Kamakura

Ted. Our final destination in Japan was the coastal city of Kamakura. This interesting town was the de facto capital of Japan in the 12th century. It’s most famous monument is the 48 foot tall bronze known as the Great Buddha. There are lots of other shrines and temples, since capital cities around the world are known for the glorious places of worship built by powerful men. 

While the history is fascinating, we arrived in Kamakura just in time for one of the most important annual events in Japan - cherry blossom time! We had always thought that April was the best time to visit Japan if you want to see the cherry trees in bloom. In recent years, the peak is now reached in late March so we were in luck.

One day, we took a hike recommended by Lonely Planet, visiting several shrines and seeing lots of cherry trees. 

Our walk passed through a forest

View from a ridge

Hokokuji ("ji" means shrine)

A spring emerges from the rock at Zeniarai Benzaiten

If you wash your money in the spring, it increases 5 fold

A traditional pilgrim lunch is Spanish paella

Jochiji

Wakamiya-oji (main street)

A Shinto Wedding at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

Good to know where to run in a tsunami!

Our new friend Wakeba and her Mom Jitsuko travelled down from Tokyo to have a farewell lunch with us. We had really hit it off in our earlier meetups and we all hoped to see each other again one day. I began singing a little song that Judy taught the girls in her Girl Scout troop decades ago; “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.” To our amazement, they both joined in singing in Japanese. Yep, Jitsuko had started a troop of Girl Scouts over 50 years ago and they sang the same song. 

Two leaders

Riding the train to Tokyo Haneda Airport on our final day in Asia, we asked ourselves a question - would we come back? Right now, the answer is … maybe!

Kenchoji