Japan ‘23 Day 6: Kamakura

origamiunicorn ♦ October 17, 2023 ♦ Leave a comment

Today I met up with another friend, Takako. We also met via language exchange and we have been meeting on Skype almost every week for the past 6 years. It was so great to see her again. We met at the Yokohama subway station and together took another train to Kamakura.

Kamakura is a coastal town, especially famous for its temples and the statue of the Kamakuru Daibutsu (Great Buddha of Kamakura). This area is usually very crowded on holidays and in the summer, but it being an autumn weekday, most of the crowds were schoolchildren on class trips. We took another train to the temple/Daibutsu are and stopped at the Daibutsu first to get pictures. I paid 50円 to walk inside it (it’s hollow).

From we visited Kamakura Hasedera temple and the Kannon museum. We had been walking a lot at this point and there were many staircases up to the temple, so we decided to get out of the sun and have an early lunch at a vegetarian restaurant next to the temple. I had one curry rice and vegetables – one of my Japanese comfort food favorites – and onion broth. We had a beautiful view from our table, and we were able to spend some time catching up.

The temple and surrounding gardens were lovely. Small shrines, waterfalls, koi fish, windchimes, and Jizo statues. After about an hour exploring the temple, we took the train back to Kamakura and walked along the main street there. The crowds had increased since we arrived and we were getting hot and tired, so we ducked into a small cafe and ordered matcha and dessert. I got a parfait of matcha ice cream, several types of mochi, fruit, and jels – it came with a dark caramel-like sauce to pour over it.

From there we took the subway back to Yokohama station. I went back to Bashamichi but took a detour to walk around Yokohama a little more before heading back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel I took a long nap, watched a movie, and then headed back out. Earlier, I had done a google map search for bars and restaurants and realized there were a lot more within a block of my hotel than I had noticed. Some were hidden in buildings or down alleys, so I set out to find a place.

I walked down one of the alleyways and stopped at a tiny bar/restaurant called “Smiley Smile”. There were 2 seats outside, 4 at the bar, and a tiny table in the back of the bar. There were a few special drinks written on a blackboard so I ordered one of them, a paloma. Behind the bar were a couple of shelves of liquor, a tiny stovetop, a small sink, kitchen utensils hanging up and a small refrigerator. The owner grabbed a half a grapefruit out of the fridge, squeezed it fresh using a juicer on the bar counter and then mixed my drink, which was lovely.

The small setting was very intimate. It’s hard to capture the feel of it in words. I felt a bit like I was in someone’s kitchen, chatting with other houseguests and the host. I made some attempts at conversation with him and others at the bar. Not a complete failure – I could answer the questions they asked me directly, but I had a very hard time understanding any of their conversation. All in all it was a chill experience and I was happy to get out and socialize. I saw there was a food menu that included both fish tacos and mushroom tacos. I might try to go back and get some food there tomorrow night.