Day 15, Kamakura

Many tourists (fortunately) ignore Kamakura. Even though it is only 40 minutes by train from Tokyo, most foreign tourists don’t really know if its existence. Japanese people do know it, which is logical because it is a nice little coast town with some pretty temples and shrines, and pleasant nature. During the 12th and 13th century, it was the capital of Japan. That is, the most powerful clan chose it as their base, especially because it was easily defendable. The castle has long been gone, but about 40 of the temples and shrines survived and can still be found spread around the town and surrounding hills.

The most famous sight, attracting the largest crowds, is the Daibutsu, or great Buddha statue (see photo). This one is about 20 meters high, and was apparently built after the clan leader had visited Nara, which also has such a statue. I’m going to visit the Nara one next week, and that one is even larger.

On my way to the Daibutsu I took a hiking trail through the hills. Underway I passed a funny shrine. First you have to walk through a tunnel hewn through a rock cliff, which leads to an inner area where the shrine is located. There you can buy incense and get a small basket. You are then supposed to put your money in the basket and in another cave thrown sacred spring water over it. The money will then bring good fortune and happiness. I didn’t have too much cash on me, so I just washed my credit card, which should bring a lot of happiness now.

At the end of the day, it was time for a little experiment. A week before I left for Japan, Simon told me about the couchsurfing.com website. This is one of the websites (there are other similar ones) where people offer a free sleeping place to travelers. The thought behind this is that contact between different cultures helps create a more tolerant and better world. Most members come from Europe or America, but there are also a few in Japan. Through the website you can then ask whether they have a ‘couch’ available. In this way, I am ‘surfing’ the couch of Tomoko from Kamakura tonight. It was lots of fun, and nice to try out once. Also, you get to see a different side of the country, besides the hotels and tourist spots.

The disadvantage was that the next morning I had to get up very early (Tomoko had to go to work) and take the rush hour train to Tokyo. These trains are so full that there are railway people standing on the platforms to help push people into the trains. You don’t have to bother holding on to something, and you wouldn’t be able to raise your arm anyway. On all sides there are people being pressed so hard against you, that it starts to hurt after a while, especially if the train makes a turn and everyone gets pushed to one side. Imagine that you have to do that every day…

But this actually belongs to tomorrow’s story.