It was November, and the leaves were ocher on the trees swathing the hills behind the reconstructed wooden buildings. Gaggles of chattering exchange students ducked in and out of the faux historical shops and houses, obviously enjoying themselves and their day out.
The odd little village was an entertaining re-creation of old Edo (present-day Tokyo), the town that grew into one of the world's most populous cities as home to around a million people when the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled Japan from there between 1603 and 1867.
Though the village, named Edo Wonderland, was loosely tied to its location via the Tokugawa mausoleum complex at Nikko, to 16-year-old me it seemed pretty phony.