Excursions around Yokohama: Kamakura, Tokyo, and Enoshima

Hello,

Just four days later, and here I am again with a new post. Each day brings so many new impressions and places that I have quite a bit to share with you.

Today's post begins on Monday, marking the first trip that took me out of my host city, Yokohama. Together with five other international students, I traveled to the nearby city of Kamakura to visit shrines and a large Buddha statue. Since breakfast in the dorm always starts and ends at an early hour 😩 (and you get literally kicked out of the hall at 8:30 AM), we set off directly after breakfast to our first destination: the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, a Shintō shrine.

On a ten-minute walk from the train station to the shrine, we could walk down an avenue between the two sides of the street and got an impressive first glimpse of the grand shrine and its surroundings. We were also greeted by three drummers who provided musical accompaniment at the entrance.

We spent about an hour on the grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, exploring the shrine itself and the surrounding gardens. We then continued towards the next shrine, Sasuke Inari, which we reached after a 30-minute walk through Kamakura and a small snack in the form of a matcha latte. This shrine was smaller but no less beautiful. A tunnel-like balustrade led 50 meters up to the shrine.

Since this was significantly smaller than the first shrine, we spent much less time there and then walked to the Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine. This shrine was accessed through a tunnel and blended seamlessly with the surrounding mountainous landscape.

Before we ended our day with a bit of beach and ocean time in Kamakura, our last attraction was the Great Buddha. At 13 meters tall, it was quite impressive and definitely worth the visit.

So, after getting a bit lost in the details of this first day, I'll try to keep it shorter for the remaining days. 😅

On Tuesday, I finally had Tokyo on the itinerary. Once again with a few fellow students, I set off after breakfast to Shibuya, a district of Tokyo, to see the famous Shibuya Crossing and generally explore the neighborhood.

Upon arrival, I must honestly say that this crossing is definitely more about appearance than reality and I would not recommend visiting it as a destination. The shopping centers we visited afterward were not particularly appealing either.

However, the day was not over, and after a little snack where I could finally order something from the menu without any modifications 🥳, we took a train another stop over to the Shimokitazawa neighborhood to do some secondhand shopping. That was really cool! This neighborhood is full of secondhand shops, and I will definitely return to snag a few pieces at bargain prices.

Wednesday was rainy, and we returned to Kamakura to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū to see a ceremony where riders on horseback tried to shoot arrows at three target boards along a 90-meter track. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sit down and had to wait quite a while for it to start, so while the show was cool, I would say here too: