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Today was a day trip suggested by Jesse to Kamakura and Enoshima, to the south(west) of Tokyo. I was very grateful to mostly turn off my brain and let Jesse tell me where we were going and how we were getting there. I knew we were going to be walking around a lot so today I opted for a simple, comfortable outfit. It was pretty sunny in the morning too so I didn't need a sweater or anything under my coat! It's been averaging around 12-15°C, just like home.

We met up outside of Shinjuku station at 9 to start the journey - first a train to Kamakura station, where we got slightly better tickets to sit in the green car for the ~1hr ride, and I dug into my konbini breakfast and bottled coffee I had gotten on the walk to Shinjuku. Chatting the whole way really made me realize that yesterday (slash just being out and about by myself) I barely talked. I'm not the kind of person to just fill dead air but I'm so used to busy social days at school/work, and when I'm at home I talk to my cat all the time (he talks back of course), so it's odd to spend long periods of time in relative silence!

Once we got to Kamakura we switched to a local train, a very quaint old train that was being heavily photographed by everyone at the station! It was really cool riding it and seeing it pass through very narrow streets, watching folks on the ground waiting to cross also taking photos as it passed. Real hit with the trainspotters. There was also a little frog statue right in front of where the train stopped in Kamakura!

We took the train to Hase station, right close to the coast, and walked first to Hasedera, a Buddhist temple. There were sooo many plum and cherry trees with early blossoms! They were really beautiful in the clear sunny morning. The air was so fragrant with the mix of the new flowers and the incense burning throughout the shrine. As with yesterday, I've posted more pictures in this photo post, so check that out for more of my entire day!

As we were walking around, Jesse was explaining to me the significance of some of the stuff around the temple and what people were doing to pray at it, or get fortunes, or things that he had done in previous trips there. It was much more enriching than just walking around by myself looking at things none the wiser! Within one part of the temple there was a huge statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. No photos were allowed but the signage inside said that according to legend, it was carved as a set of two out of a giant sacred camphor tree in 721 AD, one statue being placed in Nara and the other floated out to sea. The one floated out to sea returned and was erected in Kamakura in 736. The statue is 9.18 metres tall! It was really spectacular to see. There was a great view from one part of the temple grounds as well.

The temple had a small cave tucked away with statues of Benzaiten (a Japanese Buddhist goddess) and her followers. We had to fold ourselves basically in half to walk through some tunnel sections of the cave (yes I did quietly sing the secret tunnel song from A:TLA), and one room within had all these tiny statues of Benzaiten that you could place as offerings. They were at most 2 inches tall and were carved out of shells, it was incredible!

After Hasedera we walked a short way to Kotoku-in, another Buddhist temple with an absolutely massive copper Buddha statue. I'm talking over 13 metres tall!

The statue was so big that we could actually enter inside and see the original construction and further restoration techniques from the interior. I can definitely say I wasn't expecting to be able to go inside a Buddha statue while here, so that was a fun surprise.

When we were walking around the grounds of the temple, I happened to see a person with a Toronto Public Library tote bag, which was unexpected and did make me smile. We poked around a souvenir shop and I picked up a Kamakura magnet for home before taking off. On our way back to the train we stopped in a tiny little cafe for some iced matcha lattes, absolutely delicious and a nice little pick-me-up. The frothed milk on top was so fluffy! Gotta love a drink that tastes like grass (in a good way, of course).

When headed back to the train station, I saw an eki stamp station at the opposite platform than the one we needed to get on, but Jesse assured me we could go through the gates and get the stamp and then play the foreigner card of "oh nooo I went the wrong way please let me back and fix the charge on my transit card :)" which absolutely worked. I wouldn't have gotten the stamp otherwise! I did super well today for stamp collecting, it more than makes up for my lackluster attempts the first two days. I am on the hunt at all the train stations and temples now.

(A collection of all the stamps from today: Shin-Okubo station, Kamakura station, the Enoden train line in general, Hase station, Hasedera, Enoshima station, the Enoshima region, the escalator up Enoshima island, and Mokoron who is apparently the Odakyo railway line's mascot)

Anyway, it was back on the local train a handful of stops to get to Enoshima. Since we were right along the coast of Sagami Bay now, the train was quite close to the ocean and made for some beautiful scenery.

