Kamakura

Date	Wednesday March 18th
Days in Japan	Day 15
Location	
Hotel	
Steps Walked	31,347
Daily Objective	
Daily Tip	

English	Pronunciation	Japanese
		
		
		

Today I woke up feeling much more rested…. Being the first night I hadn’t drank since landing in Japan; it still took me about 1.5 hours to get out of bed and start my laundry.  I needed to be checked out of the hotel by 10am and had hoped to do a load of laundry before then. I took some nice photos of my surroundings from my balcony and made my way downstairs around 8:30am already realizing that I’d be pushing the clock.

• 

• 

Since the dryers here aren’t quite up to American standards and I’m too stubborn to break my load into 2 different smaller loads, I knew it’d take quite some time to dry everything.  I was feeling more confident with the machines in Japan as I had also done a quick load at a previous hotel in Tokyo. The only issue was that the previous hotel had a lot of instructions in English while this one had absolutely no English instructions… I also noted that the previous hotel had the detergent included in it (you didn’t add your own – just coins and go!). Let alone the inability to understand how to work the machine, they conveniently located a beer vending machine next to the laundry which was beginning to tempt me in my frustrations.

Note the large Asahi as well as the selection of “sours” – those bad boys are super cheap and most have 9% alcohol content.

Looking back on it, I think it could’ve been a simple situation but the overall language barriers and confusion had just implanted the idea that even the simplest of tasks were somehow super complicated. I stood in front of the machine quite baffled as it was a newer model that I hadn’t yet quarreled with. I grabbed some change from the front desk and continued to blankly stare at the machines trying to determine what all the posted notices said before sending a photo to Rui for further instructions. Luckily she was quick to get back to me with detailed instructions which were extremely helpful. Ironically it was around the same time that one the front desk staff had made their way over to examine my struggles (the machines were located in the hotel lobby). I was able to purchase some laundry soap as she also assisted me in what probably didn’t need to be a difficult dilemma.

• 

• 

While doing laundry, I figured I’d utilize the free computers and print out my Osaka AirBnB check-in instructions as the host had required me bring a printed copy with me. The current trip plan was to stay in Yokohama the coming evening and then make my way back to Tokyo for 2-3 nights to play soccer and party before taking off to the Kansai (Osaka) area which is about the distance from San Francisco to Los Angeles. After booting up the lobby computer and switching the keyboard to an English alphabet, I navigated my way to login onto AirBnB (all the webpages and the computer was still in Japanese).  AirBnB, doing their part, notified me that this was a computer I hadn’t logged onto from before.

As it turns out, they wanted to text me a confirmation code which of course raised some issues given my sim card was upstairs in my bag and my phone # didn’t work in Japan. I had to do some quick problem solving and came up with the idea to just email myself the notes from my iPad and then copy/paste them to a google doc which would be easier to print. Success on the AirBnB front. I made use of my remaining laundry time and headed over to the coffee shop which was conveniently located next to the hotel lobby. I ordered up myself a fancy coffee and proceeded to plan for the monster of a day I had ahead of me.

After about 2.5 hours of planning and waiting for the dryer to actually dry everything, I’d extended my checkout an hour (it cost ¥1,000(~$9) to extend each hour from 10am-2pm) and I was finally ready to head out. I had to also utilize some of that time to repack my suitcase which was now becoming a bit of a hassle as I was moving hotels every 1-2 days. After a long debate with myself over leaving my bags at the hotel or dropping them at a locker, I chose the latter and decided life would be easier to start my trip at the Kamakura station and leave my bag there for the day. Essentially, it would allow me an easier exit to make my way to Yokohama for the evening.

Also while planning which of the 65 Buddhist temples and 19 Shinto shrines I’d be visiting in Kamakura, I came across an insane bus stop name. Try saying this place 5 times fast.

I said my farewells and made haste to the station. The train to Kamakura was a bit filled but nothing too crazy. Although, upon arrival to the station, it felt like rush hour in NY.  The station was packed with people pushing their ways through the masses and nearly 30% were dragging luggage with them seeking a locker. I’m not a big fan of packed places so I was already kicking things off a bit frantic and flustered. For future reference, if you visit Kamakura on a day trip I recommend arriving to the station as early as 7-8am. To add to the fun, after closer examination, I found that most the lockers (according to the “locker ->” signs) had been fully occupied. In a moment of defeat I sent a desperation texted to Rui and attempted a quick google search for additional lockers. I was able to spot a “coin locker” a few blocks away and while banking on the assumption that most people wouldn’t make the trek, I took off for it without any delay. After walking up and down the same street and passing several other lost European tourists hauling luggage with what looked like a similar strategy, I came to the conclusion that the “coin locker” just doesn’t exist.

