After traveling to by train to Kamakura and walking about 5 miles from the train station to Hasedera temple, the team walked down the street to the Great Buddha. This statue is the second largest Buddha in Japan and weighs in at 121 tons and is about 40 feet tall. The temple that enclosed the statue was destroyed by a giant tidal wave in the 15th century.
For 20 Yen (about 15 cents), you can go inside the statue. The inside basically looks like the inside of a huge statue... You can see the original welds used to hold the bronze sections together and the more recent repairs made to strengthen the statue's neck. The Japanese are very mindful of earthquakes in all of their construction.
The gardens behind the statue are neat to see. Our neighbor from Fort Irwin was actually in Kamakura the next day and was able to get a private tour of the gardens. Her father-in-law is friends with someone at the temple and was able to arrange a private tour. (I guess I need to hang around with them more!!)
Anyway, after our own personal tour of the temple grounds, we headed out from the temple. We stopped for lunch at a small Chinese restaurant where we had an interesting lunch. I played it safe with some noodles. Andrew was unfortunate enough to order some of the famous Japanese rubber. The menu said "shrimp balls"... what came out reminded me of a nerf ping pong ball fried in tempura batter. Andrew was unable to eat his pile of foam so helped everyone else with their sweet and sour chicken (the most popular dish in Japan for our team).
Anyway, after our delectable lunch, we walked up the street and stopped at some of the shops. We stopped and sampled some local ice cream. We weren't able to determine the flavors, so I sampled a couple... the "green" flavor tasted like smoked gym socks... so I went with the only obvious flavor (as did everyone else) chocolate.
We then made our way back to the train station where we caught the train back to Yokosuka. We were all pretty beat after a long day of walking. For most of us, Sunday would be a day of rest.
Until next time....
For more information, go to http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3100.html
 The Great Buddha in Kamakura |  The team in front of the Great Buddha |
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