Off to Kamakura...

Last Sunday, we had our first outing outside of Tokyo. We were invited to spend the day with Kosaku, an old friend of my father's, and his wife Reiko. The metro and train ride took about an hour (when I say train, I don't mean anything exciting like a bullet train, but rather an extension of the metro). Kosaku picked us up at the station and drove us through the narrow, winding streets to his lovely home where we had a chat and a snack. I couldn't help notice that in their very modern home there was a tatami room; unfortunately the photos I took of Ashlynn and Reiko here didn't turn out well and I'm hoping that Kosaku managed to get a good shot of them.

Kamakura is a "small fishing village" (small is obviously a relative term in Japan as the population is 175,000) with several fascinating historical sites, some of which the city is petitioning to become UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We started with visiting the Hokokuji Temple, a Zen Buddhist Temple founded in 1334. The current temple was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1923.

It was incredibly muggy, but at least several degrees cooler in the shade.