Kama Kama Kama Kama Kama Kamakuuuuura

Tuesday happened to be a national holiday here in Japan. This meant that Billy and Marc both had the day off so we decided to take a day trip to Kamakura with Billy's friend Sena and hope that the weather held up. We hopped on a train at 10 am and headed out.

Kamakura is a city just south west of Tokyo. It lies on the south shore of Japan and is surrounded to the north by old mountains. It is a generally rich area of the country and the population isn't as dense as it is in Tokyo. The city is also home to some ancient landmarks, shrines and temples.

We picked up a bus once we got to the station and headed to the most recognized of Kamakura's treasures, the Great Daibatsu or big Buddha. The buddha is a giant hollow metal sculpture that stands (sits actually) about 37 feet tall. It sits on a giant stone base and is on an elevated platform from where you enter. There is a low building that surrounds the statue and behind that is just mountains and sky. It is really a breathtaking sight.

The story goes that the buddha was once housed in a giant wooden building but during a tsunami the entire Kamakura area was flooded and the temple was destroyed. Even though the storm was strong enough to was away most of Kamakura, the statue remained intact.

For a whopping 20yen (less than 20 cents) you can go inside the statue. You have to walk up the narrowest staircase ever and then you can marvel at how the statue is formed. Joined pieces of molded metal that must have taken years to complete. You can rub the buddha's belly from the inside before heading out (it gets hot in there).

We found another shrine on a map that looked rather close so we decided to walk. Little did we know that the shrine was close to 3 miles from the Buddha. Thankfully Sena was there to help us communicate with locals and find our way. We navigated some sleepy back streets and walked up a paved mountain path to a tunnel in the mountain with a Torii gate - we had found it.

This shrine allowed you to wash money in a mountain spring. The story said that you will receive many times the amount you wash in good fortune. Billy washed about $100, as for us we settled for about $10 in coins we had. Afterwards we decided to head back to the area near the train station to get some lunch.

Since it was a national holiday - Kamakura was jam packed with visitors and finding a place ready to accomodate 5 people was a chore. We finally found a chinese place and had lunch. Dumplings, chicken & cashews, pork in a miso sauce and lo mein with squid and octopus. Then we walked a few hundred feet up the road and got my favorite thing in Kamakura - ice cream - sweet potato and green tea swirl - yum!

We continued walking north to the main temple in the heart of the city. the view at the top of the main staircase is amazing, and the temple itself is beautiful. After a few minutes there we walked back down the main street all the way to the ocean.

We met with Marc's friends Michael and Mami and got some Chu-hi from the convinience store and drank until the sun went down over the mountains. We then walked back up to the train station and headed back to Shinjuku. It was a long day and that made it easy for erica and myself to catch a few zzzzz's on the train. All totaled we walked about 6 miles around the city over an 8 hour period.

For dinner we walked from the shinjuku station to the NS building which is right next to the Tokyo Metro complex. We went up to the 30th floor and found a Tonkatsu restaurant with a table at the window. Tonkatsu basically means pork cutlet, but the word rather implies a deep fried meal that is usually pork but can be a number of items. We each ordered a set that included the main course, rice, soft boiled egg, miso soup, cabbage salad and a complimentary drink. We chose Sake and the waiter poured us a most generous, overflowing glass. The food was delicious, and we crossed another food off of our list of must eats while in japan.

After dinner we walked down to the main lobby where we could use the lottery cards we were given at the restaurant. Erica won a gift certificate for 1000 yen (10 bucks) and we could see that we should have washed more money a the shrine in kamakura :)