Blogs from Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, Asia
Kamakura: a place for surf and day hikes
Published: April 17th 2012Asia » Japan » Kanagawa » Kamakura
April 10th 2012
Once upon a time on a train to Kamakura, a woman sitting next to me began to strike up a conversation in English. She was middle-aged and timid, but comely. She began to ask me why I was here and told me that she thought the English language was very beautiful, but very hard. I have never heard anyone describe the English language as beautiful, but I agreed it must be difficult to learn. She continued to list all the American musicians and actors that she likes, the few that I could decipher (the letter 'L' is hard to pronounce for Japanese people) included Clint Eastwood, Micheal Jackson, and Kevin Costner. She followed with the statement, "Micheal Jackson dead." I nodded, yes, very dead. When we arrived at Kamakura she insisted on showing me where to ... read more
hiking in Kamakura, Kencho Temple, and a book I cannot read
Published: March 22nd 2012Asia » Japan » Kanagawa » Kamakura
March 21st 2012
Today I ventured out for a hike in Kamakura, an area rich in history, temples, and shrines. I followed instructions from hike #21 in the book 'More Day Walks Near Tokyo' by Gary Walters. This is my first time using this book as a guide and am slightly nervous considering it was published 20 years ago, hopefully things have remained mostly the same. After departing the Kita-Kamakura train station I began walking along a paved path with signage in both Japanese and English. I passed by Engaku Temple almost immediately and continued on to Kencho Temple, where I paid 300 yen to enter. Kencho Temple is the leading of the five great Zen temples in Kamakura and is the oldest training monastery for that discipline in Japan. I was overtaken by the intricate woodwork of which ... read more
December 1st 2011
I wanted to share what I saw during a field trip to Kamakura. I was able to witness a wedding at the Hachimangu....YAY! I was really shocked at how quiet and on point everything was. I don't know too much about how traditional Japanese weddings, but a friend of mine told me that the reason that the bride's head is covered is because its used to hide the woman's horns...based off of Japanese folklore....enjoy the pictures.... read more
November 11th 2011
Shichi-Go-San stands for 7-5-3 and its is a rite of passage celebration for young boys and girls. Girls that are at the ages of 3 and 7, and boys that are at the age of 3 and 5 go to a shrine to pray and be blessed. The children are dressed up in traditional Japanese clothes. I was so excited to see the kids celebrating with their families at the shrine. They are so adorable! I was lucky enough to be able to pictures with some kids. If you explain to parents that you are a foreigner and want to take picture with their kid they usually say yes. I haven't had a family say no. :)... read more
September 13th 2010
I had a wonderful long, weekend! Sunday I spent the morning running and attempting laundry and the afternoon at New Hope Church with Bridgette. In the evening, I met up with Rachel and a new friend, Kendon. After walking around China town, we ate snow cones from the Red Brick Warehouse, and headed to World Porters for La Salsa. Dinner was oishi and conversation was inspirational. The evening wrapped up with walking along the water and a view of Yokohama from the 2nd largest building in Japan, Landmark Tower. While looking out over the city, through the fog, I felt a sense of admiration of creation, human intelligence, and God. I felt insignificant, as I recognized just how small each person is. Today, following eggs and coffee, Autumn, Bridgette, Kendon, and I headed to Kamakura. We ... read more
May 4th 2010
Today I went to Kamakura with my husband. It was about 1 hour trip from Tokyo. Kamakura is one of the beautiful and historical places that was a capital from 1192 to 1333. Since Buddhism was popular among the shogun, lords, and even ordinary people like farmers and merchants at that period, there are lots of temples as well as shrines. The day we went there was holiday so that Kamakura was extremely crowded. Our first destination was the Hase Temple and the Kamakura Buddha statue in Kotoku-ji. Kotoku-ji is a kind of mysterious that the temple has no building in their territory and there are no documents about who made the big statue. Though it used to be in a temple (like the Nara Buddha statue) at first, the building was destroyed by the tidal ... read more
May 2nd 2010
The last Golden Week. The last chance to travel around Japan and see another part of Japan before I headed home in September, the last chance to visit with friends. The last everything it felt like. I had had a little dream before I went to Japan; that I would go to all the main islands before coming home. Okinawa was the last island, well technically islands, that I had to go to. After consulting with my friend Amy, I totally threw it out of the window and went and did something every foreign tourist has done, go to Kamakura. I spent a lot of my time in Japan exploring other parts of Japan, but this time I headed to it's face. This trip is really memorable for me, because I didn't really do all that ... read more
December 10th 2009
a day trip to kamakura from tokyo. we travelled by train, about one hour. then a long pleasant walk from kita kamakura station to see temples and shrines.... read more
August 1st 2009
Author's note: If you don't have a private invite...you'll have no idea what's going on. Msg me if you want to check earlier entries? I tossed and turned all night, sometimes jolting up in a cold sweat, fumbling for my cell phone to check the time. I had overslept…no, no, still good. After every panic attack, I laid back down, staring wide at the small digital clock on my cell phone…until I would invariably nod off, then catch myself and bolt upright again… So when my alarm finally rang at 7, the world had taken a hazy vividness reminiscent of university all-nighters or hungover days after. Nothing seemed to be in focus because everything was in focus, giving my vision an ethereal dreamlike quality. This trancelike state I was in, my lack of sleep and the ... read more
Tokyo, a city. Nothing to see here... Honest
Published: March 27th 2009Asia » Japan » Kanagawa » Kamakura
March 22nd 2009
Let me kick off by saying Tokyo is a bloody fantastic place... Seriously it is that good. It isn't the neon lights or the crazy crowds it is the smells and odours that set this place out from everywhere else... this sounds wrong. Let me start again or at least put it into some context for you. Cities such as for example Manchester or London smell like some bodily fluid or other, Manchester is a sort of bile infused vomit (there's a recipe for Heston bloody Bloomenthal there i'm sure) and as for London I put that as sort of a "Morning after a Vindaloo" style pong. Not here though, aside from being exceptionally clean (hardly any rubbish - even the business types litter pick round their respective skyscrapers come 4pm) and tidy the first real ... read more
