Tuesday, March 24, 2009

 In the morning, Will and I went to the Tokyo-Edo museum near the sumo headquarters in Ryogoku, about 20 minutes from our hotel. The museum, which traced the history of Tokyo, was fun for Will, with its reconstructions of old houses and displays of samurai armor and swords.

  We then met up with Rick for an impromptu trip to Kita-Kamakura, an hour’s train ride south, in an attempt to get away from the hordes and enjoy the start of spring at some beautiful Zen temples. The Engaku-ji temple was beautiful and peaceful, a world away from Tokyo, and Rick declared himself to love temples.

 We then embarked on the “Big Buddha Hiking Course,” which my guide book billed as a “meandering 2.2 kilometer path” to the 40-foot-tall Big Buddha in Kamakura. Not. It was more like hiking in the Wallowas over rutted out tree roots that threatened to trip you plunging over cliffs a hundred feet high. I was wearing a skirt and my city shoes. Oh, also, we had planned to eat lunch in Kita-Kamakura, but oh, there wasn’t any place to eat. So we set off, without lunch or drinks, on this nasty path, meeting people in dress clothes and high heels all the way along. They all looked totally unfazed.  I’d forgotten how bizarre Japan is. Fortunately we bought some tea from a vending machine halfway through the forced march. Will had a blast, however.

 We finally got to the Big Buddha, crawled inside its hollow 40-foot hull, took a few photos, and  took a train back to main Kamakura, grabbed sushi at the train station to eat on the way back to Tokyo, only to find ourselves on a commuter train, where it was impossible to eat. I made Will eat his inari-zushi, though he was embarrassed. He perked up about 45 minutes later, as we approached our station.

 We picked up food at Shimbashi station near our hotel and ate in our room, watching the end of sumo, the news and now a totally corny and wonderful variety show with a bunch of wacky Japanese. Also coverage of Ichiro, who batted in the winning run for Japan in the World Baseball Championships. Woo hoo!!!