04/01 - kamakura and yokohama

Today was a travel heavy day so we didn't get to see much.

I slept really well the night before as the futons and heated floor were a good combination. We started the day with breakfast at the ryokan which was pretty good, like the dinner before. We got a hotpot type thing with we first used to fry a lightly oiled and salted fish and then heated up a broth of tofu, mushrooms and seaweed. we had some pickled veggies, fish paste rings, miso soup, rice, chowamushi (steamed water egg) and some red olive like thing in sugar. The fish and chowamushi were really good. We did a quick hike around the area, taking pictures before checking out.

The next couple hours consisted of a gondola ride up the mountain, train down the mountain and multiple train transfer before we ended up in Yokohama. After checking into your hostel, we go on to another train to go to Kamakura, a town about 30 minutes away.

Kamakura is famous for the 2nd largest buddha in japan (first being the one we saw in Nara) and a couple other temples. We first went to see the buddha and got to go inside of it, which was interesting. Afterwards we went to hase temple, which had japan's largest wood carving, and a nice view of all of kamakura. after wandering around the town a bit longer and buying souvineers, we headed back to yokohama.

In yokohama we went to the downtown area to see if there was anything to see. None of hte buildings looked particularly interesting at night. They had japans tallest obervation deck, but we decided to pass on it. We found a pokemon center in the mall which sells everything pokemon related, which was also pretty interesting. Dinner in that area seemed pricy, so we went back to our hostel area to find a place to eat. We found a fast food place that was very cheap and i got a salad, miso soup, a big bowl of rice , and hotpot sytle beef for \490. not back.

we were all pretty tired from all the train travel, so we went back to the hostel afterwards. The room was pretty interesting. It is pretty small but is tatami mat covered. It has a thin futon to sleep on, a tv, fridge, and balcony. Also, the toilet is really cool. Like all japanese toilets, it had the butt washing spray, but this one also had a fan/drier and a sink on top. neat.

Tomorrow we are going to take a day trip to Nikko to see teh mauseleums and temples and stay in a tokyo capsule hotel.