June 28

We got up early and walked to the train station.  

We grabbed egg salad sandwiches and coffees to have on the train.  We’ve only seen white bread sandwiches.  That is interesting! 

The train ride was uneventful so I worked on blog entries as did Andrew.  We opted to not go to Mt Fuji as I can’t climb or rather I can climb up but can’t descend without issues. 

Japan’s Mt. Fuji is actually an active volcano about 100 kilometers (62 ish miles) southwest of Tokyo. Commonly called “Fuji-san,” it’s the country’s tallest peak, at 3,776 meters (2346 ish miles). A pilgrimage site for centuries, it’s considered one of Japan’s three sacred mountains, and summit hikes remain a popular activity. I know I saw it from the train thanks to a guy sitting several rows up that suddenly got real excited and asked to sit near the window to take pictures! I took pictures too but my seat partner (Andrew was across the aisle.) was sleeping and so I got pictures of windows and telephone poles and walls! We met two Australians yesterday that were going to climb it on a few weeks. It is officially open for climbing in July and August so we knew we couldn’t do anything formal anyway.  Another trip for sure! 

We arrived in the town of Kamakura. Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan, the nation's most populous settlement from 1200 to 1300 AD.  It is a seaside Japanese city just south of Tokyo. The political center of medieval Japan, modern-day Kamakura is a prominent resort town with dozens of Buddhist Zen temples and Shinto shrines.  We didn’t do any of those today but we did visit its most recognizable landmark —the Kotoku-in Temple’s Great Buddha.  At roughly 37 feet, it has long been the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan. The statue was cast in 1252 and was originally located inside a large temple hall. However, the temple buildings were destroyed multiple times by typhoons and a tsunami in the 14th and 15th centuries. So, since the late 15th century, the Buddha has been standing in the open air.  He definitely was worth seeing.  Someone placed a watermelon on the altar in front of him!  We were able to walk “inside” of him, or rather “squeeze” inside him along with many others with the same idea.  

We also walked to Yuigahama Beach on Sagami Bay, which is a popular surfing spot. There were a lot of surfers, a few paddle boarders, and para-surfers, as well as sunbathers. There was LOTS of construction work being done, new buildings and such. Andrew will explain why we went there in a follow up blog post.  We walked along the water and in the waves, avoiding the random jelly fish, plant debris, and actual vegetable debris (like eggplant and onions!) stranded on the sand. 

We walked back to the train station to catch our final train to Tokyo. We found a great deal on an Airbnb that is close to what we want to do.  When you visit a large city everything is far and requires walking but this is close to the train station, food  choices, the Imperial Palace, and other things to see and more! We found our room, small and efficient but nice, and unpacked a little as we are entering our final days.  We walked around and marveled at how clean everything is!!!  A city this size should have trash, right? Not here!! 

We found a Belgium Beer Weekend festival going on —it’s a city!! There is tons going on!!

We found an “international” street and were pulled into the luscious smells!  We opted to eat at a steak bar—an interesting concept as we picked out the size of steak we wanted.  They prepared it and we stood at a bar while we ate it! It came served on a sizzling cast iron plate along with sizzling corn and onions! I don’t think we’ve had a bad food experience yet. 😇

We wandered around some, taking in the sites, lots of people, and lots of traffic, both vehicle and pedestrian.  We found a pastry with sweet potato filling and one with cream filling, as well as an Irish pub!  We found an area similar to Amsterdam’s “red light district!  Oh my!

We are have three days to explore before heading back home.