The title pretty much sums up our day today as we once again ventured out of the city to explore more around Tokyo (again thanks to that wonderful JR Pass)
I had heard about the giant Buddha of Kamakura from friends who visited it last year and decided that Samara and I should go check it out ourselves.
So Yamanote line to Tokyo station and once again I am amazed at how huge that station is, but also how super efficient and you don't really realize that around 3.5 million (YES MILLION) people use that station EVERY day. At Tokyo station we changed to the JR Yokosuka line for a one hour, Y920 one way trip to Kamakura station.
At Kamakura we boarded the Enoden which is an Y190 one way trip to Hase where the Daibatsu (Giant Buddha of Kamakura can be found) which is the cute little electric railway that runs from Kamakura to Fujisawa (and yet again I have found another thing to add to my Japan to do list, which is exploring the areas that the Enoden covers more thoroughly. I think you could easily spend a couple of days and still not see enough of the area!!!!)
We left the train in Hase and walked up the main road,
following the crowds (once again I am grateful that we are not doing these trips on the weekend where we would not only be competing with the tourists but the local crowds too)
Hase is a quirky town, and although not something to be laughed as Japan has experienced tsunamis (and probably will again but thankfully not while I was there) but I did find the tsunami warning signs amusing.
To reach the Daibatsu, the bronze Amida Buddha, you take a ten minute walk to Kotokuin temple which houses the Buddha. The Buddha stands over 13m tall and is the 2nd largest in Japan (second to the giant Buddha in Nara) When the Buddha was first cast in 1252 it was in a temple building, but fires, earthquakes and tsunamis destroyed those buildings and now the Buddha stands in the open.
There is a Y200 ($2.10AUS) entry fee to the grounds and that was money well spent as not only the Buddha but the temple grounds are impressive to look at.
After wandering around the grounds here we decided that
our stomachs needed nourishment as much as our souls and the many food stalls offered us tempting treats and there were some very sweet vendors who loved the fact that we were visiting from Australia.
Our only issue was what to do next, and that is not because there is nothing to do in Hase but more to do with the fact that there are too many sights to choose from so we lazily decided to go to the closest temple to Kotokuin which was the Kosokuji
temple which is known for it's beautiful gardens and the crab-apple tree which blooms around the same time as the cherries and is almost as impressive. It is a beautiful temple and the grounds are amazing, with lots of places to escape the crowds.
There are also amazing views of the town and the beach below (well worth another Y100 entry fee).
The views of the beach inspired us to take a walk down to the beach and dip our toes in the water, and I can imagine how crowded this beach would be in summer as it is pretty impressive and the sailboarders that were out on the water had some great waves to surf on.
The sea spray and chilly water invigorated me and once again I was so happy that there are vending machines with hot drinks are so plentiful in Japan because the hot chocolate warmed me up for our return trip to Tokyo.
We decided to have a night on the town, wandering around Shibuya and I love the vibe here, the bright lights and neon signs,
the hustle and bustle, the stores and restaurants and we found another cheap, tasty meal before heading for our final stop of the day, Odaiba and the Rainbow Bridge (which sadly was disappointing as the rainbow lights are I think only displayed in December and in the dark the bridge was not as impressive a sight as it could have been.
Odaiba is a popular shopping and entertainment district on a man made island in Tokyo Bay and is home to several well known hotels, shopping malls, the Fuji TV building,
the Wheel and museums, a hot springs amusement park and more tourist attractions which deserves a better exploration than Samara and I had of it.
To get to Odaiba we took the elevated train from Shimbashi station (again signs will direct you to the elevated train) which we thought would be more fun than the subway although more expensive at Y320 one way. (Travel tip: stand or sit at the front of the train for better views)
We had planned to walk back across the Rainbow Bridge but funnily enough we couldn't find the entrance to the pedestrian pathway so we decided to hell with it,
and we took the Yurikamome back to Shimbashi station and made our way back to the hotel for another night of Japanese variety shows before bed.
It was once again another beautiful day in Japan.