Defeat was quickly turning into panic but thankfully Rui came through in the clutch once again and messaged me with a photo of a large orange building next to the station and included detailed instructions. Supposedly, the people on the 4th floor had a service where they’d hold your luggage for the day. Another nice insider secret that seemed to be kept unknown to foreigners. After a few proud steps moving in the opposite direction of my deflated European friends, I was hit with some rare empathy. I decided to let them in on my newfound little secret and invited them to join me. As we had now collected a small posse, we made our way back to the station. As it turns out, right before the orange building, we located some available lockers in an area that had no signage within the station! I was able to find a locker that would fit my large bag but needed ¥400 yen in change (¥100 yen coins only). All I had on me was 1x¥500 yen coin and some ¥1000 yen bills. Fearing the possibility of losing the locker given it was relevant to finding gold at this station, I made quick of the situation and ran around the corner to a nearby vending machine. Without hesitating I jammed a ¥1000 yen bill into the machine and repeated pounded the button for a cheap tea to make my change. My heart began to beat excessively in the fear of someone swooping in on my ideal locker as I turned back around the corner in a panic. It immediately hit me as I returned to my locker that the machine had gifted me a ¥500 yen coin and only 3x¥100 yen coins… I needed a total of ¥400 yen in ¥100 yen coins. Now testing my experience in running track, I took another sharp turn of the corner and after another tea, had acquired enough change to secure the locker for the day.

Being able to take a sigh of relief and now having plenty of tea for the day, I opened my google maps to examine my handy-dandy personalized map of “must-see” shrines and temples in the area.  I’d successfully utilized my laundry time mapping out a route and strategy which involved a little over 10 miles and about 4-5 hours of pure walking. It wasn’t going to be an easy day overall but it’d allow me to see most of the more notable shrines and temples in the area.

Overall Kamakura can be broken down into 5 areas. Each area has a number of things to see and are somewhat spaced out. At the time I didn’t have a map such as the one below so my research had found me a few less things to see overall.

Kamakura is known for its 3 main attractions… _____ and it’s abundance of shrines and temples in a condensed area.  The history of Kamakura …………

I kicked off my journey as my hunger quickly set in. It was almost 1pm but I knew the daylight would eventually become an issue with my aggressive agenda. While the food around Kamakura is amazing, I had to opt for a quick sandwich and rice ball at the local 7-eleven so I could keep moving. I also made use of this time to pull more yen out of the ATM in preparation for my later stops and in light of my soon-to-be-expiring ATM card.

The time had finally come to explore some of the amazing shrines and temples I had heard so much about during my research. My only real experiences of temples and shrines thus far was seeing Sensoji and my short trip to Nikko.

temple vs shrine

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I set off on my journey from the station primarily following the larger crowds but it didn’t take long to find my way off the main tourist pathways. I had a general direction that I wanted to venture in order to make a large loop throughout the day. Although this was still the most busy area I’d visited so far, I quickly realized that some of the shrines & temples around Japan are actually quite small and look very similar. My past experience had been of visiting 2 very large and historic locations which made seeing these smaller shrines and temples bring me back down to reality. Given my lack of Japanese Kanji reading and the fact that some were on what seemed to be people’s properties — I felt a little uneasy wandering up to take photos.

I visited several smaller shrines and temples along a side street until I made my way to a massive park which housed the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine along with several other tourist attractions. I had bypassed the large raised walkway that leads to the entrance (worth checking out if you visit). The pathway is known as the Dankazura and is raised so that nobles and samurai could easily walk to the park while avoiding the often flooded streets on either side. I made my way inside wide-eyed and ready to checkout some breathtaking sights. I was in awe of the beauty and size of the park itself. The main walkway is lined with smaller vendors selling different traditional snacks and desserts. As I crossed the two arched bridges into the park I noticed smaller ponds located on my right and my left. The pond on the right even had a little walkway onto a small island that housed what looked to be another smaller shrine.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

****the ponds

After wandering around a little more and before visiting the main attraction, I decided to gobble down my sandwich. I found a bench located along one of the many ponds. As soon as I sat down, and while admiring the views, a squirrel legit hopped onto my lap and blankly stared at me as if I was obligated to share my sandwich with the local wildlife. While the two of us stared at each other in what seemed to be a stalemate, it didn’t take long for him to realize I would be a bad candidate for providing lunch and he quickly moved onto another group of tourists that were more grateful for his presence.

