Living in a desert for most of my life (Los Angeles), I rarely ever saw fall colors. The closest thing I got was a small maple tree in the front of my house that seemed to turn brown and shed all its leaves in the winter. However, in Japan I made sure to go out and see the famous fall colors that are abundant here. I took yet another trip out to Nikko to stroll among the wonderful colors. Truthfully, pictures could not capture the colors that I saw, but here are some that I took anyway.

This monkey did not like me taking pictures of him. This was right before he charged at me. The monkeys in Nikko can be dangerous, but since I have been to Nikko many times I know how to deal with them. I took a violent step toward the monkey and held up my rock throwing arm… the monkey immediately turned and ran.
Monkey: 0 - Andy: 1

A man making geta the old fashioned way

I think I found where the sacred white horses of Nikko are kept. They live in pure luxury all day. In the back they have an open field to run in and even their pens are maintained and raked like the Shinto rock gardens.

While wondering I found a really really long slide and could not resist going down it. See the video in the next post..
Also, somewhere after the slide I got lost in a field somewhere while exploring. While making my way back to the train station I saw the same monkey as before blocking my path. I then picked up some rocks and ran full speed at it.
Monkey: 0 - Andy: 2