Kamakura - First Day Off Base!

Today was our first time out of the city and man were we excited to leave after being cooped up on base all week! Camp took us off base to show us how to use the train system. First some interesting train culture/etiquette. 1. You are supposed to be quiet on trains because people tend to sleep on them. (This was really hard for us Americans) 2. If it is a crowded train there is no such thing as personal space. They even have people whose job is to push people into the trains! 3. It is not abnormal to see a young child traveling alone to school because Japan is known for being really safe and everyone being super nice. Once we got to Kamakura we walked to Hachimangu Shrine. On the walk there we saw so many Japanese school age children going on field trips and walking in groups. Interesting fact: Younger kids don’t wear uniforms but will wear all of the same colored caps and the older kids are the ones that wear uniforms. We also noticed on the way how small all Japanese shops are. They are so cute! When we finally got to the shrine we walked under a torii, which is a red gate at the entrance of all Shinto shrines. The shrine was at the end of a long procession of beautiful greenery. We walked around and I got some beautiful pictures, check out facebook if you’re curious I won’t put all of them here. One thing which I thought was really cool was before you got to the shrine there was a place to wash your hands, but this was no ordinary washing station. Check out the video on facebook to see what I’m talking about.

My first Japanese train card!

The torii for this shrine.

Hachimangu Shrine.

After the shrine we got back on the train and headed to Hasedera Temple. The temple was on a hill side so it took some stairs to get up to it. On the way up we saw thousands of miniature Buddhas decorated with flowers from people who had put them there for worship. The temple awaited us at the top but nothing was going to prepare me for the beauty that was inside the temple. I walked inside to find a 30 ft golden statue of Buddha that I was so moved by that tears almost came to my eyes (Unfortunately pictures were prohibited). For those of you who don’t know I have been wanting to learn about Buddhism for years now but never got around to it. Well now I am reading a book called What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula and it was just really cool to see such a beautiful depiction of the Buddha. I am finally getting around to it now because in my research of what to do before coming to Japan I found that temples are something I should visit. So I thought, “What a perfect time to actually learn about Buddhism while visiting Buddhist temples in Japan.” After gawking at the Buddhas beauty we went on a hydrangea path and saw so many different types and colors of hydrangeas! They were beautiful and my new camera lens did some great work.

Hundreds of Buddha statues

Hasedera Temple

Hydrangea Path

After the last temple we all headed back in the direction of base and were allowed to eat lunch off base before we had to return. A big group of us chose to eat at a Sushi-go-round place where the sushi comes to you on a conveyer belt. Pretty much no waiter is needed because there is a screen at each table where you order and then your sushi comes around to you on color coated trays. What’s even cooler was the price. It was 100 yen, which is almost equivalent to a dollar–actually a little less with the exchange rate– for two pieces of raw fish over rice. It was BOMB. I will definitely be going there again.

Our last adventure of the day consisted of going to our first karaoke bar! 12 of us had our own private room to sing our hearts out! It was the best thing ever! Getting a private room is how karaoke works in Japan. There is not get up in front of everyone at the bar and sing. I thought this was cool because I got to bond with my fellow Camp A friends and see all of us let loose for the night. Definitely something I will be doing again. Overall, an adventurous first day it was off base.