What It's Like Living in Nikko: A Conversation with a Guesthouse Owner
Kenji Tanaka moved to Nikko from Tokyo in 2018. He'd spent twelve years working in finance in Marunouchi, commuting ninety minutes each way, and one winter weekend he visited Toshogu Shrine in snow and couldn't leave.
"Not emotionally," he clarifies. "I mean literally. The roads closed because of snow. I was stuck for two extra days. And those two days — walking the empty shrine paths, soaking in an onsen with snow falling on my head, eating yuba by a kerosene heater — were the happiest I'd been in years."
He quit his job six months later, bought a small traditional house near the Kanmangafuchi Abyss, and turned it into a guesthouse. I sat with him on his engawa (wooden veranda) drinking hojicha tea as cedar trees dripped morning dew.
Q: What do tourists get most wrong about Nikko?
A: They come for five hours on a day trip, see Toshogu, and leave. They've seen 10% of what makes this place special. Toshogu is impressive but it's also the most crowded, most expensive, most tourist-oriented part of Nikko. The things I love — the cedar avenue at dawn, the Jizo statues in morning fog, the sound of the Daiya River at night, the tiny soba shops that only locals know — those require staying overnight.
Also, everyone goes in autumn for the foliage and ignores winter. Winter Nikko is my favorite season. Snow on the shrine carvings. Kegon Falls partially frozen. The cedar avenue covered in white. And maybe twenty tourists in the whole town.
Q: Speaking of winter — how cold does it actually get?
A: We're at 600 metres elevation, so it's properly cold. December through February, daytime highs are 2-5°C. Nights drop below freezing. We get real snow — not Tokyo powder, but mountain snow that sticks. The shrine steps become genuinely dangerous with ice. You need waterproof boots with actual grip.
But the upside... imagine Toshogu's gold carvings against white snow. The Yomeimon Gate with snowflakes catching on the carved figures. It's Japan's most ornate structure in Japan's most dramatic weather. That combination doesn't exist anywhere else.
Q: What's your favorite spot that tourists don't know about?
A: The Kanmangafuchi Abyss — but at a specific time. Go at 7 AM on a misty morning. Not afternoon, not sunny day. Misty morning. The Jizo statues along the river path emerge from the fog one by one. Their red bibs are the only color. The moss glows green. The river sounds different in fog — softer, more present.
I walk that path every morning. I still find it moving.
Also, there's a small waterfall called Urami Falls, about 15 minutes by car from the shrine area. You used to be able to walk behind it — the name means "view from behind the waterfall" — but rockfall closed that path. You can still get close. In autumn, it's surrounded by maples. Almost nobody goes.
Q: Best place to eat in Nikko?
A: For yuba, Gyoshintei. It's a proper restaurant in a garden setting — the JPY 2,500 set lunch includes yuba sashimi, yuba in dashi broth, pickles, rice, and seasonal side dishes. The garden is beautiful. Reservations not required on weekdays.
For something casual, the soba shop on the road between the station and the shrines — I won't give the exact name because it only has eight seats and I don't want it overwhelmed — does handmade buckwheat noodles for JPY 900. The owner is 70-something and has been making soba for forty years. You can hear him rolling the dough.
Don't eat at the restaurants directly next to the shrine entrance. They're overpriced and the food is mediocre. Walk ten minutes in any direction and quality goes up while prices go down.
Q: Is the combination ticket worth it?
A: Absolutely. JPY 1,300 for Toshogu, Rinno-ji, and Futarasan. Toshogu alone is JPY 1,300. So you're getting two extra sites for free. Rinno-ji's three gilded Buddhas are massive and the Shoyoen garden is lovely. Futarasan Shrine is smaller and quieter — a nice change of pace after Toshogu's intensity.
Q: What custom should visitors know about?
A: Shrine etiquette is important but most foreign visitors do fine intuitively. Bow slightly at the torii gate. Don't touch the carvings (I see this constantly — people touching the three wise monkeys for photos). Keep your voice moderate.
The one thing that bothers me: tour groups with megaphones. I understand they need them for coordination, but the sacred atmosphere of the cedar paths is broken by amplified commentary. If you're visiting independently, go early to avoid this.
Q: What about the famous cedar avenue?
A: The Sugi Namiki — 12,000 cedars, 35 km, world's longest tree-lined avenue. It was planted between the 1620s and 1640s by a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu as a tribute. These trees are 400 years old. Some are enormous — 30 metres tall, trunks you can't wrap your arms around.
The best section for walking is along the road from Imaichi toward Nikko. An early morning walk under those trees, with light filtering through the canopy and no cars yet, is one of the most peaceful experiences in Japan.
Q: How has Nikko changed since you moved here?
A: More foreign tourists, which is great for my guesthouse. But the shrine area has gotten more commercialized. More souvenir shops, higher prices. The town is also aging — young people move to Tokyo or larger cities. Some of the traditional shops have closed because there's nobody to take over.
I worry about that balance. Nikko needs tourism income, but it also needs to stay the quiet mountain town that makes it special. If it becomes another Kyoto-level tourist destination, the thing that draws people here — the peace, the cedars, the moss, the silence — will be lost.
Q: What would you tell someone who only has one day?
A: Take the earliest train. Be at Toshogu when it opens at 8 AM. Spend two hours there properly — don't rush the Yomeimon Gate. Walk down to Shinkyo Bridge. Have yuba for lunch. Then walk to the Kanmangafuchi Jizo statues in the afternoon. Skip the lake on a one-day trip — it deserves its own day.
And if you can possibly manage it, stay one night. The evening silence in Nikko — just cedar trees, river water, and whatever the mountains feel like saying — is worth more than any shrine ticket.
Kenji Tanaka runs Nikko Cedar House, a small guesthouse near the Kanmangafuchi Abyss. He accepts bookings through his website and Booking.com. Rates start at For another mountain town guesthouse experience, try Takayama.
Practical: Tobu Railway from Tokyo's Asakusa to Nikko: 1 hr 50 min, JPY 2,800 limited express. All Nikko Pass: JPY 4,780 (2 days, train + buses). See our 19 Nikko tips for practical details: JPY 1,300.
