Today we got up fairly early to go to Kamakura. We stopped to get breakfast at McDonalds so that we could eat on the way to the train station. Though Japanese people don’t seem to mind people eating in public, they really don’t seem to like it when people eat while walking, as we got many frowns as we walked down the street with our McMuffins. We assume it was because we were eating, though it actually could have been any aspect of our water-buffaloishness.

We changed trains several times to get to Kamakura, where we went to go see yet another giant Buddha. This Buddha wasn’t as giant as the last Buddha, but he was still pretty impressive. We also checked out a temple with some kind of multi-headed God (Kannon) that you were not allowed to take pictures of but you could purchase pictures for between 300 and 700 yen. We’ve decided that the reason that most people in Japan don’t seem to be particularly serious about any one religion is that it is too expensive. You have to pay money to get into the temples and shrines, then pay money for the incense or candles that you need to light so that your prayer can be heard. It’s a confusing business. 

After checking out the temple, we made our way to the beach. It wasn’t as picturesque as the beaches you’d find at any of the resorts, but it was still ocean and it was still beautiful. The sun was shining, the water was cool, and the sand was warm. I, of course, removed my shoes to walk barefoot in the sand, which felt very nice.

After we finished at the beach, I had to figure out how to get my shoes and socks back on without depositing a large amount of water and sand. This is a problem almost any time you go to a beach, but even more so in Japan where people are so particular about feet and shoes. If I rinsed my feet off in the water, then I would have less sand in my shoes but they’d be wet the rest of the day. If I dried my feet in the sand, then my feet would be dirty, but at least they would be dry. I took that route and we walked our way back to the street above where I sat at the curb and did my best to dust the sand off my feet with the Kleenexes I had packed in my bag. Most of the drivers, passengers, and pedestrians waiting in the intersection found this activity very interesting, and by the looks on their faces, perhaps a little bit appalling. At least my feet were dry.

We ate a quick lunch at the Hawaiian restaurant near the station (spicy spam sushi is delicious) before heading to Yokohama (Yokohama is to Tokyo as Tacoma is to Seattle). We checked out the port area for a few hours and rode a giant ferris wheel at the carnival on the port before heading to China Town for dinner. 

We wandered through the stores and finally decided on a restaurant for dinner. We took a chance, since this one didn’t have any plastic food in the display window, but as it turned out, they did have pictures on the menu. We felt about as safe as you do anytime you visit a Chinese buffet. We did eat a couple of unidentifiable foods that we weren’t sure about (they like to pickle a lot of things), but most of it turned out to be pretty good.

After dinner, we headed to Tokyo Tower to take some pictures. The tower is modeled after the Eiffel tower and is quite a sight at night when it’s lit up. We decided to save the money and not go up in the tower, since we’ve read that the view is not that spectacular, but had a good time nonetheless.

By that point, we were pretty much worn out, so we called it a night!