Kōtoku-in (Daibutsu)

 

Take some time to visit other areas besides Tokyo when you go to Japan. Seriously, if you only go to Tokyo and your really only getting a taste. It's like going to New York City and comparing all of America to that! So, if your strapped for time and you can’t bounce around I recommend you at least go to Kamakura and see the big Buddha Daibutsu.

First off you’ll get to enjoy a very nice train ride outside of the city, It probably wont be nearly as jam packed as the trains to get from say Shinjuku to Ueno in Tokyo. Second, you’ll get to see a more quiet and slightly rural area to compare to the busy city. Even with all the tourists and only an hour away, Kamakura feels more relaxed somehow.

Take a nice stroll through the streets until you make your way to this bronze beauty. After you push your way through all the selfie sticks you’ll be greeted with an image of serenity.

Even on a rainy day I could feel the contentment and peace emanating from the statue. The soft, gentle, and concentrated gaze of the Buddha really speaks to me. It's as if this is a memorial for the dedication that the Buddha put into his teachings. Really inspiring for what hard work and never giving up can do for your life.

This thing is really big. And what’s even cooler is that you can go inside of the Buddha! It’s honestly not that visually impressive inside but it’s cool to say you stood inside of a Buddha statue. And you can see on his back he is sporting a nice pair of windows that almost emulate wings.

Also check out the shoes that somebody made for the statue in the rare case that it ever gets up and starts walking! Reminds me of Ghostbusters 2. There’s actually an anime (Gantz) where this happens and it’s pretty horrifying so let’s hope it never actually happens.

The tourism in this area focuses much more heavily on traditional and spiritual Japanese culture. So your gonna find more Buddha based goods and far less anime. Be aware that not all of these things are created equal and be sure to shop around before making your final purchase because there is a lot to see. And you may find the same goods sold at the gift shop of the big Buddha sold at different stores at a lower (or higher!) price. Though, there was this one Attack On Titans keychain that I saw in the gift shop that I didn’t see anywhere else in Japan. Even though I did find a shop that was selling these area exclusive AOT keychains, they didn’t have the Kamakura one. I regret not purchasing it! 

 

Instead I got this slightly generic piece

There’s plenty of temples and Shrine‘s to see and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the gardens are. Photography is prohibited inside the temples and inside most shops in Japan (and lots of Asia) so won’t see many shots of all the cool and breath taking statues and goods on this blog. This one temple I went to had a small bamboo forest growing along side the garden. If you don’t make it to Kyoto, then at least you can get a taste of this beautiful plant in person.

 

Another interesting thing about Kamakura is the beach sand is a dark grey. They call it black sand, but it’s not quite that dark in my opinion. It’s caused by the volcanic ashes that wash ashore. Because of the rain I didn’t take a real good look at the beach but it seemed like it would be a really nice place for the summer (minus the tourists).

 Before leaving I has an interesting dish of baby sardines. The plate was full of eyeballs staring back at me and I had a few moments of shock mixed with discussed and concern. But then I got over it and took a bite. I thought it was really good! Little did I know that I'd be seeing fish eyes in so many dishes in Asia.