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One of the first things you notice when you arrive at the beach is all the birds. There are so many birds, flying so low, and so steady that they almost seem fake. Like kites or mechanical flying toys that people put up there to delight their kids. Initially, we thought that there were 3 such fake birds. Fake, because they flew steady over the same spot, they were so close to each other, and they were so low to the ground.
I took this one flying a few huts from our own patio deck where we were sipping refreshments in the cool breeze. It was hot and humid that day, especially in the city. But in the town of Kamakura, there was a gentle breeze. On the beach front, there was a nice steady breeze. Healthy gusts of wind, circulating the air and acting as a natural fan. It was so much nicer than being in a stuffy city environment. This bird seemed to like being near all the humans. You see birds everywhere in Tokyo. In particular, you see large black crows all the time and they are loud. I think these were crows as well, but they weren't as annoying loud. In fact, in the Kamakura beaches, they seem to belong there as much as the temporary summer beachfront huts that are erected to sell refreshments and thai food. There were a surprisingly large number of Thai huts along the beach. Almost as many as those selling drinks - alcoholic or otherwise.
I was surprised that the birds didn't seem to be bothersome. They didn't hang around people, following them, waiting for food or anything. They were just in the vicinity. It was as if they were waiting for ... something. In my time spent watching them, I never managed to see what it was that they were waiting for. One came down and landed on a roof nearby and one came down and landed right on the beach, a short distance away from some sunbathers. If I had been by myself, I might have stayed longer just to see where they would go or if any kind of dramatic action or fight scene between the large birds might ensue, but I guess that will have to be for another day.
I'm not sure why it is that I am so fascinated by them. And I've never been much of an ornithologist (and I'm sure that most serious ones would spend their time looking at much more exotic and photogenic varieties than the simple, common, and seemingly ubiquitous black crow or whatever this was) ... but I would love to come back to the beach and spend the day just taking lots of photos. Maybe with a better lens. I just have to master using this one first, so it may take a while.
On the way home, there were a lot of people wanting to get back into Tokyo. It seems that I hit the platform at the same time as the middle and high schools students. But the one thing that caught my eye immediately was this baby. It was just so cute and so inquisitive. And it stared at me for a long enough time that I could take my camera back out of the camera bag, adjust the settings, get the zoom going, get the focus right, and take a few snaps. After the first few, he became unhappy with just sitting there and started to fidget and cry. He wouldn't look back at me after that. I love this look that only babies can get away with. I also love how his feet just seem to hang out there.
The last stop of the Friday's visit to Kamakura was Hachimangu Shrine. The first time I went to the shrine, I didn't make it past the first pathway to the pond on the right because of the Yabusume Omatsuri. This annual festival requires horsemen in period costume and some bow and arrows. They clear the path of onlookers before the show continues. At the time, I got stuck on the far side of the show, so I didn't get to go to the main shrine or climb the stairs to it. On this weekday, there were considerably less visitors.
About Hachi-mangu ... the kanji characters found in the centre of the roof of the main shrine tell a lot about the name. There are two stylized doves in the shape of "hachi", Japanese for 8. The doves are called "mangu". 8 doves.
Above is a wall of written wishes at side entrance/exit. I didn't have time to write one. It's one of my many items to-do for other shrine visits. There are so many different ways to make a wish or say a prayer, I figure I can leave some of them for other visits.
During the week, there are a few people on the beach. It is almost completely empty except about 20 people and the crows and seagulls. There is a nice, cool ocean breeze coming into the crescent shape beach, which I suspect most Japanese people find a little on the too cool side. I loved it. The breeze makes it feel like it's only about 23 degrees out. It was closer to 30 degrees.
I've included a photo of some ambitious swimmers and a crow taking a break on one of the huts which turns into a drink stand at night.
We made a special stop to this temple, specifically because the third lady on this trip is six months pregnant. We pray here for an easy childbirth experience. This temple is devoted to the UBUSUME DEITY, which is said to protect women from the suffering associated with childbirth. Apparently, couples wanting to conceive can pray for a child here as well.
There is a large rock right in the centre of the entranceway. Before entering you should place the palm of your hand on the face of the rock.
This is one of the smaller temples with no entrace fee. In fact, as you walk along the pathway to the rear of the complex heading toward the main temple building, you see entranceways to people's houses beyond the manicured garden. It seems strange to us foreigners that a public complex like this would have pathways leading to people's private homes, but yet, there they were.
The temple is known for having vibrant orange tiger lilies in the summer. I was lucky enough to get a snapshot of a pair in full bloom without any spiderwebs attached.
Another gem of a snapshot was this variety of lily with a smaller main core, and long, thin, shooting petals.
On the way back to the station just before my return trip home, I passed by this restaurants sign and I couldn't resist taking a snap. It was just so unexpected.
So who's ever thought you could get authentic Amish dining in the temple town of the Kanto region? I didn't. I haven't heard of any tranplanted Amish looking to live their life in simplicity in small town Japan, but apparently, their food is something to dine out for.
This restaurant is found just past the main shopping street that is accessible as soon as you walk out of the main exit of the station, just past the main bus and taxi noriba on the left (with the station at your back). The Hachimangu shrine is across the street, but only trees are visible from the restaurant.
We didn't stop in due to lack of time, but now my curiousity is peaked. Next time, I will have to make a special effort to stop in and taste authentic Amish cooking, Kamakura style.
Yesterday, I went to Kamakura for the 2nd time. It was an all girls trip to the beach, some washokuji in the form of conveyor belt style sushi dining, a visit to a temple and a shrine, and a visit to the home of my Japanese friend.
This post is about the Kaiten Sushi place (also known as Owari Sushi), which is a type of restaurant where you can select the sushi plates you want as they whiz by you on the conveyor belt.
