Japan Trip - Day 2 (Kamakura, Hase, Machida)

I should have mentioned in my last post that this was a trip that my sister Sheila, her son Kyle and I took to visit my brother Steve and his wife Lydia (pictured here).  She teaches kindergarten for the Department of Defense near Camp Zama, just south of Tokyo, Japan.

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

Today we ventured out. We took 3 trains and rode for 1 1/2 hours to KAMAKURA.

        There we looked in the shops that lined the street and worked our way down to a beautiful temple. 

          Just before the temple there were lots of sake barrels. 

These are offerings from businesses.

On the way we saw a young couple who had just gotten married.  She was in a beautiful white kimono.  As we approached the temple we saw a wedding going on with another young couple in a pagoda-like structure.

Then we walked back and took a few trains to HASE where we saw the large Buddha.

Surprisingly we were able

to go inside of it!  This Budda was originally inside,
but an earthquake destroyed the building.

We then went to another temple and saw some large gold Buddhas there as well. Sadly, we couldn't take pictures of them.

      

There was an area before the temple where you could pour water over your hands as a cleansing ritual.

There were beautiful gardens...

...and a cave that was too

short for Americans!

  ...and the Atlantic Ocean too!

We then took the train to MACHIDA to get some dinner.  It was on our way home. We went to a little place to eat where there was a board on the wall with pictures.  It was actually a vending machine.  You picked what you wanted by the picture and put in your money. Then you just sit down and they pick up your ticket and cook and serve your food.  Of course chopsticks are the only utensils, so it's a little interesting.  Also, there is no tipping.

Then we took the train back to the city near the base and walked back to our car.  I forgot to mention that all of the trains are electric, so they are really quiet.  They run really close to the houses.  The houses are probably a foot apart from each other.  They are all different and all sizes right next to each other.  There are basically no yards, just houses taking up all the available space.

It was pretty cold today, so it's nice to be home to warm up and rest our legs.