I was a history major in my undergraduate career and I took a Japanese history class a while back. This explains why I had no idea what Kamakura was until 2 days ago when I went there. From what I now understand a few hundred years ago Japan was ruled from Kamakura. In fact a General from Kamakura, named Yoritomo conquered all of Japan, which is why Japan was once ruled from there. Anyways some family problems happened and his brother murdered him. what a crappy ending, but his grave is in Kamakura so that’s cool I guess.
But anywho, nowadays Kamakura is a beautiful place to visit. Due to my current employment situation I never ever wake up early. This really put a damper on my Kamakura visit. All of the temples close really early. By early I mean 4PM. Since I woke up at like noon we really only got to see one temple because it took us a while to get there and we had to walk everywhere once we were there.
As you can see from this picture the temples are all surrounded by nature. It is quite a serene and relaxing place to visit. This is from a temple called Tsurugaokahachimangu (now try saying that 5 times fast!). from the way it looks on the map of Kamakura it is one of the larger temples there. We walked through and saw some other temples but they were closed
This picture is from Jufukuji Temple. When I took this picture we were standing at the entrance to the garden that leads to the temple. Since the temple was closed this was the best I could do for Jufukuji. But once again you can see that it is very green, serene, and relaxing.
That is the entrance to the Jufukuji Temple. as you can see the doors are closed and locked. I was very sad. But I think the scenery around the temples is better than going in them, seeing as I am not Buddhist. If you really want to see the inside of a temple here you go!
Yeah, I like the scenery better. After we went to the temples we were meandering aimlessly and happened upon this place that was aptly named “Shopping Town!” It was just like a Night Market in Taiwan except everything was expensive and it was a hell of a lot cleaner.
I wouldn’t have even mentioned this place but there were two things worth mentioning. There was this place, the name of which I have forgotten, that sells macaroons. They were good so I will show you a picture!
I had a Caramel one. The Caramel ones are the set of Macaroons all the way to the right of the picture and almost out of the picture. It was really good. The other thing was they had rickshaws!! And you guessed it I have a picture.
Look at that guy! he is loving it! I could not imagine being a human horse but hey the big smile on his face says it all. He loves it.
I really liked Kamakura, but if you ever get a chance to go there make sure you wake up bright and early if you want to get into the temples.
This is the Ranting Jamaican bringing his travels to you, still red vines-less in Japan. Peace out!