Saturday, November 18

7:00am-9:00am: Breakfast at hotel

I slept in as late as I could and had quick breakfast at about 8:45am.

Day: Free day to explore Japan

Then Jason (New Jersey - Art) and I took off for Kamakura, 32 miles south of Tokyo. Here is what my Frommer's guidebook says about the area:

"Kamakura is a delightful hamlet with no fewer than 65 Buddhist temples and 19 Shinto shrines spread throughout the town and surrounding wooded hills. Most of these were built centuries ago, when a warrior named Yoritomo Minamoto seized political power and established his shogunate government in Kamakura back in 1192. Wanting to set up his seat of government as far away as possible from what he considered to be the corrupt Imperial court in Kyoto, Yoritomo selected Kamakura because it was easy to defend. The village is enclosed on three sides by wooded hills and on the fourth by a sea - a setting that lends a dramatic background to its many temples and shrines."

(Side note: Vending machines are everywhere in Japan and sell just about anything. When we arrived in Kamakura, Jason and I each had coffee in a can. This comes out of the machine hot and was remarkaby good. I heard a statistic that there is 1 vending machine for every 22 people in Japan.)

It took us three transfers and about 80 minutes to get there. We got off the train and hopped on another smaller train to go to Hase, a small area just a little bit from Kamakura that includes the Great Buddha and some of the larger shrines. We began by walking around a bit and then found a pizza place for lunch. It was a tiny little place operated by one woman. Jason and I ordered a tomato pizza (that automatically came with bacon) and a mixed pizza (that was tomato, bacon and mushroom). The pizza was great and it was a fun little place to explore.

The restaurant also featured the first non-Western toilet I'd come across so far. It had a pretty genious feature. When you flush the toilet, water starts coming out of the sink faucet to wash your hands, then runs down through the drain and refills the bowl. It's a great double-use of water.

Next we went to the Great Buddha (Diabutsu in Japanese). "It's the second largest bonze image in Japan. Cast in 1252, the Kamakura Buddha was indeed once housed in a temple like the Nara Buddha, but a huge tidal wave destroyed the wooden structure." We got some great shots of people at the various offering areas, walked inside the hollow structure and checked out the area.

We wandered around Hase for a little more. I enjoyed a rice cookie which is dipped in soy sauce and then grilled. It was pretty salty but good. We took the little train back to Kamakura and walked those streets. We found our way to a pretty high-priced boutique type street. There, I browsed a couple really interesting places. One caught my eye because there was an Abercrombie & Fitch display outside. I went in and it was a collection of all the popular teenager brands in the US like A&F, Hollister, etc. An A&F sweatshirt cost $209. I know it's an expensive store at home too, but these clothes were amazingly overpriced. It must be a status symbol in Japan even moreso than in America. I think I should buy lots of stuff at home and then open a store here.

I also saw a store that was selling all kinds of Americana. There were items that you'd expect to see in a small country shop in the United States, used clothing (slightly less expensive than the other store), license plates, etc. Very interesting indeed.

Jason and I explored our first pachinko slot machine place. These are smoky establishments, with music and lots of light and color. It's a casino without the glitz and glamour of casinos in Atlantic City or Las Vegas. They are everywhere too.

We took the train back to our district of Tokyo and broke for a couple hours of down time.

We met back up again at about 6:45 to find dinner. We looked at the menus and display cases of a number of restaurants nearby the hotel and finally decided to head into one that looked good but had no clear menu for us to identify with. When we got into the tiny place (4-5 tables max), the host (probably owner) told us that they had no English menu. We made a quick decision to use this as an opportunity to experience something brand new and said, no problem.

Our waitress turned out to speak a little English, enough to bring us sake at least. The first man came back and we agreed that we would have fish and chicken. We knew not what form these things would come in. This is part of the cultural immersion adventure I'm on right now. The fish came in the form of sashimi - completely raw and delicious. The chicken was fried and pretty good too. Because we were still hungry we asked for more chicken and received chicken on a stick. I'd been looking forward to this item for over 24 hours since I first learned of its popularity and availability in Tokyo. We got back to the hotel for a little bit of packing and down time.

At 10:15, Jason and I met up with Katie (Kentucky - English) and Eve (California - History/English) and went looking for a short experience. We were all exhausted but wanted to take advantage of every moment we have here. We found a small, high class establishment. Think plush velvet, lots of deep red colors and drinks with fancy names and price tags. In reality, it wasn't that expensive. We stayed for about 45 minutes and then headed back to get a good night's sleep before leaving tomorrow for our separate prefectures.