Japan day 3: Kamakura and sushi

At the beginning, my intention was to travel to Tokyo and Kyoto. But being in Japan for only a week, and being the two cities quite far between each other I decided to stick with Tokyo leave Kyoto for another time. But it felt like a waste to stay in Tokyo for an entire week, so I decided to take a couple of day trips around Tokyo area. 

First stop: historical city of Kamakura

THE TRAVELER

It's a wintery day in Japan. Leaves are turning red and yellow, slowly falling on the ground, creating magical paths through the gates of shrines and temples. Kamakura is a small city near Tokyo, gets crowded during week-ends, but time goes slow on a Wednesday morning. Housewifes walking the quiet streets looking for the best grocery deals of the day, small crowds of Japanese turists paying visit to the ancient shrines to pray and catch a few lucky camera shots.

Komachi-dori shopping street

Shinto gatesshinto gates everywhere.

Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu

Temple of the God of War

Kencho-ji

The oldest zen monastery in all of Japan

This is quite an old Buddha

I travelled through China and South Korea, but never in my life I saw such a thin Buddha

So Zen

After visiting the main temple, I got lost (as always) walking up the hill crowded with several other temples.

That's actually something that happen to me all the time. I get somewhere surrounded by a forest, and then I feel the unstoppable need to keep walking and see how far I can go. I have no idea where I'm going, I just keep walking. Problem is these kind of side-walking-trials never end. I get at the top of a hill, and another hill appears. And then you wonder what's up than hill. What if you are missing something amazing? Gotta go. 

So usually after climbing 2 or 3 hills I have to stop myself from keep going on and go back. Although I seldomly regret taking this side tours, it always leave me breathless. Not because of the breathtaking views, but fot the thousands steps I have to climb each time....

Buddha Jesus!

E cosi' mi ritrovai in una selva oscura, che la diretta via era smarrita...I've got to the top of the mountain where I found the temple proctecting the monastery, the statues of animal-spirits are suppsed to keep away the bad ones.

Daibutsu

The most iconic sight of Kamakura is the huge Buddha Daibutsu, about 800 years old. But there's an anecdote I should tell first. I was walking on the streets looking for an hiking trial to walk my way into the forest to reach Daibutsu, but being impossibile to find your way in Japan I had to ask someone for directions. This middle-aged man, did not spoke a word of English. But apparently the hiking trial was closed, so the poor man took an hour of his time to walk all the way through the city to take me there, even if he could just have told me directions instead.

Oh, Japanese people!

This is the entrance of Sugimoto-Dera, the oldest temple in the city, dated 734 AD

Hello Ocean!

Doesn't matter where I go, being in a forest or looking at the sea it's always a magical experience, a moment of introspective loneliness, a face to face with your soul

Women walking the streets wearing kimonos

THE OTAKU/THE WEIRD

Just next to a temple, I found this...whatever-it-is-shop

Swords where sold next to anime-replica objects

like the helm from Full Metal Alchemist or Gatsu's sword

Not sure it's more Otaku or Weird, so I just decided to it under both!

THE EATER 

Finally, a day full of delightful eats

Let's start with grape fanta!

Dorayaki <3 two pieces of sweet pancakes filled with a wide range of choices...

Rice balls with soy sauce ans sesame seeds

Ok. It's Sushi time.

Sushi eateries in Tokyo purchase every morning fresh fish from the Tokyo fish market (the biggest in the world) so it couldn't be fresher. It couldn't be a better quality.

When you enter the place, everybody welcomes you altogether, even the cooks. Then you sit down in front of the desk where the cooks cut the fresh fish in front of you and prepare your sushi on the spot.

Eating sushi is a slow experience. You take your time. Take a piece or two of sushi, then wait, have a chat, and order some more.

Luckily, another westener sat next to me and helped me through the all process.

 I decided to buy a set of different fatness of tuna.

Now, the taste. Not only this sushi was the best thing I ate in Japan, but it could even be the best thing I ever ate in all of my life. The tuna melted in my mouth like a piece of chocolate. It didn't even tasted like fish, as much as meat.

I would lie if I say that I was able to tell the difference between the different kinds of tuna, I just know they were all delicious.

Overall the experience was also inexpensive, this set of sushi and a beer was only about 10 euros.

Can't think how expensive sushi must taste like...it's definetly worth it to go to Tokyo even just to eat this delicacy!

THE ARTIST

I'll leave you with some temple shots. Stay tuned, next episode is Mt. Fujiyama!