Beware.. Playing Catch Up with Super Touristy Pictures...

There's a terrace in the building we eat lunch at. We sit on the terrace and eat whenever it's nice outside. It's not nice outside very often. The days we've been able to eat out on the terrace have been terribly few lately. So I start with a day enjoying the nice weather:



Jeannette, Kanta, and Daisuke.
Everyone loves Jeannette's hair! :) Kanta likes eating it.
There was a house standing there three days previously. Poor guy had to sit there all day waiting for random people who might be interested in visiting the site for a potential house. He was lolling his head all morning.


Apparently she goes to Sophia University. Apparently she looks like any other student. Apparently I have yet to see her/recognize her. But it's cool to say that I go to the same school as someone frequenting advertisements in train stations!
Me and Mariko after a grueling practice.
A surprise matsuri happening on the main street in front of Sophia in the morning. Those are portable shrines being carried by Shinto Shrine people.
Neighborhood kids partake. They get candy at the end I hear.







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And now for the main event: Kamakura!

(The more historical and descriptive explanations of the places I went to are a bit lacking even more so than what little I try to put in so I'm going to try and actually research/read the pamphlets for each of the places I went to and do a further post for anyone actually interested)



Tokyo Station and evidence of the effort to westernize starting from the 1800s.

It's under construction to be re-...newed? My English escapes me at the moment.
I thought this train was really cool and we were so ready to sit on the top floor.. until we realized you had to pay more to get on that section.
Destination: Kita Kamakura Station (North Kamakura)
Be sure to let the station person get your runaway hat for you!
And so it starts...

....the battle with kanji that is!

Map of the first temple we went to, Engakuji. All of them were fairly bigger than I expected them to be. There are many temples in Kamakura, having once been the capital of Japan so we had planned on going to 5 or 6 temples and shrines through the whole day but alas... I think we just barely made it to 4 because each were so huge!
The main gate to the temple.
Made of wood and having stairs leading up to a .. somewhere...
Many of the buildings looked quite.. new and not quite as old as one might expect visiting historical temples and shrines.
There were quite a few of these statues lined up like the picture below. People placed 1 yen coins on various statues and each had its own special pose (can you see the coins stacked up on top of her hands?). We searched for one that looked as if it was portraying the look of intelligence or studying but I think we settled for one that just looked smart as opposed to lackadaisical.


Private lake/garden.
Look for the turtle!
Lots of walking, climbing, and people that day..
but some places in random corners/niches would be quite serene and peaceful.

For those who can read it. Translation will come soon.


The flowers of the season.
It's cool how the flowers bloom around the center.

A different type.
I forgot what these are called...
Train crossing that never let us cross...
I want my house to have a swirly staircase! Had some kind of like art gallery/store on the bottom floor.

A school festival was going on right next to temple #2:
Kenchouji!
Main gate.

So once you get past the main buildings there are little paths here and there that you can take.
So this is where Mia was inches away from being the landing target for bird poop. It was a pretty loud splat so I can only surmise from what distance it dropped from especially since a smaller part of it actually did land in my hair. -__________-
The path leading up to a shrine at the top.
Reminds me of Spirited Away!

From the top looking back. Those were pretty steep steps!
And they just continued to go up and up...
and up and up... And I thought I had been toned for steps through my daily commute to school but it seems that I was wrong.. It was hard getting up there!
What you can see on a clear day.
What you actually see on a pretty clear day.

Looking off in a different direction and you can see the sea!
The shrine...
Radomir! We're in the same Japanese class. He's Bulgarian but goes to school in France and is amazing at Japanese and kanji.
一字構え! or ichijigamae for those who understand ;D I thought this was cool! It's connected to the water collecter thing from the rooftop and they're little buckets all hanging from each other so the water will overflow from one into the next and so one. I Almost wished it was raining so I could see it in action but it was such a lovely day that day that I'm glad it wasn't, especially since it's hardly been sunny here lately with the rainy season starting up and all...

More private gardens.
We came out and bought lunch and situated ourselves among the students so we would have shade to eat under!
Cheese!
Giraffes and .. a manly little mermaid...
Black bean ice cream? So good!! (I was trying to decide between this flavor and murasakiimo (purple potatoe... taro? or just a purple sweet potatoe?) but got this in the end. But as we were coming back we bought murasakiimo kuroke! (like mashed potatoes but fried like tonkatsu or in other words, mashed potatoes katsu style. yummmmy)

Inside Tsurugaoka Hachimangu (A shinto shrine)
The wall of wishes.
The main building of the shrine.

Yes. I'm going to come to a shrine with the intention of building a bonfire.
There was a wedding going on!!!!
Some more of those a-un dogs!
People playing music for the end of the wedding.
Candy!! such as the star shaped sugar crystal-y ones!

Those beans that my mom always tried to make me eat.. they're kind of bitter with a beige shell and a more .. chewy inside....
Candied... grapes!? and they would only poke one of those things on a stick and sell it for 100-200 yen ($1-2)! Expensive!! I couldn't take a picture directly because I think I offended the man asking questions about them but not actually buying one...
Looking backwards.
Bridge!
The couple. Poor lady- didn't seem quite comfortable getting married in front of all these tourists.. myself included as well since I'm inappropriately taking pictures of strangers getting married....

It always surprises me to find a random korean restaurant in Japan. More so when I see various forms of bimbimbap in Japan that I've never seen in korea... and the egg is always raw here.......
Map of Kamakura: To give you an idea of how many shrines and temples there are in Kamakura alone.
We were heading for the bottom one.
I thought these people would be crowded around something amazing but.. as several fellow bloggers have discovered as well... squirrels seem to be quite the rarity here.
The main attraction- the Daibutsu or Great buddha.

It's the second largest in Japan, the first being in Nara. It was actually encased within a building but a tsunami wave washed out the building walls and left only the statue with everything intact. I'm pointing out its long ears, a sign of wisdom/long life.
The details.
What his shoes would be like...
From the inside! That's his shoulder blades going into his head.
From the side.

The end of the day at Kamakura station. Waiting for the train to go back home.
What I am eagerly waiting for... the newest Miyazaki film!!!!

The BEST taiyaki hands down. (beanpaste filled pancake like fishies)
The conveyor belt. I wish it was connected straight to my mouth. They're so good...
If you try to look where the person in the background is, the taiyaki are actually cooked on a real fire as opposed to waffle like which makes this place so goood.
Taiyaki.
Mochi monja and kimchi and pork okonomiyaki with Teresa at Ikebukuro!

Monja, the first attempt: quite the raging... lake -_-
Okonomiyaki!
The finished product thanks to my wonderful flipping abilities. Yummmmmyy (it's like bindaedduk - a korean pancake- with a more flour-y/egg batter and less oil with okonomiyaki sauce and dried fish shavings on top that flutter on its own accord)
The door signs always amaze me...
I didn't know Ryu Shi Won (korean singer/actor) was popular here! and isn't he.. old by now??

The end :)