After a brief visit to the beach, which is currently one of the few that have officially opened before this Monday's Umi no Hi holiday when almost all beaches in the Kanto region will open until sometime in August, we walked for about 7 minutes to TOTOYA-MICHI for some authentic Kamakura kaiten sushi. The restaurant is on the main road leading up to the torii gates of the famous Hachimangu shrine. This road is one of the oldest in the towns. As you near the shrine, the central dividing island of the road has been preserved as a dirt road lined with cherry blossom trees.
The restaurant itself was quite spacious and were lucky enough to score one of the belt-side tables. All tables at the restaurant had at least two seats right beside the conveyor belt so that at least two people at your table could easily grab the sushi plates as they whizzed by. This was one of the coolest things I've seen yet at a kaiten sushi place. Previously, I had only encountered the style where all seats are on stools right in front of the moving belt and the sushi chefs are all encircled within. This place had stools too, but it was so much cooler to sit at one of the tables.
During the dining experience, the wait staff come around with the fresh fish on platters for all to view. We saw two large, fresh red snapper, on a platter. The waitress kindly told us that we could order these directly by making a request to the chef's within the belt; which really meant just asking them since one was literally about 4 feet away from where I was sitting). That was another great thing about sitting at the tables. They had menus as well, so you could look at the entire menu and have a fresh, made-to-order variety of sushi. Having a native speaker with us made it so much easier to order with confidence. Off conveyor belt, we ordered: a set of California rolls (honestly, truly fresh and so delicious!), the fresh red snapper (they don't get any fresher than this!), some gently seared salmon sushi (it's salmon sushi, but grilled ever so slightly and comes with a wedge of lemon, some slivers of a vegetable that looks like onion but isn't, and some mushed radish --- soooooooo tasty), and a delicate, flat white fish native to Japan (I forget the name but very tasty indeed).
From the conveyor belt, we picked up some ebi (shrimp sushi), something that I thought was clam sushi (but in fact, we suspect it was squid because it was the chewiest sushi I have ever tried to eat; we still don't know what variety it was), some cucumber maki, some tuna, some vinegared mackerel (very nice), some kiraagi chicken (basically seasoned deep fried chicken balls in batter; I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I didn't taste any, so I can't comment), and some salmon with onion and mayonnaise (again, I didn't have any of this one either). There was also an egg sushi plate, where the egg tasted a lot sweeter than any version I've had in Canada or Japan.
Aside from the conveyor belt, the miso shiro soup was a self-serve option, which we opted to try. I liked it. Very salty with chunks of various seafood. My bowl had a shrimp head in it and some very bony fish. I elected not to eat most of the fish due to the sheer number of bones it contained. Hot tea and iced tea were self-serve and compliments of the house as well. I elected for the drink bar option (150 Yen) as I always try to have some beverage with sushi that might kill any bacteria not finished off by the soya vinegar or wasabi. This time, it was Pepsi.
Another first time for me to see was the alternate, non sushi / fish variety of food that came around on the conveyor belt. Most notably, there was the deep friend chicken balls that I had spoken of earlier, a basket of french fries, some sweets, and dessert fruit such as honeydew melon and watermelon. Since my friend had prepared some sweets for us at her place, we had none at the restaurant. Besides, I wasn't too keen on picking up some watermelon after it was sitting beside a cutting board and knife that was near raw fish. Call me paranoid.
Above are photos of the dessert (flan or cheesecake?) complete with whip cream, slice of melon and a cherry, and the watermelon.
The bill is calculated by plate colour. Various sushi, other non-fish dishes, and desserts all come on a certain plate colour and at the end of the meal the waitress tallies up the meal by counting the coloured plates. The watermelon is on a green plate, so that one is 250 yen. The dessert cake with whip cream is on a black plate, so I think that was 350 yen.
It was one of my favourite memories of kaiten sushi. The fish was all truly so fresh and almost all delicious. Truthfully, I could have done without the dish that I thought was clam, but even that was a memorable experience; I can't recall another sushi experience where I had to chew for more than 4.5 minutes before I could get the sushi small and soft enough to swallow.
The restaurant has large 3/4 windows on 3 sides, so there is plenty of sunlight streaming in. The chefs and wait-staff are super friendly, and the tables have a divider between them, so it feels so private.
The next kaigai friend that comes to visit is getting a trip to Kamakura just to check out this kaiten sushi place. Or, I may not wait for any kaigai friends.
After almost 2.5 months, I finally sent some photos of another tourist to her of her visit to Kamakura that day. She was kind enough to take photos of me with the Diabutsu of Kamakura.
The Daibutsu in Kamakura is the largest statue of Buddha within an 1.5 hour of Tokyo. There is a larger one in Nara but Nara is past Kyoto, so a trip there would take a few more hours to get to by Shinkansen and other train transportation. Within Tokyo, there is an urban legend that says that there is a great daibutsu statue nestled within the city's 23 wards, but I have yet to go see it or find someone who knows exactly where it is and how I might get there to pay homage.
I had gone to Kamakura in late April on a tour group with Tokyo Gaijins. Everyone else spoke English or some level of it, so to many foreigners it is comforting and to many Japanese people who like to practice their English, it's somewhat of a treat to hear so many people speaking it all around you. We stopped at 3 temples and 3 shrines that day plus we hiked in the mountains / woods.
I post this photo today because most of the photos of the other tourist that I just sent by email were taken here. And really, these two are a couple of my favourite photos from the day.
I'm also inspired to write this post by my upcoming visit this Friday. This time, I will get to see the beaches of Kamakura close-up, of which previously I had caught only a glimpse from within the heavily forested mountain hike.
