Nikko Park Lodge

April is Sakura (cherry blossom) season, when the cherry blossoms trees are at their best and all of Japan turns a particular shade of pink.

Hanami, or ’flower viewing’, are very popular amoungst the Japanese and parks on the weekends are turned into a sea of blue as people mark out their picnic position with bright blue tarpaulins and mats. Festival food such as Takoyaki (dumpling balls made with octopus) and Okonomiyaki  (a kind of Japanese pancake cooked with noodles and vegetables) is provided by market wagons positioned conveniently around the outskirts of the park and people enjoy the warm springs day with a healthy dose of sake mixed in.

These photos were taken on Saturday 16th April, 2011 at Utsunomiya Park, just over 1 hours drive from Nikko. If you are travelling to Nikko by train you will pass through this city.

The world heritage shrines and temples of Nikko have been unharmed by the recent Earthquake/Tsunami destruction. Here are some photos taken on 15th April 2011 of Toshogu Shrine and a nearby waterfall we found hidden up in the hills, taken on a beautiful day of touring.

Dear guests and friends,

We’d like to thank everyone very much for all the messages and support they’ve sent us the past couple of days.  Our deepest thoughts and sympathies go to the victims of this tragedy and their families.

All the guests and staff members of the Nikko Park Lodge are safe, we feel lucky that the damage was limited to just a few wine bottles. The major issue in Nikko at this moment is the low availability of public transportation; not many trains are going to Nikko, normal schedules are suspended because of the power-saving measurements. For a couple of hours a day, the electricity shuts down in certain parts of the country to save energy. As soon as the train system is running as usual again, we will let you know on this page.

The Nikko Park Lodge will continue to operate as usual, while following the news and developments in Japan closely. The safety and security of our guests and employees is our highest priority, and we fully understand that some of our guests have decided to postpone their visit to Nikko; we hope to see them in the near future. All cancellation fees from our website will be waived, we advise people who have booked at another site to contact their operators.

More information and photos of the current situation in Nikko are soon to follow, the Nikko Park Lodge staff will be updating this page.

Contact details:
e-mail: nikkoparklodge@gmail.com
phone: (81)288531201
fax: (81)288534332