Kamakura

Detail at Engaku-Ji temple

When will it ever stop raining in Japan?
We had planned to go out to Hakone in the foothills of Fujisan today, but two things conspired against us: a) the exertions of the two days before (and the need for a lie-in, even a mini Japanese-style one), Hakone being three hours out of Tokyo; and b) the Japanese weather - rain tomorrow they had told us - we needed good views for Mount Fuji.

Plan B was a trip to Kamakura, an hour south of the capital.
Kamakura, which lies on the Pacific coast and is backed by wooded hillsides, was capital of Japan from 1185 to 1333 and the town is said to rival Nikko in terms of shrines and temples.

The town can be reached direct from Tokyo station in 56 minutes. It was already midday when we arrived. There are 65 Buddhist temples and 19 Shinto shrines in Kamakura, and it was our intention to visit just a few of them, in leisurely style.

I'm not entirely sure why Nikko and Kamakura are put on a par with each other in the guidebooks. The former was a trudge in comparison. Whilst Nikko might have the most ostentatious religious sites in this part of Japan, Kamakura surely comes out tops in the sedateness stakes.


Shinto tombstones at Tokei-Ji

Our aim was to wander and soak up the atmosphere. Kamarkura is lush, almost to the point of being tropical. The first three temples/shrines we visited were just so tranquil and green, as well as being generally free of visitors, it was like entering secret gardens.


The entrance to Jochi-Ji temple

Lonely Planet had recommended we take a hiking trail across the hill behind town. The trail would eventually lead us to Daibutsu, or the Big Budda, 2.5 km distant from Jochi-Ji, our third temple/shrine thus far. 15 minutes into the walk it started raining. What the guidebooks also didn't tell us that was that the trail turns into a mudbath in the rainy season. The rain and the mud made for a trudge - Kamakura-style - as if a curse had been put on us for making disparaging remarks about Nikko.


Japan: land of plentiful rain and umbrellas

By the time we got to the Big Buddha, our feet were caked in mud.


Big Buddha

After the tranquility of the three first sites, the Daibatsu temple was nothing but a tourist magnet. The giant Buddha is Kamakura's greatest claim to fame and is the second largest of its kind in Japan. We used the temple to dry out and rest our weary feet after the "trudge", before pressing on to Hase railway station on the Enoshima electric line, a little gem of a railway which runs along the coast here. This took us back to Kamakura centre where, after deciding to call it a day with the rain, we headed back to the big city.


The Enoshima electric railway


The Rainbow Bridge at night-time

We passed an hour in the hotel room, before deciding to head out to the Bayside for some evening excitement. This is involved taking a monorail over to Odaiba island, built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, which traverses the double-deck Rainbow (suspension) Bridge, one of Tokyo's waterside landmarks these days. Here in a shopping mall, we stuffed ourselves full of sushi and then headed off to bed. Tomorrow is another day and another city.


Raph tucking into sushi