Day 7: Kamakura

みなさん、こんにちは！

Hello everyone!

日本旅行７日目は鎌倉へ。

Day 7 of my Japan Trip was in Kamakura!

東京に６日間くらい滞在していたので、少し足を伸ばして鎌倉へ。電車で揺られること約１時間、鎌倉駅に着きました。東京の都会な雰囲気はとは一変、静かで落ち着いた雰囲気。朝着きましたが、駅構内はもうすでに観光客でいっぱい。

We stayed in Tokyo for about 6 days so we visited Kamakura as well. In 1 hour or so by train, we arrived at Kamakura Station. Totally differently from the capital, it was calm and quiet. It was morning that we started Kamakura tourism, but there were so many tourists in the station already!

最初に向かったのは駅からすぐそこにある小町通り。素敵なお土産屋さんが並びます。鎌倉ビールを売ってる店がいくつかあって、朝だったのでさすがに飲めず、後でトライしようということでここではスキップ（結局飲まず終いでしたが・・・）。雑貨屋さんでは巾着や風呂敷、手ぬぐいなど、日本ならではのお土産がたくさん綺麗にディスプレイしてあってずっと見てても飽きません。中でもひらがな柄や富士山のパターンがプリントしてある手ぬぐいがシンプルだけどポップで気に入ったのでイギリスの友達にお土産を買いました！他にもとっても柔らかいコンニャク石鹸などあって、なんかユニークな贈り物を探しているならオススメ◎

We first headed to Komachi Street which is close from the station. There are many pretty souvenir shops lined up along the street. Some shops sell Kamakura Beer, but it was still morning so we decided to try it later (we didn't, after all...). In variety goods shops, they displayed unique Japanese souvenirs like Kinchaku (small bag), Furoshiki (big cloth to wrap stuff), Tenugui (multi-purpose cloth usually with cool/pretty print), which I would never get bored of! Especially, Tenugui with patterns of Hiragana (Japanese alphabets) or Mt. Fuji were so cute that I bought them for my friend in the UK! Some shops even had Konjac soup that is super soft! I recommend this streets for people looking for unique Japanese souvenirs ;)

小町通りをまっすぐまっすぐ進むと、鶴岡八幡宮に行き着きます。広い敷地内には池や神社、奥の方には階段をずっと登ったところに本宮があります。緑が広がるなかにある赤の建物は一際目立って趣があります。

Walking straight on Komachi Street, you eventually reach to Tsuruoka Hachimangu. In the premises, there are ponds, shirines and the main building up on the stairs. The deep green sounding the place makes the red of the building even more vivid.

八幡宮から駅へ戻る時も小町通りを通ったので購買意欲をくすぐられました・・・そんな誘惑に負けず、鎌倉駅から江ノ電に乗って長谷へ（注意：江ノ電はJRではないので改札はお間違えなく！）。駅を降りて静かな町の道を行くと、長谷寺があります。ズラリとならぶお地蔵様やてっぺんから見晴らせる町の景色、海。少し奥には洞窟もあります（かわいいお地蔵様の近く）！この洞窟は屈んで進みますがワクワクしました！

On our way back to the station I was tempted and almost bought something again on Komachi Street! We got on a train called Enoden and headed to Hase (note: Go through the gate for Enoden, not JR!). We walked along the quiet streets in Hase to the next destination, Hase temple. Lots of Jizo-sama, the view from the top where you can see the city and the sea, and horizon..., you can even find a cave in the premises of Hase temple! (close to cute Jizos.) You have to bend your body a little bit to go further but the cave was quite exciting!

見どころ満載の長谷寺を楽しんでいた時、大雨警報が！日本語がわからない一緒に来ているスペインの家族と周りの外国人たちがなんだなんだ！とザワツキました。町内放送のようなので町中に大雨が降るので注意してくださいと繰り返し言われてました。

With so many things to see, we were having a good time but all of a sudden we heard the heavy rain alarm! The Spanish family and other foreign tourists around us were like what's going on?! The announcement for the entire city was repeatedly saying that there will be a heavy rain so be careful etc.

気付くとお寺ももう閉まる時間。大雨も来るし東京に帰るか・・・ということで鎌倉観光は幕を閉じたのでした。鎌倉観光のメインのひとつであった大仏を見損ねました・・・

When we noticed, it was already the closing time. We thought, ok, it would rain anyways, we should head back to Tokyo... so our Kamakura day trip ended there. We missed one of the main things in Kamakura, which is the famous buddha statue, though...

続く！

To be continued!

れ

R