As today was another warm and sunny day we went for a day trip to Kamakura. It is a seaside city south from Tokyo, one hour by train. Kamakura is an ancient city that has produced its own culture. It was a political center of medieval Japan, nowadays Kamakura is a prominent resort town with dozens of Buddhist Zen temples and Shinto shrines.
The plan was to see the top 3 places from the trip advisor :-)
Kotokuin Temple and the Great Buddha. Another impressive statue of Buddha known as Kamakura Daibutsu. Height 11.31m and weight about 121 tons. The construction of the bronze statue we can admire today dates from 1252. Buddha used to be in the Daibutsu-den temple but the building was destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis.
Hasedera Temple. Inside the temple there is a magnificent statue of Hase Kannon. It is 9.18 meters tall and has eleven heads. Each face has a different expression, it signifies that the deity listens to the wishes of all kinds of people. Unfortunately taking photos was forbidden so we only made some outside.
Hokokuji Temple. We went there mostly to admire the Kamakura Bamboo Garden. There are 2000 Moso-bamboo (which is the biggest type of bamboo). There is also a cave called Tombs of Ashikage and very quiet and calm tea house where you can appreciate the garden while having a cup of green tea.
From Kamakura we went back straight to Shibuya to spend some time observing people going through that famous crossing. It is an impressive view!
The last thing we planned for today was to visit the observatory in Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It is open until 23:00 so we could admire Tokyo by night. The view from the 45th floor was mesmerizing - city lights up to the horizon.
Also that day we rest a little bit from Japanese cuisine and for a dinner we went to the only taco bell restaurant in Tokyo :-) (all those commercials during NBA games paid off).