Although this was my mom's 4th trip to Japan, and she'd already been allo over, I'd never taken her to Kamakua, which has a giant Buddah- the Daibutsu. We took a train about an hour and a half south of Tokyo. We were not stoked to find that it was just as cold in Tokyo/ Kamakura as Hokkaido! It even started to snow as we left in the afternoon. The previous week, Tokyo had gotten like a foot of snow- which was the most in 45 years! It really did make for beautiful pictures. On our way up to the Daibutsu we stopped at Hasedera Temple. It was so pretty, covered in snow.
The road up to the Daibutsu is lined with tiny Japanese shops, perfect for tourists. We stopped first at a temple called Hasedera. It's located partly on a hill and had a beautiful view. A few plum blossom trees had started to bloom. The ume thought it was spring, I'm sure they weren't expecting a foot of snow! I was able to get some amazing pictures with my new camera- I can't wait to see them printed out.
The Daibutsu was just as I remembered- very big and beautiful. As we were leaving a lot of tourists started showing up. We had lunch o. Our walk back at a kebab place, whichever as very unexpected and delicious. That lunch was more food than we'd had since we got to Japan. Next to that little station we found a small 100yen shop, where everything is $1.00. Everyone loves a good "hyakuen" shop. It was the only one we happened upon during our trip, and we scored some good stuff!
We had plans to meet my friend Polina at Shinjuku station in the late afternoon. She and I studied at the Okayama Japanese Language school together in 2008. Her Japanese is far better than mine, and she currently works in Tokyo. I knew that she had a surprise for me, but i didn't have he slightest idea what it was. After we sat down to dinner I heard a guy speaking English behind me. It turned around and it was my friend Keisuke and his wife. I met Keisuke the first week I moved to Japan, back in 2005! I didn't know he was living in Tokyo. My jaw was on the floor and everyone was cracking up at my shocked expression. It was such a great dinner, catching up with told friends, it didn't even seem like it had been years sin we were last together. I always say how much I love Japan, and it's the truth. Even though the last time I was here was in 2010, it still feels like home, and I'm in my comfort zone.
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