Day 17

Day 17 Kamakura!

After getting up ridiculously early for a trip to Kamakura with Santa-san, Katharina-san and Chibiusa-chan, Santa-san and I never actually managed to find the other two. Chibiusa didn't wake up and Katarina...well...we don't know. Shinjuku Station is a crazy mofo place and even though we looked for her for 30 minutes and she looked for us for 45 minutes we never managed to meet up :( I think all future meetings should be made outside school because I know we can find each other there. Sorry Katharina-san! After failing to find anyone, Santa-san and I grabbed the 8.20 train to Kamakura and arrived around 10am.

When we left the station I was expecting to be a pro and know exactly where to go. I came to Kamakura when I was in Japan in 2007 so I claimed to have a little expertise. The only problem today was that we'd arrived by Edonen line rather than JR like I did the last time so stepping out of the station I was pretty much lost. I had no idea where we were. Fortunately there were some of those free guides hanging about and she pointed out we were the other side of the station. Once round the the JR side of life, I could happily point out directions once again. We headed up the shopping street first. We'd arrived in Kamakura reasonably early so it wasn't too crowded there at that time. There were sooo many things I wanted to buy but I resisted. I have enough bags and I'm going to Shibuya on Sunday so maybe I'll buy one there^^. I couldn't resist the food however, especially after spotting a Taiyaki stall. I haven't seen these in Tokyo at all so no way I was going to pass by them here. I chose the traditional red bean filling and Santa-san had edamame. Mine was better than his. We ate these whilst continuing to walk up the shopping street before coming to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine where we watched a bit of a wedding (the guys playing the music were hilarious), visited the over priced and rather crappy museum and took too many pictures.

With shrine number 1 done and dusted we headed back to the station with the intention of going to the buddah. Of course, we had to stop for Sweet Potato ice cream along the way. Om nom nom nom! There were also lots of shops selling pickles that were offering free samples and sample them we did. Some were good, some were not so good, some were awful. There was one that looked like a striped cube but when you picked it up it was slimy and tasted even worse. So there we go...my first slime in Japan.

On the train and off again at Hase. Took a stroll down to the dirty beach, watched the crows because they dont have seagulls in Japan, and watched some surfers. A stop at Hase Kannon on the way where we saw many shrines. I found a lizard inside a bell thing that technically I shouldn't have been touching but gaijin power wins and my disregard for the rules paid off. I also nabbed a picture of a golden statute that you weren't allowed to take pictures off. An American woman spotted me do it but she just laughed. There's a lot of things in Japan that they won't allow you to take pictures off. My advise, try it anyway^^ just like the little boy who was trying to blow out the candles that people had lit in prayer. In his case he got a smack on the ass from his mother. Hilarious. Then on to the Buddah which was even better second time around as there were singing monks this time. Santa-san went in the buddah but I declined as I've done it before and it's just like a cave anyway. I convinced Santa-san to give the monks some money as every time someone did they had to stop their chanting and say this thank you spiel. So monk number 1 got 12yen and monk number 2 got 13 yen! Apparently, everyone else was donating 500 yen or 1000 yen and they got 12 yen from us^^ Picked up a giant rice cracker of doom around that area somewhere which was good though a little too big for just one person. By 1/4 of the way through I was full, half way through I was fed up of eating it, 3/4 of the way I was losing all hope and then finally I finished. Also stopped in a cute little shop selling power dolls and bought myself a little gift.

From the Daibatsu we walked to Zeniarai Benten Shrine. Here you wash your money in the cave and it will be doubled, or so the saying goes. I don't know if this is true but they charged me 100 yen to wash it lol. For that 100 yen you get 2 little candles, a bunch of incense and a basket. You light the 2 little candles and place them on the candle holders and then light the incense which you place in a big burning pit. Then you go in the cave, put your money in the basket and pour water over it. We then came out and waved our soaked money over the burning incense. Helped it dry quicker lol. A short walk from there took us back to the station so we picked up another Taiyaki, both choosing choco-banana this time, followed by a potato steamed bun. It looked odd but tasted good.

Back on the train once more and we just had enough time to visit Enoshima Island (Iwa) and the Enoshima esca (escalator). Seriously, they advertise it as a tourist attraction. An escalator. O.o a bloody expensive escalator too. 350 yen to ride the damn thing. Aside from the esca, Enoshime Iwa is a great place. It's full of surf shops selling all things ocean related. Conch shells, shark jaws, dried puffer fish, dolphin mobiles, shell necklaces. It's almost like a proper bo California style beach town. Of course they sell the weird food there too including Applemango ice cream and octopus paper but I didn't try either of those things. As you go around the island you either climb stairs, or like we did, take the escalator up to the next level where there are more shrines and things to see. When we got to the top we were too late to go in to the observatory and we didn't want to pay another 400yen to see the Samuel Cocking gardens so we watched a cute street performer do juggling and some balancing acts and we took some pictures of the view. Enoshima Iwa, despite the crowds of people and the ugly shops and esca, is a beautiful island, at least once you look over the edge. The ocean, beach and the hawks that fly around there are all amazing.

Alas, it was now time to depart for it was getting dark. We did manage to see one final thing on the way back to the station. At first I thought that the people were just watching the sunset but when I looked more closely I could see Mount Fuji! Huzzah! My first spotting of this great mountain. It was quite cloudy so you couldn't see it clearly but it was there enough to satisfy. A small girl was shouting to it "Fuji-san! I can see you". The kids here are the cutest in the whole world.

Once home, Santa-san showed me where the bento place is in Warabi and it turns out it's the same as the cool bento place in Shin Okobu. There's another one just across the street so I'll try that one some day as well.

And that is all. Shibuya on Sunday for Utada Hikaru stalking (maybe), shopping and okonomiyaki.

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