ was done with performances, however, when we tried to watch a Geisha play/dance. CJ announced that he wanted to be outside, so he and I left, while the rest of the group enjoyed what Maki said was a funny performance with some beautiful dancing. Instead, CJ wanted to feed the numerous carp in the little streams (some were blue!), walk up and down the bridges, and run around the wooden structures. We loved the ninja house, the ryokan (Japanese guesthouse), and the many temples. We even watched an extended ninja fight scene that took place on the plaza.

It was awesome to see so many little girls and boys dressed as ninja and geisha. Yes, we took loads of pictures. Here's more information on Edomura:
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyotravel/tokyojapantravelarchive349/341/tokyojapantravelinc.htm

One last thing. I am so impressed with the precision of the Japanese trains and buses. When leaving Edomura, we took at 4:09pm bus back to the station, which dropped us off at the train station at 4:24pm -- as planned. Our train left the station at precisely 4:33pm, as noted on the ticket. I thought that the planning was a little tight, but Maki and his dad seemed completely calm and at ease, confident that the bus and train were going to be on time and we wouldn't miss our train. The were right, of course.