Yesterday we decided to do use our Railpasses for some longer distance traveling. Our goals, Kamakura and Yokohama, both are cities located south of Tokyo next to the ocean. We first went to Kamakura in search of another giant Buddha/Diabutsu statue. However, our map reading abilities haven't improved since we overshot the much need turn and ended up at the beach.
Which was surprisingly nice after trudging in the sun for so long, the strong winds kept us cool...even if we had to look out for hawks.
After taking the scenic route, we ended up finding the large bronze Buddha statue, we were even able to go into the statue itself. The shrine around the statue also contain many significant objects but we didn't dally too long.
After Kamakura, we head to Yokohama. Due to the time, we decide to seek out the Chinatown (largest in Japan) there. Of course, it wouldn't be normal if we didn't get lost. We completely missed the district and ended up about 20 minutes away from where we want to be. Still we were able to find the Yokohama Stadium on the way back.
We finally found our way into Chinatown. Where we were greeted by the typical faux-chinese architecture you find in most Chinatowns. We ate a really nice dinner there in a restaurant that specialized in Canton-styled cuisine. The owner had amazing fluency in English despite being born and raised in Yokohama (his parents originated from Southern China).
We also found the (im)famous Kanteibyo temple which I'll have to agree completely with the critics, it was super gaudy. (ーー;)
We ended the day with walking along the coast of Yokohama through Yamashite Park, walking through the many parks as well as islands. Several statues were erected within the parks along the coast. We even got to go right near the giant Ferris Wheel in Cosmo World (it was closed though).
Now with today's busy, yesterday's successful trip to two cities got us thinking, We'll try for three locations today. Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya.
First up, Shinjuku. We didn't really have any aim for Shinjuku, the other two locations we had a vague idea of what we wanted to do but, Shinjuku, not so much. We arrived like normal but just like normal we ended up in the complete opposite end of the district from where we wanted to be. We ended up in Western Shinjuku where all the government and business corporation buildings were. We also found yet another giant city park.
This main government building, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, also had some rather interesting artistic statues...plus ladybugs.
After touring the are, we headed back east towards the stations. Once there and after a quick look at the map, we decided to try and find Kabukicho, also known as the famous red-light district. Some of you readers might recognize the name, its the local that is featured prominently in the Yakuza video games.
The two pink-red "arcs" between the large buildings is the entrance to Kabukicho.
Kabukicho is called that because of the proposed Kabuki theater that was never built there. Now the district plays host for mostly entertainment and food, or perhaps something of both. The district is full of Host Bars (both genders are common)...not sure what to think bout King Kong endorsing this one.
We also found the giant theatre in the Yakuza game...those who are familiar with anime might recognize the green wall from the third episode of Eden of the East as well.
After going through the district, we headed back to the station to head to the next district. Harajuku. This was the easiest one to do, since it really only had one major attraction there (although I guess the Sunday mobs of young cosplayers would've been fun to see). The major attraction is Meiji Park which hosts Meiji Shrine.
The shrine is dedicated Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. It was they who finally reopened Japan to foreign countries during their rule in the late 19th century
With the park and shrine complete, we headed to our last destination for today, Shibuya. Of course we decided to find another JR train station that was closer instead of heading back to the original station, during the way we got lost yet again. This time completely missing the station we intended to find but instead walked the the station after it.
Shibuya is known as one of the best locations in Japan for shopping for clothes. Being who we are, it didn't really appeal to most of us. Plus the time being 4:30 pm didn't help with to be back before dark. We wander through the streets a bit, they were packed with young people. I recognized a several famous clothes stores but we ended up just going into a Book Off and Italian-cuisine restaurant. We also saw the Hachiko Statue (I think someone decided to they wanted to take a picture of their own dog with the statue, hence the tiny dog).
We got back quite tired and exhausted. But we'll be ready for the second round of Akiba
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