Kencho-ji, Kamakura, Kanagawa

C. was our neighbor back when hubby was in still grad school in 2006. A couple of years later, we cheered her on when she met A. who's several years her junior. Fast forward to this past July, they finally got married and, guess what, decided to spend a 3-weeks honeymoon in Japan ^.^

A. already had an affinity with Japan. When he was younger he had spent a few weeks traveling through the country, loved the experience, and has been waiting for an opportunity to share everything he saw with the love of his life.


Just so happened that hubby and I were also in Tokyo at the time. After so many years of keeping in touch via FB, texts, emails, Skype, FaceTime, etc., we all were thrilled to finally hangout in person, and in Japan to top it all of!

A Day in Kamakura, Kanagawa

Back in late October (yes, I'm officially 2 months behind on my posts... =.=), on a nice Sunday my two girlfriends D., J., and I fumbled our way to Kamakura, thanks to the Shonan Shinjuku line and their many splits! We finally made it there at lunch time, so of course we had to eat first ^.^"

Mine lunch, oyako-don, super boring but oh so good.

Hase-dera, Kamakura, Kanagawa

After Tsurugaoka and Kotoku-in, we arrived at Kaikozan Jishoin Hase-dera (not to be confused with the other Hase-dera in Nara) with only 30 minutes left before the temple closes for the day. We went in anyway for a quick look, again, which was a shame and hubby and I will have to come back another time to take it more slowly.

The entrance gate from the inside. I didn't take one from the outside because, well, we were in a hurry to get through the gate before the last admittance 30 minutes before closing LOL!

Kotoku-in Daibutsu, Kamakura, Kanagawa

Kotoku-in is, hands down, one of the most well known temples of Japan, thanks to its outdoor bronze seated Daibutsu (Big Buddha) statue. There is not much, and thus not much to say, of its actual temple, and so everyone comes here for the Daibutsu.

As you can see, it's quite huge.

Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, Kamakura, Kanagawa

Continuing with my brother and sister's visit ^.^ Kamakura was our next destination, since it's a short 30-minutes train ride away. Kamakura was the capital of Japan for about 150 years and has many historical sights, not to mention famous temples and shrines. Along with the all too well known Kotoku-in's Daibutsu, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu is a must-see!

It was a beautiful day with the sky clear and sunny, though cold as hell! :X But it was really fun with my friend N. joining us on her day off work. We had tabehodai (all you can eat)okonomiyaki for lunch and after 2 hours or so, all of us were stuffed full of yummy food ^.^

Tsurugaoka supposedly covers a large area with many beautiful sceneries, however we had a few places in mind for that day and thus didn't look around too closely, which was really too bad. Hubby and I will definitely return here on our own to take our time walking around. I mean, just look at the place, need I say more?

Taiyaki Part V

On with my Taiyaki saga ^.^

During our holidays with my brother and sister's visit, we all went to Kamakura, and old capital of Japan with many many famous historical sites, shrines, and temples.

A small clock tower on the east side of the Kamakura station.