Japan is one of the best countries in the world to be a tourist. Everything here works well, it is an orderly, punctual, efficient country, with perhaps a little quiet but very friendly people, with fantastic food and incredible tourist destinations.
A single visit is not enough, I say that I am going for the fourth and I have just arrived. Every trip I discover something new, I experience something new and I treasure indelible memories. For example, just two weeks ago I was on my way to Kamakura Great Buddha, One more comfortable excursions you can do from Tokyo.
How to go to the Great Buddha of Kamakura
First you should know that Kamakura is an ancient city, built on the coast of Kanagawa prefecture, less than an hour south from Tokyo. In times when political control around here was held by the Minamoto clan, the city became the political heart of XNUMXth century Japan. Its power began to decline two centuries later when Kyoto came to occupy the same place.
Little remains of those years of glory because today the truth is that it is a quiet little town that on weekends or the Chinese New Year it is full of tourists. Temples, sanctuaries, some historical monuments and even its beautiful beaches are a magnet in summer, but the star is always the Big Buddha or kamakura daibutsu, the imposing and peaceful statue that you see in the photos. How do you get here? Well, very easy, as it usually happens in Japan.
The Japanese state owns many transport lines so if you have the Japan Rail Pass you're in luck because you won't have to pay for the trip. You can get there using the JR Yokosuka Line or the JR Shonan Shinjuku. To use the first one, you must go to Tokyo station and the train takes just under an hour. It costs 920 yen, without the pass (about $ 9). You can also take it at Shingawa station.
The other line departs directly from Shinjuku Station, at the rate of twice an hour. You should get on the one that goes to Zushi so it is always a good idea to ask someone to be sure. The person will look at the illuminated signs or their own mobile and confirm the information so that you can travel calmly and go to the right side.
If your intention is to know a little more than the Big Buddha, maybe you go in summer or spring and want to go to the beaches, one option is to buy the Enoshima Kamakura Free Pass- Includes the train from Shinjuku and unlimited use of the Enoden electric train linking all major points in Kamakura for 1470 yen.
Explore Kamakura
The city is small and if you feel like it you can walk around it. It's what I did and that it was cold. But I got off the train, had a powerful breakfast and started walking through the charming little streets until I got lost. There are signs anyway so you never miss everything, just enough to discover corners, houses, people. If the weather is good too you can rent a bike.
If you ask for a map at the tourist office, you can walk one of the many hiking trails that cross the city and the hills or hop on a bus or take a taxi. The taxi can be convenient when you want to go to destinations a little out of the way such as Zuisenji and Zeniarai Benten temples. In addition to the tourist pass I told you about before there is another: the Kamakura Enoshima Pass It costs 700 yen and allows you to use the JR trains, the Shonan monorail and the Enoden in one day.
It does not include the trip to and from Tokyo, yes, but you can consider it if you are going to be full in the city.
Kamakura Great Buddha
It is a huge bronze statue representing Amida Buddha and that it is in the gardens of the Kotokuin Temple. It has little more than 13 meters high and it is the second tallest bronze statue in all of Japan as there is another even taller in Nara.
It was originally built in 1252 and it occupied the center of a huge hall in a temple. But the temple was destroyed many times by floods and typhoons in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries. Its construction took more than ten years and for some centuries the statue is outdoors so every so often it needs maintenance.
I came walking from Kamakura station but if you take the Enoden electric train from that same station it is the third stop, Hase. The little train is picturesque so it is worth taking it too. The temple where the Buddha rests opens from 8 am and closes at 5:30 pm. It is very cheap because it only costs 200 yen and if you enter the same statue, you must do it, you pay an extra 20 yen. Nothing.
It never closes, not even on New YearsSo as soon as you see that the weather is good in Tokyo, take this trip to Kamakura that you are going to love. I went in winter so the cold scared me a little to continue traveling but it would have been beautiful to continue walking and end up on the beach or visit the Hasedera Temple that has beautiful views of the city or the Hokokuji Temple that is in the middle of a forest bamboo, among many others.
What's more, in summer tourism is also concentrated on the beaches because Kamakura beaches are very close to Tokyo and Yohokama and they are ideal to escape the humid heat of this season. The two most famous are the beaches of Zaimokuza and Yuigahama, both over a kilometer long, with sun shelters, shops and showers.