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Today we decided to get away from the hustle and the bustle of the big city and go to do something in Kamakura. We activated our Japan Rail passes today and could then take JR trains for free all the way to Kamakura - only about an hour away from Shinjuku.
On the bus there were three little old ladies sitting across from us. They wore a uniform of pants, sensible lace-up shoes, a padded coat and a cute hat. I thought they were the cutest ladies ever.
Once there we took one of their local trains a couple of stops down the track and went to see a big buddha. He was big! Gosh. For 20 yen each, we got to look inside him! He didn't have innards though, just concrete and metal! There was a nice garden around there and we had a nice time looking.
Charles: The local train line was extremely cute. It wasn't JR so we had to pay, but we could use our pasmo cards. It's so small that there is no ticket gate, just a card reader at each stop and an honour system. Each train on the line had a different design.
The big buddha was very nice. A bit smaller than the one at Nara but still very interesting.
Kamakura is on the coast, and so after the Buddha we walked down to the beach. Australian beaches pwned this beach. The sand was kind of grey and there was construction going on. A huge tractor was going back and forth picking up piles of seaweed. People were surfing.
We took the local train back to Kamakura central, and walked along a shopping street until we found an Okonomiyaki place to eat at. It was delicious! I may have eaten a tiny prawn thing but I didn't get sick, so who knows if I ate it or not?
On the way back to Shinjuku I fell asleep on the train. I felt really groggy - how do Japanese people do it!
Back in Shinjuku we finally tracked down the mysterious "Shinjuku Terrace City Illumination" which we had seen in 2008. It's almost the same as last year. Finding places in Shinjuku is just like a lottery. You can choose a direction but there are tunnels, ups downs, escalators, mystery gates to mystery private railways and several malls all meshed together. So difficult!
We ate a Freshness Burger for dinner - they're so delicious! After a brief rest we went out to Shinjuku just to look around. We looked in Marui One and Bic Camera and Don Quijote for a while. Fun shops!
Now we're going to have our desserts!
