Crawling around Kamakura 🐛

Good morning! Tuesday (December 5th) saw me wake up and head to Tokyo Station to catch the train to Kamakura. Kamakura today is a rustic seaside town, but it used to be the seat of political power from 1185-1333, so there's a lot of cool stuff to see--too much to see in a day trip, but you have to start somewhere.

The first place I went was through Komachi Dori, a pedestrian shopping area.

I bought taiyaki, which is one my absolute favorite snacks!

I also saw this BEAUTIFUL bird (advertising for an "owl forest" - basically a petting zoo with only owls).

At the end of the street, I came to a large park containing a number of Shinto shrines, a museum, and a kindergarten! I first wandered to Hataage Benzaiten Shrine, isolated on a little island to the right of the entrance.

View of the pond.

The entrance to the shrine grounds.

I fully do not know what these are, but they looked really cool.

Also there were some pigeons chilling.

A view of the shrine gate (torii) from the inside. I'm disproportionally pleased every time I see Japanese Maples in Japan.

From there, I walked along the main path toward Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, a shrine from the 1800s that is considered one of the primary draws of Kamakura today. I didn't take any pictures though, sorry haha.

After satisfying my curiosity by looking around a little more, I headed back to the train station to catch a little trolley-style train to Yuigahama Beach, where I hoped to glimpse Mt. Fuji!

The trolley cars were so cute!

At the beach proper, I felt a little........blown away.

Beautiful beach though!

This is looking toward Zaimokuza beach to the east.

AND WHAT'S IN THE SKY?

AN ANGEL

Alas, my birdwatching cred is not what it should be, so all I can really tell you about this bird is that it's likely a hawk, and definitely not a falcon.

"Beware of hawks!!" BELIEVE ME I AM

Diversions aside, between the wind and the sun, I could not see a daggone thing in the supposed direction of Mt. Fuji, so I decided to return to town and wait until the sun was going down to try the beach again.

Paused at this roadside mirror to capture just how vivid all the colors looked.

The outdoor station near Yuigahama.

Anyway, because I have a one-track mind, I went directly to the owl garden I had passed earlier.

AND I LOVED IT

There will be a special mid-week post showing off the...truly excessive number of photos I took of the owls.

After spending a delightful time there (and presumably eating lunch), I went to grab some dinner and head back to the beach to finally find The Mountain.

Earlier in the day, I had thought maybe that Mt. Fuji was somewhere in the left of this picture? But it was not.

I ended up having to walk around the full curve of the beach, basically to the cliff directly opposite to where I started.

BUT WAIT

IN THE DISTANCE

THERE SHE IS

I finally found Mt. Fuji! It was so dark that I had to brace my camera on a railing to get even these unsteady shots, but it was definitely worth the trek. The beach was also very beautiful at night, despite how windy it still was. I swear I was brushing sand out of my purse for a month.

Lovely

Since I had gotten so far from the station at this point, I ended up just walking back instead of taking the train. It's not too long a walk, but a little longer than I planned for when I started, haha.

I made it back to Kamakura station, dozed all the way to Tokyo, and then crashed back into bed. The next day would be my last in Tokyo, and indeed all of Asia, for the foreseeable future. 😢