Two hours by train from Tokyo, history has twice blessed the small town of Nikko with good fortune.
The first time, the powerful warrior leader Tokugawa Ieyasu declared his wish to be enshrined in Nikko, north of the nation's new political capital that his regime established in Edo (modern-day Tokyo), shortly before his death in 1616. Once enshrined, Nikko became a place where local pilgrims worshipped.
The second time, in 1999, UNESCO decided to make the shrines and temples of Nikko, now in Tochigi Prefecture, a World Heritage site, putting the area on the international tourist map.