A Day at the Beach

So who knew they had beach towns in Japan.  I mean I guess it is an island but are there any waves? According to japansurf.com there are.  But to us, ignorant Americans and me growing up in Huntington Beach, aka "surf city", we had pretty low expectations on our first trip to Kamakura.  

Our neighbors told us it was a great day trip located just an hour south of Tokyo by train.  (BTW have I mentioned I LOVE the public transportation system here!! It's amazing.)  And Frommer's recommends it as one Japan's most important historical sites.  Apparently it served as the capital back in the 1,100s and it has a 37-foot-tall bronze Buddha.  Well, I'm in.  Who doesn't want to see a giant Buddha? Huh!

This was the station.  We basically had to take three train lines and the last was a charming little old chugger that literally came within inches of houses and other buildings.

I thought this was kind of charming and reminiscent of a California beach community.

The beach.

A surfer and his salty dog.  

Do you see any waves?

Speaking of Salty Dogs...this was a surf shack across the street from the beach.

Unfortunately, you can't see it from this picture but there are several California license plates on the exterior of the building from where do you think?   Huntington Beach!

What I tell you?

This is a carnivorous bird or prey looking for small children.

They were HUGE and everywhere - almost like pigeons, except for the huge part.

This made me feel comfortable.

It says "Caution Tsunami".

Looking back at the beach.

Interesting pilings.

Then we walked over this hill.

I like the stairs that go directly into the water.

That's nice.

Along the highway.

And came upon this spectacular view.

Uh, yeah, that's Mt. Fuji just above the clouds.

And that's some island I don't know the name of.

I walked to the top of the cliff.

Where they had this but it was all in Japanese so I have no idea what it means.

But there were lots of those big birds overhead.

Russell always has to get into the picture.  "Hey take a picture of me and the Eiffel Tower, hey take a picture of me and the Olympic torch, hey take a picture of me and Mt. Fuji."  I'm like, "It's about composition.  Either we take a picture of you or we take a picture of the point of interest." 

Not that I'm saying Russell's not interesting.

Surfer descending the stairs to another glorious ride.

Nice bridge.

Ok, tell me this house doesn't look exactly like something in Manhattan Beach, California?

Nice road side wild flowers.

This place was recommended by pretty much everyone we know in Tokyo - all three of them.

There was an excruciatingly long line but for some reason when we suggested we would sit at the counter (a tip from one of the three amigos), they immediately sat us at a table.  

The place was quite cool.

The food was to die for and so was the view.

Russell had the house specialty - the ricotta pancakes.  I'm surprised we didn't take a picture of it.

Probably didn't last long enough to be photographed.

Then we took the rather long walk back past the train station and up the hill to see the fabulous Buddha.

Nice entry.

Wow! This thing is huge.

Wait I think it's looking at me.

It's even more impressive from the side.

Then we walked over to the Hase Kannon Temple which has everything including a beautiful garden, a cave, a 30-foot tall Kannon of Mercy, the largest wooden image in Japan.  But more memorably it has thousands of small statues of Jizo, the guardian deity of children.  Apparently these are offered by parents of miscarried, stillborn or most frequently aborted children.  Ugh.  Thank god I didn't realize that at the time. Hmmm.

The garden's pretty....

Make a wish or fervent plea.

Kinda neat.

And then the statues....more than 50,000 Jizo statues have been offered here

They only have about a thousand on display at one time.

It also had a hike with a great view of Kamakura as your reward.

"Hey, take a picture of me and the entire city of Kamakura."

Pretty water flower.

Cool lanterns.

Big ass bell.  I would really like to ring it.

I don't know what the banners mean but they look cool.

This was a little clock tower at the square by the station.  However what you can't see, and it's really too bad, is the little freestanding mini-fish stand where we purchased these little donut-like confections shaped like gold fish. Each was stuffed with some sort of creamy concoction in several flavors including red bean and maple.  Yummy!!

And then finally, I have NO idea what this sign says but doh - there it is!

Nice.