As I continued my journey, it turned out the route I’d chosen was scarce of tourists but had earned me a few awkward looks from locals along the way. I strolled through several neighborhoods and found myself at the beginning of my hiking route. After walking about 100 yards on a lovely little trail I came to a roadblock with a sign indicating that the hiking trail that I’d planned on taking to my next destination was closed due to a possible tsunami -_-.  This meant backtracking about 1 mile back to the ______ and then continuing on for another 2 miles on a busy street to finally end up at the next temple.  After a long and undesirable roadside walk, I came to the next temple which was more than I could have ever imagined!  _____ was an amazing Buddhist Temple with beautiful buildings and landscape.  ____ is known for……. After paying the small ¥500 yen entrance fee I began to wander the property. I was given a map which was riddled with different sights to see. In these situations, I always like to hit the left side of the property and make my way to the back and return via the right side in order to not miss anything. Compared to my previous stops so far, this property was vast and as I kept seeking the back boundaries I also wondered if they even existed. I finally got to what seemed to be the most furthest back temple and realized it rested on a huge mountainside… I made my way up more steps and found an amazing view, burial grounds, a temple, and the destination in which my original hiking trail would’ve dropped me off. On my way back to the entrance I could hear the monks chanting at a far off temple unfortunately unavailable to guests.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I decided upon exiting to purchase an ice cream as a reward for my personal victory of having come this far. As I continued walking along the busy street all the way to the next smaller station, I came to the sad realization that another temple I’d hope to visit would close before my arrival. With this new knowledge I decided to head straight to where I could see the famous Kohtoku-In Temple which housed the large bronze Buddha statue. Initially I had a beautiful hiking route mapped out for this occasion but given the lovely tsunami warning I had to hop back onto the train, make a transfer, and eventually hope to end up at my destination. After arriving at yet another busy station, I decided to just follow the crowd of people in front of me also departing the station. This is a habit I do often when lost or confused, following the large crowd has never really let me down and I highly recommend it in times of need.  

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I randomly found myself in front of a pretty awesome temple but much like the bigger and better temples, it had a cover fee to enter. I got a little discouraged knowing there were a number of temples that I wanted to visit and I was running low on time (most temples close around 6pm). I took a few exterior pictures and made my way towards my next destination which would ultimately lead me to this famous Buddha. As I looked up my next stop on Google I noticed the difference in “reviews” via Google Maps. The temple I was walking away from had over 6,000 reviews while the one I was walking towards had a mere 150 reviews. While I’m usually rooting for the underdog, I’d learned earlier in the day that the tourists know best. I opted to return to the temple the large crowd had led me to and payed the ¥400 yen entrance fee in an effort to experience what would be one of my favorite temples of the day. I was very pleased with my decision and spent more time climbing yet another mountain to see an amazing and memorable temple with ridiculous views.

[ discuss the turning thing to learn from] + [discuss the fortunes]

I made my way up and back down the mountain as quick as I could while still admiring the attention to detail and beauty of the property. As I departed I had finally made it to the #1 attraction in Kamakura – Kohtoku-In Temple! On google maps there are no hours for this monument but upon arrival realized it actually closes at 5pm. I was accompanied by many other disappointed guests as we were all aggressively turned away from the security guard who could merely point the other direction and repeat the word “closed”. In my time of need I found a spot in the bushes off the beaten path where I could still snap a shot of the Buddha which was as rewarding as it was going to get.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

With my feet barking, I made haste back towards the station to experience some “Japanese curry” at a local shop in which a friend had recommended personally. The curry was ammmazing and delicious. While paying for the bill I had the sniffles, which was very reasonable given my rather spicy curry, but the chef spent no expense at giving me a very concerning look as I counted my yen (foreigners were looked at as walking corona). After acquiring a full belly, mostly consisting of rice, I’d decided to grab my bag and go to check-in at my next destination in Yokohama. I had a few stops on a mostly empty train and then 2 stops on a rather full train before arriving at my final destination.

