A day away from Tokyo (Feb 2009)

I woke up this morning at 9 am - and had the best breakfast ever: home-made vegetarian curry (indian style). I had about two small bowls of rice with it, and I didn't feel hungry till 2pm. I already asked Okaasan how to make it so that I can make it again! No coconut milk - all natural vege and chicken mince only. I washed and said good bye to Okaasan, and head out for our Journey around Kamakura and Fujisawa. Although I have to admit that I am very sick of temples, I had lots of fun and learnt a lot about Japanese culture and traditions in the two temples and one shrine that we went to. The first one was Hasedera (長谷寺). It first of all has breathe-taking scenary, and absolutely inviting atmosphere created by cute little statues.

Taking a very short walk up the stairs and to our right was a little corner filled with small status. I made a short video about this but here is the story! Hasedera is famous for praying for babies aborted. Women who have received an abortion operation come here and buy a little statue (20,000 YEN - 400AUD) and the monks will pray for them. However - given that its such a popular business, they have to throw away the status every six months! As we proceeded forward, we entered the room where the buddha was placed. This buddha was originally built in Nara. After a natural disaster, the buddha disappeared and floated all the way to Kamakura, where Hasedera was built to house this buddha in replacement of the old home. Taking a turn from there and we entered into a cave where monks used to meditate. It also had a wheel inside which people used to be able to spin for luck, however recently it had been listed as National Treasure and so we couldn't do it. As always - there was a part of the temple where people put wishes on a little wooden block - look at one of them! The person wrote "I pray for my wife to stop shopping and acquire common sense".

The second temple is called Hogokuji (Temple), literally means to 'contribution to our country' temple. The special thing about this temple is that it captured the Shogan culture (summurai culture), in comparison to the Royal Family style in Kyoto's Temples. Shogan culture promoted simplicity. Walking along we found ourselves in the middle of a forest of bamboo which was a Zen garden temple.
We had tea while listening to the sound of a small waterfall there.

The last religious place that we visited is Zeniarai Benten (銭洗弁財天宇賀福神社), which is a slightly different religion with influence from the Hinduism. The significance here is the habit of people wash money and use it that day which will make them rich. After our religious tour, we went to Mirauhandou - the central fish market for Tuna in Japan. Not to mention that everything so so cheap and big, but also that we were offered a lot of samples and were even invited to come back and have seconds!

We then went to a fish restaurant and had the best meal there - mine was tuna slightly cooked - which i believe i can make. It is healthy - without fat and very yummy!

Following a very long traffic jam, we were at Yokosaki where big American Army buildings were. Had a good long talk there in the cafe about Politics, Economy and Linguistic with Taka-san and Yayoi-san, our two very wonderful tour guide of the day. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant where home made noodles were served and we were pleasantly impressed! :) We arrived back in Tokyo very late, very tired but all was worth it! :) I would love to come back and do another trip there!