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It seemed that we had alternate days of rain and sun. Our second last day in Tokyo brought sunshine and we were able to pack our umbrellas away for the day.
We followed our travel agent’s instructions to get the train to the historic seaside city of Kamakura, capital of Japan from 1192 to 1333.
We took a quaint tourist train to the village of Hase where we visited the Hase Dera Temple with its beautiful gardens and kites circling the temple, looking for tourist morsels. We then walked through the village to find the Great Buddha – Kamakura’s symbolic giant bronze Buddha, located in the Kotokuin Temple.
We also found the beach in Hase, a tiny stretch of hard sand for the sun lovers and an active, small fishing village.
Back to Kamakura, where the tourist shops were in abundance. We found the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine – Kamakura’s most famous shrine with historical significance since 1063. The shrine was found by the first shogun of Kamakura government. It is evidently a very popular place to bring children for their 3, 5 and 7 year blessing.
