Wednesday's trip to Yokihama and Kamakura

Wednesday was an early start. Breakfast included sushi, rice, yogurt and mandarin oranges, along with juice and water. We then caught the 9.40am
train at the JR Ueno station south to Yokihama and Kamakura, where we met our friend Yoshiko.

Yoshiko had the day planned out for us, and warned us ahead of time that we would be doing alot of walking when we arrived at a very small train station in Kamakura. And she was right! We got off at a very small station, and the first Budhist temple we went to see was about a 5 minute walk from the train station exit.

Lots of temple buildings, in what looked like a small cut into the rocks around the grounds. As we walked up the first set of stairs, we were overwhelmed with the size of the building, and the amount of trees that surrounded everything. Very quiet, except for a few ravens screeching out their annoyance of so much distrubance by all the visitors to the temple.

About 5 minutes into our walk, we stopped by a pond, where
the Koi were very active. There was one Koi, white is colour, that was HUGE. There was also a turtle sunning itself on the opposite bank of the pond. I didn't realized it was a turtle at
first.....just thought it was a rock.

We then climbed a long step stairway up towards a very small building. There was quite a view out towards a valley....we could hear the haunting sounds of a train whistle as it sped along the tracks. We sat in the shade and had a short picnic and just had a chance to visit briefly before heading back down. It wasn't until the trip down that I realized that we were surrounded by tall shoots of bamboo growing along side of the path. Bamboo grows very tall here. I probably saw pictures in the past, but did not grasp how big it really grew.

Our second Budhist temple is famous for its hydrangea bushes. Very nicely laid out and the variety of colours amazed me. We also viewed a traditional Japanese garden, with sand surrounding the bushes and rocks that had been designed into a wonderful peaceful layout. Beautiful.

The second to last stop was a Shinto shrine and it was definitely very different from the Budhist temples we had gone thru already. It was also very beautiful. Up on a hill looking down on the city centre of Kamakura. Really impressive views.

Our last stop before heading back to the hotel was to see the largest Budha shrine in Southern Japan. Hard to describe the size. It was made of copper, and empty inside. Yoshiko and I went inside of the statue....very tight fit and quite small feeling. I have to admit to be happy to get out of it!

Yoshiko put us on the right train to take us back to the JR Ueno station, and we had our first real experience with very crowded trains. Not crowded enough that we were aware of the pushers that are hired to push people in....and I am glad for that. It is amazing how many people they are able to get on the individual cars. The other thing that really interested me is how technological people are over here......from very young school children to older adults - all with what look like cell phones, where they are checking email or playing computer games, to taking pictures using their cell phones. Really amazing.

Thursday June 21st is our day to visit with another Japanese friend and we have decided to do some shopping and just quiet wandering around. We are discussing going to some museums and other such places tomorrow and on Saturday going to the large Tokyo Tourism Head office. I gather that on the 43rd floor there is an 360 degree observation tower to be able to view the city - from a very good height.

Looking forward to preparing my next post! Bye for now.