I exited the train and quickly realized curry might’ve not been the best choice with all the walking I’d been doing. In a desperate attempt to locate a bathroom as well as my hotel I took a few would-be shortcuts only to realize the hotel is ironically located in a very difficult to get to destination. I finally arrived at the hotel in a panic and sweating quite profusely, which was apparently becoming a trending theme on this trip. Between the concerning looks of the staff as their checked me in and my grumbling stomach, I couldn’t wait to the confines of my room. After settling in, I was once again convinced by Rui to live in the moment and explore this awesome city that I’d only be staying one-night in. I spent little time resting my aching feet while booking my Kyoto hotel (which I made sure included an Onsen) and then took to the streets. The area I was staying was riddled with bars and izakayas which made it very difficult to decide where to go.  The first bar I visited ended up being an English themed pub – I just needed a damn drink. I quickly put the ¥1000 yen pint back and continued further to another bar which had promising reviews. Upon arrival there were couches, a piano, lots of microphones, and some guitars lying around. It looked legit minus me being the only customer. I felt that it wasn’t the spot to order a beer so I attempted to order a boulevardier, my favorite cocktail and a drink most bartenders have never heard of. After several verbal transactions between the older couple running the bar, it seemed like bartender knew the drink. He retreated to a hidden area behind the bar, which I assumed meant he was looking up the drink recipe – which is OK for all you amateur bartenders. He eventually brought me a drink which was far far far from a boulevardier, but nonetheless kind of enjoyable. Some other guests made their way into the bar and judging by their current alcohol consumption levels, I’d assume they’d been drinking for quite some time. The owner made his way around the bar to spark a conversation with the group while I typed away on my keyboard – working on this very blog. Apparently, one of the gentlemen had practiced trumpet back in high school. Given this was some sort of magical music bar, the owner presented the gentlemen with a trumpet. Low and behold the guy started to confidently hoot the trumpet hitting notes I didn’t know possible (and not in a good way). The owner preceded to jump on the piano and eventually his wife (the server) hopped on the open mic. I was living in some sort of twisted musical which featured absolutely no rhythm. But who’s to complain as I’m no music artist myself. After some time the owner came to sit by me, I quickly commented that I don’t play instruments and in an attempt to spark some sort of conversation, he proceeded to comment on my long arm hair…

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I soon paid my tab and made my way to what would be my second to last destination of the evening. After that cocktail experience I thought beer would be a safer bet. Thus, I visited a local brewery where I completely botched my Japanese but eventually ended up with a beer in hand. After that, and with a ticking time clock knowing my SIM card would be expiring at midnight, I made my way to a highly rated cocktail bar. No SIM card just meant that I wouldn’t be able to use Google Maps or anything without a WiFi connection. Located B1 (basement), I found myself in a swank and cozy cocktail bar. The bar was completely empty but the owner looked nice enough that I decided to give him some business and attempt once again at ordering a boulevardier. This time the bartender was much more receptive to my instruction and we were able to pull off one hell of a good boulevardier. The bar did have a ¥500 seat charge (which he let me know about upon entry). Seat covers are pretty common in many Izakayas and especially common in cocktail bars – it basically subs as your tip to the bartender. Midnight crept in and I no longer had any phone connection without a WiFi, but that I figured that’d be fine as through my research I’d noticed many places stayed open until 4-5am. My hunger was growing and I was ready to find an Izakaya to grub at and have a few cheap drinks. As I wandered the streets I quickly realized there were absolutely no places with their lights on. Suddenly I was unable to find all these places that should’ve been open all night.  I wandered to a corner and noticed that dominos had free WiFi available. While desperately trying to connect to it, I saw a crowd of about 8 women and 3 men leaving a bar (quite a rare occurrence). I had seen the bar earlier and knew it wasn’t a girl’s bar or anything crazy so I decided to make my way there. Once inside, I noticed it was empty (I imagine the departing crowd had been the life of the party) but I sat on the couch, ordered myself a beer and continued on this blog! After a few drinks and being able to enjoy some English conversations with the bartender, I decided to opt out of dinner and just head back to my comfortable hotel bed.