*Kamakura day trip 9/27

We went  to Kamakura on a day trip with CIEE. It's roughly 2 hours by train from Tokyo. It's a beautiful city, where the new weaves its way though the old. I want to live there if I am ever filthy rich...

We followed a path of torii through the city. There are three leading up to the temple. The streets are on either side of the path. The shogunate in charge had this path leading to the temple (of course flanked by cherry trees) for his wife when she was pregnant, so that she could stroll back and forth as she pleased. 

This bridge was closed on the day that I went because it was a rainy day and it's very steep. It was supposed to make you work to get to the temple. 

In addition to that bridge, you get a nice flight of stairs leading to the temple. More work. 

I saw this cool cat next to a ramen shop. I asked if I could take the picture and the guy who owned the shop was really nice. This cat is a maneki neko (beckoning cat) but not as cute as I've grown accustomed to seeing them... He looks like he's calling you over so he can kick you in the face (O.O)

Jouji and me during lunch at a restaurant. I didn't want to be in this picture alone and he wa nice enough to act like he wanted to pose for me. Yay, Jouji! Btw, his name is George. My friends Geri and Korin and I decided we would use his Japanese name b/c we all like Paradise Kiss (>.<) and he is prolly the opposite of that Jouji. 

Aaah. Daibutsu. This huge Buddha is the second biggest in Japan but he has held up better than the first one, because that had to be rebuilt at some point. So, though he isn't the tallest, he is the strongest. He used to be in a temple and covered in gold but during a tsunami, his temple was washed away, leaving him out in the open (which is why he's lost his gold). You can actually see the bases of the posts that used to hold up the temple (no in the picture, though).

He looked amazing and I took too many pictures of him. 

Me in front of a the Hase temple entrance, sporting my okaasan's umbrella. 

The flowers at Hase temple were amazing. They plant different types of flowers so that there are always some in bloom, no matter what season it is. 

More flowers. 

At temples, for 100 yen, you can buy fortunes. When you get a bad fortune, you hang it up on this thing and pray for the gods to change your fortune/ luck.

This area of the temple was beautiful, but very sad. Couples who suffer a miscarriage or the death of a child buy little statues, place them here, and pray for them. Anyone who comes here can pray for the children's safe passage to their resting place. You use this ladle and pour water over the statues head 3x and pray for the children. 

Little buddhists.

This is the same area from before. All these are statues for the children. There are so many.

More statues for the children.

and more still.

Outside of the temple for Kannon, the Goddess of mercy. She is portrayed with eleven heads, each with a different emotion so that she can empathize with whatever we are feeling when we pray to her. 

The view from the temple was awesome, even for a rainy day. And it was the first time I'd seen the ocean since I flew over it for 14 hours to get here.

The temple again. With some school boys that wouldn't get out of my shot. 

Another buddha. This one was so cute I had to take a picture with it. I didn't see any signs asking us not to take pictures of it, so I thought it would be ok. 

MORE FLOWERS! it has a really cool statue in the background but it is artistically blurred out to show off the flowers (^.^)

This temple also had a really beuatiful cave with more statues. The ceiling was crazy low!

There was one room in the cave that had all these little figurines in it. This is just a small part of the room. There were hundreds upon hundreds!

Here's a close-up. She's one of the seven lucky gods of Japan. Her name is Benzaiten, or Benten; she is the goddess of feminine beauty and wealth. The cave, Bentenkutsu, is actually a cave used to honor her.

Kamakura is also home to an AMAZING Studio Ghibli store where I wanted to buy everything. But I came to my senses and forced myself to leave (it's ridiculously expensive).

We were excited so we ended up taking the train to the beach, even though it was NOT a pretty day, it was chilly, and it was getting dark. But my friend, Korin, who's from Denver, has NEVER SEEN THE OCEAN. So, this was a necessity. This is her first picture at the beach. Worth the trouble. 

Me at the beach. 

Kamakura beachside homes... The train actually runs right through there so you can see the beach from it. It reminds me of Kiki's Delivery Service, this area.

*Meiji Shrine and Harajuku on a Sunday..

About 2 weeks ago, my friends, Geri and Korin, and I decided to go back to Harajuku on a Sunday because that's when all of the cosplayers, Lolita girls, etc are around. These are pictures from that Sunday:

TAIYAKI! These cute little fish shaped yummies are probably my favorite pastries here in Japan (and that's saying a lot). This one, my first, was filled with custard and it was delicious. 

This guy was just hanging out on the bridge that leads to the Meiji shrine from Harajuku station. When I asked him if I could take a picture, he looked surprised I even asked. Then, he threw himself into and action pose. That guy was pretty cool. 

I look SO horrible in this picture. It's one of those pictures where the angle is off and your legs look really short. BUT, this girl looks so awesome, I kind of HAD to post it anyway. 

This is the entrance to the pathway that leads to Meiji-jinju (the shrine). 

This is a cute little bridge you cross over to get to the shrine. 

These used to hold sake. They were given as gifts a looooong time ago to help purify the area for the shrine. Now, the empty caskets are put on display. 

The torii in front of Meiji-jinju.

These are located in front of shrines. You use the water there to wash yourself so you are pure enough to walk through the torii and into the shrine to pray. 

After a wathcing the Japanese people before me, I was like, "OK, I got this."  But, actually, this time around I did it wrong. I learned this a week later when a Japanese woman taught me the proper way to do it. It's really beautiful. You pour water on your left hand, then pour it on your right, then you cup your left hand, pour water into that, put it in your mouth and spit it out onto some rocks at your feet. Lastly, you hold the ladle thing upright so the water washes the handle and your right hand again. (o.O) 

Korin and me in front of the Torii, doing the tourist thing. 

I didn't take anymore pictures at the shrine after this because you can't take pictures inside. But it was beautiful and more moving than I thought it would be. 

*Random pictures...

At some point, my little sister and I realized we both like to draw things on Picto-chat on the DS. This is a precious past time for me because it allows us to communicate effectively regardless of any language barriers. And since it sometimes yields works of art, I'm probably going to post pictures of them every once in awhile. 

She drew us <3 

And here's a picture of Akari-chan and me. 

This was taken from the 46th? floor of a building. The park that you can see there is Yoyogi Koen, which is huge and famous. 

This is a cute little path that runs next to my school. From one of the gates, you cross the street and just go up a flight of stairs. In the spring, I'll post more pictures of it because it's actually lined with Cherry trees. 

This is a picture of my school from the same spot. 

*Drive around Tokyo w/ my family, the Takiguchi's..

My host family offered to take me to on a drive around Tokyo to some sight seeing. It was really fun and my host father was being a real cutie- he was trying his hardest to be my tour guide and explain things to me in English/ Japanese. At this point I was still terrified of them, but I was very happy, nonetheless. (^.^)

My brother and sister Yuutarou and Akari-chan. 

This was on the 30 something-th floor of a building that my father took me to so I can see a nice chunk of Tokyo. It was the most AMAZING view- you could even see Tokyo Tower all pretty and lit up.

Another picture of the view from up there. 

They also TOOK me to Tokyo Tower, which is actually pretty amazing. 

We also went to this... mall? The outside courtyard thing was really cool. You could see Tokyo Tower from there, too.

This weird structure was in the courtyard. I like it. There's no reason to dislike a building that looks like a fly's head emerging from the ground. 

By far, one of the coolest sidewalk art pieces I'v ever seen. It was huge and this is just a small piece of it. It was made with colored sand (blue) and flower petals (white). AMAZING.

Really tall government building.