9 November 2016
Now they are rubbish
Hiking all the hills surrounding Kamakura
My last full day in Japan.
Trump won, the internet, pollsters and forecasting supercomputers are wrong everytime now, brexit, UK election, trump.
My boots are now rubbish. I dont need them anymore, they are worn through the bottom, its a sad day for my boots.
It may be a sad day for my boots, but they got one last hurrah doing a full lap on the trails around Kamakura.
I have actually been to Kamakura before, the time when I decided to go to Tokyo for a weekend because I am a crazy lunatic, but on that occasion I spent my time on the nearby island looking at cats rather than on the trails looking at the view and temples.
Getting there actually confused me, I got a train from Tokyo station, and the internet said platform 1. So I watched trains come but they werent mine. Turns out there are two platforms numbered 1 at Tokyo station, and the train to Kamakura actually leaves from where the N'EX service to the airport goes, underground, where as all the other trains leave from platforms above the bullet trains.
No wonder I was confused, why number two platforms the same number?
It is a very easy hike as there is no real elevation to be had, and where there is, there are stairs. It starts out boring, and I was wondering what the big deal was, I started near the big buddha as thats the closest point to the main station.
However, from the second part of the trail onwards it gets a lot better, and you get some great views, even of mount fuji.
The light was tricky all day, everything really looked silverish / silvery, but in some ways that made for more interesting photos.
If you plan to do the full hike, you go from Kamakura station to the beach, along the beach, up the road to the big buddha thing at Daibutsu. Then up the stairs to the trail.
From there its the boring bit and very busy bit of the trail with teams of school kids excited to be on some kind of expedition. Head to Tokeki and the Kita-Kamakura station to find the bathroom, no public urination possible on this part of the trail due to too many school kids.
From Kita-kamakura station, head along the train tracks to Kenchoji. Pay 300 yen to get in through gritted teeth, but this is the best temple of the day, and you need to pay to get up the good bit of the path...and use their bathroom.
Then the best part of the trail starts, walk all the way around the back ridge on the Tenen hiking trail to Zuisenji. Public urination here, no problem.
Finally its back along the road to the temple / shrine at the end of the main street called Tsurugaoka or similar which I went to last time.
By now I was starving, hooray for family mart and calorie mate.
The main street itself takes you back to the station, and its a fantastic street.
The train back to Tokyo station is massive, seriously the biggest train I ever saw for passengers.
So its a great full day, start at 8AM and you will be back at the hotel by 5PM if you dont stop anywhere and jog the flat bits! Overall, just on 30,000 steps.
Too many photos today, so did not waste time and space uploading train and station photos, here I am already at the beach at Kamakura, working out which way I would run when the siren goes off.
The beach, with surfers, windsurfers, and shacks full of dope smoking hippies.
More beach, bit more developed over there.
The whole area is full of these shops for tourists, fancy cafes, jazz bars. They are trying to be a little bit alternative but aiming it at people too old to actually grow a taliban beard and play the kazoo for attention.
Instead the tourist crowd is your old folks with the day pass temple tour ticket who want an ice cream and a sit down.
The stairs to the right are the start of the trail, past the big buddha. I did not pay the fine to go see the statue as there was an absolutely enormous line of people bussed in.
Very busy, but mostly flat trail.
The first section has almost no views, but there are a couple of interesting bits to run up.
A couple of view shots now from the mostly viewless section of the trail.
Bit more view.
I think this is Jochiji shrine, again you have to pay to go in, so no.
Kita-Kamakura station. The bathrooms are past the guard and the barriers, so just walk up the tracks and hop up onto the platform! Make sure no train is coming...
Another temple I went past, lets see, referring to map, its called Engakuji.
Now we get to the best temple which also has a bathroom, but only once you pay the praying fee. This one is called Kenchoji, and its where you rejoin the best part of the temple trail.
Others were taking photos inside, so I did.
There are a number of big buildings in this one, keep going up behind it for the real fun.
Some kind of gold spray painted decorative gate near a money collecting wishing well.
This garden leads to the bit with the view.
Climb up the stairs past the gargoyles.
Also, photo number 800! A new record.
Do some flag appreciation, and start to wonder why the clouds are so silver.
Something is on fire! Or perhaps they just elected the new Japanese pope and let off the white smoke?
Now we can appreciate the view, this one is a finalist for photo of the day, but not the winner!
That is Mount Fuji, partially obscured by cloud of course. Very hard to get it to appear in photos, looked nice with naked eye.
Stare past the camera, look angry.
Once over the top, you can see Yokohama. I recognise that big building as the one on top of the station, also the train went through Yokohama, also I checked on google maps, so I have a high level of confidence that the results saying Trump will win means this is Yokohama.
Around the back, you get some views of nothing much, and there are basically no people. I passed one group of old Japanese folks, they were super excited as I passed each of them in turn.
Then after quite a while, but easy flat hiking, you spot the end point, a small part of Kamakura in a valley. Theres a vending machine where the trail rejoins the road, I was very thirsty!
Now I am back at the main city temple Tsurugaoka, plus an even longer second word. Girls like to play dress up, so I photograph them when they arent looking.
Very popular with tourists here as you can see, the path to the temple has stands selling pop corn, ice cream, t-shirts, glow sticks, plush toys.
Photo of the day! Looking over the tops of the temple buildings and down the main street in the silvery glare of the day.
The temple has the Chrysanthemum festival going on like they all do. Still not as good as Nagoya last year.
Good light from this angle, not so silvery. Silver / Silverish / Silvery is word of the day.
Also a runner up for photo of the day, the gate and the main street, the light makes it more interesting than it would otherwise be.
The great thing about the main street of Kamakura is there is a pedestrian street up the middle, so you can run down it fast without having to look in any shops.
Looking back up this middle shop avoidance street the other way, I am sure the shop keepers love this concept.
There is also a proper pedestrian street running parallel back to the station, thats where you can buy things made of plastic, fans, chopsticks, your standard temple shit.
And now, removed from my feet for the last time, RIP my boots. A minutes silence please, last post. Cue the bugle.