Pam:  We left for Kamakura at around 2:30 p.m.  After a false start in the train station, we finally found an “open” train (not one made up of reserved seats).  We decided to stop first in Ofuna, which is two stops before Kamakura, to see the “Ofuna Kannon” – a huge white stone female religious figure thingee up on the hillside.  The guidebook said it was just 200 meters from the train station.

Well, it’s 200 meters IF you leave from the correct exit!  So we wandered about a quarter-mile away from the train station – thinking all the while that it was nearby – but ended up turning around and going back to the train station and asking for directions.  Then we saw it up on the hillside, but couldn’t figure out how to get to it.  After we walked another quarter-mile around the thing, Emily asked a shopkeeper how to get to it.  We went down this narrow alley and started up some stone stairs, but then a woman with her two daughters told us that it couldn’t be seen from the top of the stairs.  SO, we went back down and then saw this little plastic half-faded sign hanging off a piece of rope on the side of a post that pointed in another direction!

We trudged up the hill and then up some more stairs to finally see the thing and take some pictures.  Then we went back to the train station and took the train to Kamakura to see the big Buddha.  We took a city bus from the train station to the “Daibutsu Mae” stop (190 yen one way) and walked over to see the Big Guy and take photos.

After that we were hungry so we headed back to the train station via city bus and found an udon place.  Apparently Candace is quite an udon connoisseur!  She gave two thumbs up for the udon noodles at lunch, and said that the place we went to for dinner had a good broth base.  We went to the “koban” (police booth) and asked about the firework display for the area and found out that it wasn’t going to be until 11 p.m. – much too late for us!  So we had soft-serve ice cream for dessert and headed back to the hotel.

I am an official “Japanese train rider” – I fell asleep on the train ride back!  I woke up with a jerk and hit Emily accidently, but at least I didn’t snore! 

Emily: Mom’s posts don’t have as much rambling as mine! So yeah, when we tried to get onto the first train for the Yokosuka line to Ofuna, all the train cars were labelled “reserved” so we got really confused. We ended up going back to the platform for the Yokosuka line but the next train was normal so we were able to ride that one. The ride took roughly 45 minutes. When we got off at Ofuna Station we thought there was only one exit so we were really confused and went out the wrong one. I swear, the statue was teasing us because it was popping out of the trees and we could see it from the street but we couldn’t get to it! We walked up to the bottom of it, we walked around it, and we couldn’t find the entrance! It was so hot, too, but I really wanted to see it. We were close to giving up and returning to the station when I barely noticed the aforementioned pathetic sign and found the correct pathway. At the bottom of the stairs that lead to the statue, there’s a flame burning for the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. According to Wikipedia, the statue has parts of ground zero from both locations. Wikipedia also says that the statue is dedicated to the “bodhisattva Kannon or Kuan Yin.” It was pretty cool once we got there. There were also lots of huge cicadas in the surrounding trees screeching at us. Quite relaxing, indeed. When we took the train from Kamakura Station to the Daibutsu, there were a whole bunch of European foreigners on the bus. It was kind of weird to see all of these obvious foreigners all of a sudden. There were so many people at the Daibutsu and it was hard to take pictures without foreigners in the background! At the entrance/exit there was a gift shop so I bought a Hello Kitty charm of the Buddha holding Hello Kitty. It’s pretty cute! When we were looking for a place to eat, we went into the Tokyu Department Store but there was only a market on the second floor and no restaurants. There was a Starbucks next door but we wanted to eat real food, not Starbucks. The place where we found the udon restaurant was located right outside the train station. I think we confused to poor waitress by trying to make her use English. I ordered oyako-don (rice bowl with mainly chicken, onion, and egg) and Mom got tororo soba (buckwheat noodles with smooth grated yam-type thing). I thought the food was really good! Downstairs from the restaurant (which was on the second floor) we got the soft serve ice cream. Mom and I both got strawberry chocolate flavor which was really refreshing. We deserved it from all the walking we did today (mainly being lost). The train ride home was uneventful – we took the Yokosuka Line back to Shinagawa. Mom was so tired that when we exited from the north exit she started walking toward the central entrance to get back into the train station! On the way back to the hotel we stopped at 7-11 to buy drinks. I got some milk tea and I already finished it! That’s about it for today – tomorrow we’re going to go shopping (finally!)

Ofuna Kannon