Category: Trip

Here Comes The Rain…

The destination for the day was Enoshima Island via the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura. After training it (~70 minutes) to the area, we hiked up and down a mountain for a bit:

20130612-065838.jpg

This was part of the ‘Daibutsu hiking course’ and eventually led us to a wonderful little shrine and rest stop..,

20130612-070321.jpg

At which KLS cooled herself…

20130612-070352.jpg

And we met a cat!

20130612-070418.jpg

20130612-070436.jpg

As you can see, the grizzled beast was quite popular 🙂

A bit further on we reached Zentairi (sp?), a famous shrine said to increase the fortunes of anyone who washes money in its spring waters. The place was full of school children.

20130612-070922.jpg

Eventually, after some Kamakura ‘boulevarding’, we reached the famous great Daibutsu statue:

20130612-071643.jpg

It’s almost 800 years old, was cast in 30 pieces and is hollow (we went inside). A light rain had started to fall by now, and we were resting whenever it was convenient:

20130612-071837.jpg

Oh, we saw squirrels yesterday!! I saw the first climbing bamboo but the second was on the street in Kamakura. He was very curious and came right up to a small crowd of people:

20130612-072208.jpg

Look how brown and wooly he is! How cute!

After the train, at Enoshima station, we found too women posing a Woody revoltech figurine in a manner indicative of the ‘Hentai Woody’ meme! (Google search at your own risk, btw):

20130612-073054.jpg

I trust Bernard will post a good close up photo of Woody 🙂

20130612-073149.jpg

That’s Enoshima island, which is as beautiful as we remembered. We slowly made our way up the island, and Bernard and I went to the top of the Sea Candle tower for a panoramic view:

20130612-073354.jpg

20130612-073416.jpg

And then… the rains came! Finally, the two (B was paying me to carry his…) umbrellas I had carried for 5 hours came in useful! On the top of the island, without climbing down the other side to see the dragon cave, we started the long, wet trek back:

20130612-073713.jpg

Street Photography

Today, a bold experiment in Tokyo street photography. All these images were taken and edited with my iPhone.

20130611-060130.jpg

Cats of Yanaka

20130611-060154.jpg

No parking for cats

20130611-060257.jpg

Ikebukuro from game center, 6th floor

20130611-060449.jpg

Fattykuma

20130611-060708.jpg

The promise

20130611-060755.jpg

Lunch

20130611-060819.jpg

Self portrait, berserk style

20130611-060857.jpg

The lion inside

20130611-060930.jpg

A drink with friends

20130611-061002.jpg

Cassanova

King Kong’s Finger

Tokyo Sky Tree wasn’t built when we were last here. It’s a ~650 m tall communications tower with two observation galleries at 350 and 450 m. From the ground, it seems impossibly tall.

20130610-052546.jpg

Bernard and I went up yesterday. KLS waited at the bottom since she gets afraid of heights. We had to wait in line for a while, but overall the line management was well done and ran smoothly. Here’s two example shots of the view from the top:

20130610-052814.jpg

20130610-052840.jpg

Visibility was very good, and the Sky Tree is a great way to see just how colossal Tokyo is! We didn’t go to the higher terrace (due to a wait for the additional ticket) but thought the Tower was absolutely worth the visit.

Down at the base is a large mall in which most shops include Sky Tree themed items. These run the gamut from predictable (plastic models of the tower, t-shirts) to just absurd:

20130610-053327.jpg

That’s a flattened squid (to eat) in Hello Kitty Sky Tree packaging…

20130610-053447.jpg

And who can resist the Rilakkuma Sky Tree merchandise?

Japan loves the old ‘lets cut a hole in a picture so you can stick your face through it for a photo’! I love them too, the more absurd the better!

20130610-053740.jpg

20130610-053800.jpg

There was more to the day, including a visit to Tokyo Dome city where we saw many cosplayers and had a laugh in a Lupin themed treasure hunt. Also, I won two prizes in a Monster Hunter raffle at a convenience store and also saw a performing Monkey. But due to tiredness, I’ll leave the details of all this to your imaginations 🙂

20130610-054110.jpg