…Following Part I…

Next was a very long train ride out to Kamakura, a coastal city outside of Tokyo…given the nickname “the Kyoto of Eastern Japan”.  The main draw to Kamkura is the Kamakura Daibutsu – a very large Buddha constructed over 750 years ago. The Daibutsu is made of bronze and the agency now protecting the statue and the surrounding temple complex, will allow you to walk through out the complex for ¥200 and even walk into the bronze statue for an additional ¥20.  We took some time to walk around and then paid the extra charge to go inside the statue.  Of course, there isn’t much to see inside, just like looking inside a plastic, or in this case bronze, mold.  What is inside are a few boards stating the history of the Daibutsu and its construction.  After going inside, we walked over to the right to see the large pair of Buddha slippers.  These slippers have to be 5 or 6 feet tall and must weigh a couple tons. The funny things, not sure if they have a huge a meaning, but in the area of the slippers, there was a group of about six or seven people all smoking cigarettes.  So I didn’t get too close to the area, but I took a couple of photos.  Other than that, we just walked around the complex.  We walked towards the back and saw a shrine that had been given to Japan from Korea.  Literally, the temple was once in Korea, but was given to Japan as a gift.  Ayaka was shocked, but she read the sign was like, “wow, I didn’t know that!”

The car driving comes out clear, but the two guys walking, are slightly blurry -_-

Didn't focus the camera...but a shot of a typical shop in Kamakura

Inside the temple grounds of the Daibutsu, you are met by this store that is selling a lot of candies

The Kamakura Daibutsu

The statue is made of bronze and weighs about 90+ tons!

Ayaka took a photo of a group posing in-front of the statue so they offered to take one of both of us in return

You can actually go inside the statue for about ¥20...or about $0.20 (rough conversion)

Carrying around the stuff I bought at Yokohama World Porters

Buddha's Slippers, this things are like 6 to 7 feet tall!

Not my idea, but it is something that I would have thought of had I been given time

Another temple & another ¥200 to enter...so many stairs that we, I mean, Ayaka opted out, LOL.

Mini statues outside the temple area

The two girls on the left were walking briskly to get to the train...

They missed it or realized it was the wrong train -_- ...don't look @ me, not my fault

After seeing the Daibutsu, we took the train back to the main part of town and then proceeded to walk through a long street market that sold a variety of foods and other small items.  We stopped and ate a few rice pancakes that tasted like soy sauce.  They are either crunchy or soft.  Ayaka told me that she preferred the soft ones, so we went that kind.  It sure had a strong taste of soy sauce, but it wasn’t bad as you might think, I actually liked it, but it is salty! Hahaha.  After that we also had some Mitarashi Dango, rice dough (like Mochi) dumplings that is served on skewers and are accompanied with a variety of sauces poured on top.  Often time, the flavor of choice is shoyu (soy sauce).  I’d had Mitarashi Dango with shoyu before so I wanted to try a different flavor.  So Ayaka asked the man at the counter which he would recommend, he said shōyu, and she said, “well yeah, besides that…”  so he pointed at one with a cherry blossom flavored syrup on top.  We ordered some and he packed it in a small to-go box.  We tried it, and it was…good, but not as good as the shōyu ones.  Oh well, it was something different.

After getting back to the main part of town, we went through one of the main shopping streets

For being outside of Tokyo, this place sure does receive a lot of foot traffic

The guys on the left offering to pull you and a guest in a cart around the town

After our small pair of snacks, we headed to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, a popular and very important Shinto shrine also located in Kamakura.  It was founded around 1063.  As you enter the temple grounds, you pass under or around the first torii (gate) and are immediately meet by a group of three bridges.  There are two flat grey bridges on each side of a red bridge that is arched.  The arched one is blocked off while the flat ones are free to be used to cross a small waterway and continue walking towards the temple.  As we continued walking, we saw two shrines, one on ground level, and another set above, with a staircase leading up to it.  They are appropriately labeled as being Senior (at the top) and Junior (at the bottom).  The Junior shrine is nice to see, and much easier to walk to (no stairs), but is still takes a good bit of walking to get to the Junior shrine from the entrance.  The Senior shrine is at the top of a long line of stairs that took us a good minute to walk up.  Ayaka was a bit winded hahaha.  But no kidding, it was a lot of stairs!

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu...the torii (gate - from the back) that leads into the area.

There are two flat grey bridges on each side of a red bridge that is arched.

Very cool looking plants are growing in a pond below the bridge

Apparently, people threw coins into the flower basins, maybe to get a wish granted...

The Junior and Senior shrines of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

The Junior shrine

We showed up at the right time, a lot of people were leaving as we arrived...not everyone

So many Sake barrels!

I wonder how long they have been out there?

The Senior shrine of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

Fewer people around...but still a few at the top

Oh well...I tried

So many stairs!!

Yes, we did go up the stairs...just a last photo before the journey up!

After our eventful day, we decided to go rest and then we’d meet back up for dinner.  We came back from Kamakura and then Ayaka and I went our separate ways.  Later, we meet back up in Shibuya for some dinner at a Korean restaurant.  Yes that’s right; I made it to Shibuya by myself and yes, Korean food in Japan!  At the restaurant, we ordered 갈비 (Kalbi), 김치 (Kimchi), and an assortment of side dishes.  The restaurant was pretty cool and was apparently pretty famous, it had been visited by BoA, Super Junior, and plenty of Korean music artists and drama actors.

A very eventful day!  I really enjoyed seeing different places with so much history; whether it was Yokohama or Kamakura, the day was filled with a lot of walking, a lot of photos, but a lot of fun as I was able to see so many other features of Tokyo and its surrounding areas.

Filed under: Travel by Giancarlo Deleon