Day Trip to Kamakura, Japan

During my trip to Tokyo, Japan, we dropped by Kamakura for a day trip (just 1 day) and visited these places in order: Tsurugaoka Hachimangu > Hokokuji Temple > Kōtoku-in (Great Buddha of Kamakura) before returning to Tokyo.

1. Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine

Upon getting off the train, we had to walk quite a distance to the shrine as you can see below, but thankfully there were a few food stalls selling sweets and savory food (takoyaki, okonomiyaki) along the way to keep us occupied and entertained.

They were having some kind of ceremony on the day we went.

There on the left is the stairs up to the shrine.

As I stood in front of the long flight of stairs, I dreaded going up. At the time I went on this trip (April 2018), I was still recovering from my knee operation I had in September 2017. I took my time up the stairs, with my parents' help.

This is an up-close of the shrine after climbing up the stairs.

Since it was in April that I went, we managed to still see some white cherry blossom blooming at the side of the shrine!

At the back of the shrine, there was a flight of stairs behind these tori gates to somewhere but I didn't go since I felt I should rest my knee to prepare for the going down of stairs later. My mother and sister ended up going while my father and I waited there.

We went back down and I died. HAHA.

We walked around the area and spotted some cute white birds.

We went for lunch at a nearby restaurant and this was my lunch: teriyaki chicken with rice. Every food in Japan is so nice.

2. Hokokuji Temple

The next stop after lunch was Hokokuji Temple, famous for its bamboo grove. Before heading to see the bamboos, we walked around the temple and its gardens for a while.

At the time, there were doing some renovations. Hence, the red barriers. Otherwise, it was greenery all the way. Even for someone like me who has a hard time appreciating nature, it was a very nice sight.

We spotted some maple leaves, these would turn red when autumn comes around.

You have to pay 200 yen to enter the bamboo groove. But the money was worth it as it was an amazing sight.

Some small buddha statues.

3. Kōtoku-in Temple (Great Buddha of Kamakura)

The last stop for the day was the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan, the first being the Todaiji Temple at Nara. A 300 yen entrance fee was charged to enter the temple.

Apparently, you could go down into the buddha statue but there was an entrance fee of 20 yen and my guts told me there would be nothing interesting inside due to the cheap entrance fee so only my aunt and uncle went. I was right about my gut feeling as there was nothing much inside from what I heard from my aunt and uncle. Apart from the buddha statue, they also had shops selling omamoris and souvenirs.

I saw them selling soft serve ice cream with 3 flavors: vanilla, mix of vanilla and matcha, and matcha for 300 yen. Didn't buy it though XD

We spotted some nice flowers at the temple on the way back to the train station.

 

While walking back to the train station, my sister and I had this croquette (potato) with cheese filling and it was delicious! If I'm not wrong, it was about 300 yen.

So yes, we took the train back to Tokyo and went to a mall near our Sunshine City Prince Hotel @ Ikebukuro for dinner. 

I don't remember what this was, probably hamburger beef with cheese, seaweed soup, and salad.

I had fried vanilla ice cream with maple syrup for the first time in my life and it was delicious.

Yep, that sums up my day trip to Kamakura. I'm sure there were other attractions in Kamakura that could have been more interesting. It's just that most are inaccessible and need to some walking distance there. Traveling as a group of 6 people, with two 60 year olds, two 50 year olds, and my sister and I (18 and 19), we had to consider everyone's needs and plan accordingly. If you have more than 1 day at Kamakura, I would recommend visiting the other attractions!

Until next time~