I swear one day I’m going to write about work, but I’m just now getting to work with the kids, so for now you’re going to have to put up with my boring ol’ off-base adventures in Japan.
Kamakura was the destination for last weekend’s adventures. It’s home to a number of temples, shrines, beaches, and ice cream stores every two feet. And that is not an exaggeration. A group of us took a train to a stop a couple miles ahead of Kamakura, and started a “two to three hour grueling hike” to the Big Buddha. We arrived within an hour, so we paid 300 yen to visit the hydrangea temple. Our director, who has been to Japan every summer since 2007 and taught English here for a year, showed us how to cleanse ourselves before entering the area. First, you scoop water from a basin with a ladle with a long handle. You use some of the water to wash both your hands, and then pour a bit into your newly-cleaned, cupped hand to drink and cleanse your mouth. Finally, you use the remaining water in the ladle to rinse off the handle. You are now cleansed (from what, I don’t know) and can enter the temple. I wish I knew more about the culture/stories involved in these areas, but as a tourist I felt a bit out of place in a place that was so rich in history and religious significance.
We then visited the Big Buddha, which, in my opinion, had a lot less of that “cultural” feel and a whole lot more of the “tourist attraction” feel. Lots of crowds, camera flashes and gift shops. I’m glad I checked it off my list, but I wouldn’t recommend making it the main attraction of your visit to Kamakura. Although I would recommend paying the 20 extra yen to see the inside of the Buddha. Pretty cool.
From then on, it was beaches, awesome views, and awkward encounters. We visited a beach near the Big Buddha, where we were disappointed by the gross amount of trash in the water. I don’t know if it was just the area we were in, but it was pretty unexpected, given how clean it is in pretty much every other area of Japan. (Side note: there are almost NO trash cans in Japan. You’ll find one every 10 blocks or so, but it is still very clean. The irony is, in California there are trash cans everywhere, but litter abounds. Hmmm.)
Our group of six made our way to Yokohama again, where we finally got to ride the ferris wheel! Even better, we rode it at night, so we could see the entire city glowing beneath us, as well as the bay and shipyards nearby. Quite a contrast to our view the next day, when we traveled to Zushi for another day of swimming, napping, and tanning (or burning, as the case may be.) It was at the beaches that I gained some idea of what some Japanese people think of Americans. At Kamakura, a Japanese lifeguard approached a group of Camp Adventure people lounging on the beach and asked if they were drunk. As it turns out, they were completely sober, just sunburned. At Zushi, a pair of Japanese men made a beeline for me and my friends and immediately asked if we liked chinko (a certain bit a male anatomy in Japanese) and sex. Alcohol and sex. Maybe these two encounters were exceptions, but I found it funny that those were the two first impressions.
A relaxing end to last weekend, which could not be any different than yesterday, when I climbed Mount Fuji! A post about that soon!
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