My cousin Erin is coming to Japan tomorrow for 13 days so don't expect too many, if any posts. However, again check out the Flickr page for pics.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Still lazy and busy...
Ugh, no time to post. When there is time, I'm far to lazy to construct sentences on the Internet. So...look at the Flickr page and make up your own story! It'll be fun.
My cousin Erin is coming to Japan tomorrow for 13 days so don't expect too many, if any posts. However, again check out the Flickr page for pics.
My cousin Erin is coming to Japan tomorrow for 13 days so don't expect too many, if any posts. However, again check out the Flickr page for pics.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sup
Last night was crazy. Soccer game, made new friends, went to Izakaiya, and then and all night festival at Chigasaki beach with Rory. It's 11am now and I still haven't really slept.
There's a proper post coming soon once I get motivated enough. I plan on doing another 4-5 post marathon very soon.
-Brad
There's a proper post coming soon once I get motivated enough. I plan on doing another 4-5 post marathon very soon.
-Brad
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Place Review - Kamakura
Kamakura is a mainly historic district in southern Yokohama with plenty to see and do from shrines to great food and a beach. It's also only a short train ride from other great spots like Fujisawa and Enoshima Island making it a great place to start a day of sightseeing. The main attraction of Kamakura is Daibutsu, a large bronze Buddha statue.
Before getting to the main part of Kamakura, you first arrive at a different station about 25 minutes walking distance away from all of the best stuff. From here you can either connect to a smaller train line or walk, I suggest the latter since there is some great stuff to see on the way. In front of this station (too lazy to look up name) there is a large outdoor market and mostly modern buildings. If I remember correctly, the market was mostly food as opposed to souvenirs with a number of small coffee shop style restaurants dotting the area. The street is very narrow and packed with people so I made a quick run of it, but it was still interesting nonetheless.
In Kamakura there are countless shrines and historic landmarks, close to 25 to be exact, but there is one fairly large one that is a must see...I'm a terrible tour guide...I have no idea what it's called, but it's close to the main downtown area. I happened to just stumble into it and maybe if you go you'll do the same. It's located at the top a large hill and along the left hand side of the street there are pretty decent souvenir shops the whole way to the shrine. It costs roughly 400 yen to enter and it's packed with plenty of photo opportunities and incredible views of the shoreline.
In Kamakura there are countless shrines and historic landmarks, close to 25 to be exact, but there is one fairly large one that is a must see...I'm a terrible tour guide...I have no idea what it's called, but it's close to the main downtown area. I happened to just stumble into it and maybe if you go you'll do the same. It's located at the top a large hill and along the left hand side of the street there are pretty decent souvenir shops the whole way to the shrine. It costs roughly 400 yen to enter and it's packed with plenty of photo opportunities and incredible views of the shoreline.
The beach area in Kamakura is bit lacking, but it's worth a quick stop to break up all of the sightseeing. It's quite small and the dark black sand makes the whole thing quite unappealing.
Daibutsu is the main attraction of Kamakura and it stands about 43 feet high (13 meters...I still can't get used to this whole meters thing). For 30 yen, or $0.30 USD, you can actually walk inside, but it's incredibly disappointing. You pretty much fight your way against people leaving the statue in what is barely enough space for one person to fit into. The whole experience is like being thrust into a mosh pit inside of a tiny metal box. Once inside, you immediately realize that there is nothing to see and turn around 30 yen poorer than when you came in. There is a small souvenir desk with a bunch of overpriced books about Buddhism for the foreigners that get a little too inspired, but I did manage to an awesome key chain for about 400 yen or so.
After you've seen about as much historic stuff as you can take, there is a great hiking trail about a ten minute walk from Daibutsu. You should be warned however that it is a lot longer than it appears. I decided to be adventurous and after about an hour of walking I regretted my decision. About halfway through the trail, there is a very cool looking restaurant and cafe nestled in the woods. I really wanted to stop, but my first priority was finding a way out of the woods because I had to work the next day...and I was broke. I finally came to a clearing which was surprisingly residential. Luckily, another foreigner who lived nearby gave some directions and before I knew it I was right back in the woods. After about another 20 minutes, there was another shine and a fork in the road. There I met three people who helped me find the train station and we stopped at yet another shrine on the way to wash money which is good luck or something. Thanks again to the people who helped me get out of the forest!
The statue itself seems somewhat normal after awhile until you look at the sepia photos nearby with European royalty from hundreds of years ago posing in front and it hits you just old this thing really is. I've heard of people having similar experiences while visiting the Great Pyramids in Egypt as well. When something is built by people, but has outlasted countless generations, it kind of gives you an odd perspective on things.
After you've seen about as much historic stuff as you can take, there is a great hiking trail about a ten minute walk from Daibutsu. You should be warned however that it is a lot longer than it appears. I decided to be adventurous and after about an hour of walking I regretted my decision. About halfway through the trail, there is a very cool looking restaurant and cafe nestled in the woods. I really wanted to stop, but my first priority was finding a way out of the woods because I had to work the next day...and I was broke. I finally came to a clearing which was surprisingly residential. Luckily, another foreigner who lived nearby gave some directions and before I knew it I was right back in the woods. After about another 20 minutes, there was another shine and a fork in the road. There I met three people who helped me find the train station and we stopped at yet another shrine on the way to wash money which is good luck or something. Thanks again to the people who helped me get out of the forest!
So there's that...I'm back. I actually have other posts written on paper but I'm too lazy to work them out on the blog. Tonight I'm going to an Enkai, another work party, and then one more day of work and a company meeting before starting a break until September. The next few posts will probably come around Sunday or so since I may go to the beach on Saturday.
Later - Brad
Later - Brad
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Where Am I?
Thanks to everybody that's been checking out the blog while I've been too lazy and too busy to post. It's always cool to see the hit count go up a little bit. I assure you I'll be making regular posts soon. Next Friday I start my summer vacation so I'll have plenty of time then. However, I should let you know that I started playing World Of Warcraft again. Check out my stats son! I hit 70 and it's awesome.
I've been coming up with some ideas for blog topics while I'm at work so sometime maybe this weekend I'll just do another blog marathon.
All is well in Japan. I've just been far too busy with work and play to write about how awesome of a time it is.
Later - Brad
I've been coming up with some ideas for blog topics while I'm at work so sometime maybe this weekend I'll just do another blog marathon.
All is well in Japan. I've just been far too busy with work and play to write about how awesome of a time it is.
Later - Brad
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