We were so blessed by the weather throughout most of the morning! Our first little bit in Enoshima was nice and sunny, it got a bit cloudier after we stopped for lunch which made me extra grateful for the morning. Lunch was at a restaurant called Garb on the mainland of Enoshima, a place with Italian inspired food. Jesse explained to me the local specialty in Enoshima (slash around that coastal area) is shirasu (whitebait, tiny little fish), which were in just about every dish at the restaurants. So obviously I didn't indulge, but we managed to split a margherita pizza and zeppole (fried dough balls). Carb on carb before walking over to Enoshima island!

We walked across the bridge to the island part of Enoshima, at which point it was starting to get overcast. Just our luck... Jesse explained that on clear days, there was a great view of Mount Fuji from Enoshima. The views were great regardless, even if Mount Fuji was hiding!

We went looking for local cats, since the last time Jesse was there he found some friendly ones, but we ended up finding only one respectfully sitting in their yard with no interest in saying hi (that's fine). Not even Jesse's shirasu soft serve could tempt the cat. So we moved along to our journey around Enoshima shrine (a Shinto shrine this time).

The shrine was quite expansive across the hilltop, with various levels to it. We got a ticket that allowed us to take escalators up sections of the hill, with stops off at interest points. It also let us up the "Sea Candle," a tall viewing tower at the top of the hill! The escalators were up only and we took the stairs on the way down.

The observation deck of the Sea Candle is just over 100 metres high, so it was pretty spectacular! It was cool seeing not only Enoshima and other cities on the coastline but also the island arrayed below us. There were a surprising amount of palm trees?

On our way down the hill, we took a detour to get down to the rocks and tide pools right at the southeastern edge of the island. On our way down through the narrow streets and down the stairs, we were passed by people on their way back up out of breath, which made me a bit apprehensive of exactly how many stairs we needed to take down (and then up again). But I wasn't going to back out!

Of course, it ended up being so worth it. The sun was starting its descent so the sky was turning a warmer hue, and it made for a great view out across the bay. The tide was low enough that it exposed some of the tide pools, and being careful of uneven footing we poked around a bit (and saw a sea slug happily munching away on an all-you-can-eat buffet of algae!).

Despite the amount of people, it was still so peaceful looking out and seeing the waves crash against the rocks. It really reminded me of parts of Vancouver Island I've spent time at, like Botanical Beach. It was nice to just wander around and soak it all in. We did eventually have to start our ascent, which was as expected a bit rough on the knees, especially after a day already full of walking. No other way to get back up though!

By the time we were headed off the island, the sun was setting in earnest, making for some absolutely gorgeous colours. I could only imagine how beautiful it must be on a clearer day to see more of the mountains; but at the same time, the clouds were part of what contributed to such a visually interesting sunset! We walked out to another little rocky outcropping on the northwest side of the island to catch the sun as it was juuuust tucking back behind the mountains.

Rather than taking the local train back through Kamakura, we hopped on the train to Tokyo from Katase-Enoshima station. Both of us were pretty wiped out by this point, we grabbed a drink from the 7-Eleven at the station and settled in. We settled in a bit too hard as it turns out since we apparently missed that we had to transfer trains at a stop; the employee who came around to check our tickets noticed that (obviously) we were on the wrong branch of the train, but explained as much to us (as Jesse translated). Sooo we ended up taking it into Tokyo station, not Shinjuku station as intended. This ended up having a happy consequence of finding a place for dinner in Tokyo station - a vegan ramen (etc) place called T's Tantan! What a treat for me! My sesame ramen for some reason had a spoonful of peanut butter in it (along with a ball of grated vegan cheese?) but it ended up all coming together into a delicious broth. We also got some vegetable gyoza, fantastic.

By the end of this, at the absurdly late hour of uhhh approximately 7:30, I was ready to be home and horizontal. It was an easy enough train trip from Tokyo station to Shinkuju, transfer to Shin-Okubo, and back the familiar route to my airbnb. Jesse and I parted ways with my many thanks for a fantastic day out, and a promise that he should hit me up the next time he's back home on the west coast.

Once home my shower was much needed, lying in bed to write this up even more needed. The past few days I've been able to draft bits and pieces of my blog posts throughout the day. This is the first time I'm writing it all up in one chunk, and it really does take a while! It's fun though, it lets me go back and research more about some of the places I went to make sure I get all the facts and locations right. Again, I'm including additional photos in a separate photo post just below this one, in case you're just starving for more!

ママは自分の身体の変化のほうについていけなくていつも涙垂れ流してるよ

よかれと思ってやってたことが、自分の首を絞めてたこととか、前もって調べておくべきこととか多過ぎて泣けてくるのよ

でも何でもトライして一緒に育っていけたらいいな