Kamakura on a Sunday

Got up early today, shared a quick and simple breakfast with Keith then I headed off for Tokyo station to meet Yiwei and Amy to visit Kamakura.

Kamakura is a small town in the southwest part of Tokyo and is popular with the locals for its collection of temples, hiking paths and its famous Great Buddha statue. The train ride took around an hour and as expected, the town was packed on a Sunday morning!

In an attempt to escape the crowds, we set off on a hiking path that would bring us along the ridgeline of the hills and to the location of the statue of the Great Buddha. The hike was a little rougher than expected with lots of climbing involved.... haha... but we still managed to get there!

Hiking along the ridgeline to the Great Buddha

Reaching the Great Buddha (Daibutsu in Japanese), we met Junkai there and went in to take a look at one of the most famous Buddhist statues in Japan. It was huge and rather grand, but apparently, the Buddha statue in Nara is larger than this one.

The Daibutsu (Great Buddha)

After the Daibutsu, we took a stroll (through throngs of people) to one of the beaches in Kamakura. Unlike the soft powder sand that we usually associate nice beaches with, this beach was made of hardpacked volcanic ash. Not a place to build sandcastles, but the winds were strong and there were quite a few surfers and windsurfers in the sea.

One of the beaches in Kamakura

Leaving Kamakura, our next stop was Harajuku, to see the famous `cosplay-zoku` in action on Jingu Bridge. Unfortunately, either due to the extremely hot weather or the fact that we reached rather late in the afternoon, there weren`t many of the `cosplayers` around. In fact, the bridge was crowded mostly with tourists trying to catch a glimpse of the `cosplayers`. Quite an anti-climax...

On Jingu-bashi

From Jingu-bashi, we made our way to Yoyogi Park next door where many amateur bands were performing in the hope of being talent-spotted. The noise was incredibly loud, but it wasn`t really my kind of music. It seemed that each band was just trying to outscream its neighbour band! Really, really not my kind of music... hahaha...

Another one of the `screaming bands`

Passing by the entrance to Meiji Jingu Shrine

From Yoyogi Park, it was just a 5 minute walk to the trendy streets of Harajuku. As you can see from the picture below, the crowds were just insane! Just in that street alone, I probably saw more people than I`ve seen together in the past month! I guess the crowds of Tokyo are just not for me.... give me the peaceful countryside anytime...

Takeshita Street in Harajuku

Next stop, we headed for Shibuya to have our dinner. Along the way, we passed by the rather expensive shopping district of Omote-sando. Sure, its quite a famous area, but the rows after rows of shops didn`t really excite me... hahaha..

Omote-sando

Dinner was at an inexpensive but cosy eatery chain called Otoya, recommended by Junkai. After that, we headed for the famous traffic junction in Shibuya, where the pedestrians cross in every single direction possible.

Everytime the lights turned green, the human stampede would start all over again. Below here you see the herd getting ready to chiong again.....

Shibuya Center Street

For supper, we tried to go to Shinbashi for some famous dessert place suggested by Junkai. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was already closed so we had to make do with some matcha ice-cream instead... hahaha... such a long and tiring day.. by the time I got back to Plaza Kamishakuji it was past midnight - the latest I`ve been out since I got to Japan!