Japan tour 2025: Day 15 Kamakura

 

By the numbers

25,271 steps

19.43 kms

 

Level of Chaos: Cant find a garbage bin

 

Shimbashi station

The day had come that I had planned to visit Kamakura around an hour from Tokyo. I had originally planned to get the earliest possible train out of the city thinking it would be overly crowded. Then I thought that I actually need to sleep or else I wouldn’t be in a good condition to be on the ball. Then I realised since I already had paid for my breakfast, then I should actually grab it to go. I did that and drank my coffee on the way to the station. I had my breakfast in my bag until I got all the way to Kamakura before eating it. I couldn’t exactly eat it on the train as there was no room to do so. It had gotten warm when I arrived so I found a shady seat. The only problem I had was that I could not find a bin, but luckily I had a decent sized backpack on me so it would end up sticking with me all day.  If it wasn’t so hot, I might have explored a little bit more, but I think I just have to pace myself or else something will happen.

 

I wasn’t sure where I should go at first, but I decided to wander up the road to the big temple as it is something people do. I think it is called Hasedera temple, there is a really long street to the temple, and I had actually taken one of the side streets on the way up. I could really feel the heat of the day starting to work its magic. I did walk up the stairs to the temple and then ended up back down the bottom as the crowds started to turn up. I walked back down the avenue to the train station. Outside of the main station was a little station that had the electric railway for the local area and the trains were photogenic as the train spotters seem to like these trains. I found the station stamps, there were 4 to get and I think I ended up with three of them. The plan with the train was to catch it to Enoshima, and then catch the monorail to Ofuna, which is two stops away from Kamakura. I stopped at Hase station, which had heaps of people waiting on the platform and wandered to the beach and then returned after visiting the giant Buddha statue that had survived a tidal wave and an earthquake. I decided to walk between two stations and that ended up being further along as I seen the people waiting, although some could have just been waiting for the train to go past as well. I probably should have caught the train because of the heat, but I thought I could go on. On the way to Enoshima the train goes along the middle of the road a little like Kawakawa in New Zealand. There were several places I could camp to take shots of the train coming and going so I am happy to have that.

From Enoshima, I was going to take the monorail to Ofuna. It was basically an upside down train as the rails were above the vehicle and not below. It made for a great view of the surrounding area. I wasn’t sure if I could pay for the monorail with my IC card and turns out I could, which does pretty much work out. It was close to 3pm when I got into Enoshima and I had been travelling since the morning. I was happy to be sitting down, though I got a seat on the train right away when I caught it back to Tokyo station. I had caught it from another station in the morning, but I wanted to checkout character street, which was all about things from Tv shows like Pokémon, or even Snoopy. Some were a little expensive, but I don’t know if that was because I was in the train station. I did however go looking for a bin to put my rubbish and still couldn’t find one. I ended up bringing it home with me. I did instead find the manners posters outside one of the Shinkansen entry points that were meant to be at all stations by now, some of them should at least be common sense. It took me a while to try and find some food that I wanted to take away as I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I settled for a curry that I put in my bag and headed to the train. It was strange as there were parts of the station you would walk through and it would be really warm.

 

Japan Tour 2025: Day 14. Cross country Tokyo

Tokyo Station

 

By the numbers

16.66 kms

21,433

 

Level of Chaos: Akihabara on a Sunday

 

I knew the day was going to be another hot day and I  went downstairs for breakfast before I went anywhere. The food wasn’t too bad and I had thick piece of bread, which I was happy with. It was better than donuts. I had the plan to visit the Sword Museum and had no real idea on what I would be doing from there. I was just going to make plans as I go and see what happens, although the heat would probably do the talking instead.

 

Asakusa station

I jumped on the subway and went to where the sword museum was located. Its in the same area where the Sumo have their stables or barracks, but I never went anywhere near them. I did read that you need permission or something to be in that particular area. I don’t know how true that is. On the way I passed through a park that was once owned by a wealthy family and then given to the people of the city. There were turtles swimming in the water around it as well so it was a little tranquil. Nearby was actually another park that I wanted to have a look at as I seen part of the building. Turns out the park was dedicated to those who died during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, and also the firebombing of Tokyo during World War 2. There is a museum as well, but I wasn’t heading to that one. I only had to wait for the sword museum to open and was able to get inside. Turns out the top floor is where all the swords are and there is very little English. What actually makes the whole museum more interesting is that I had to use a QR code to access a page that is all about the individual swords so you can read the detailed information as you are looking at them. The information includes the year the sword was made and by whom. I thought it was interesting and then there were information about the hilt guards too as they could have elaborate designs. It was worth visiting as I didn’t know there would be so much information involved.

 

After the museum, I decided that it would be nice to walk to where the Asakusa area which was around a 20 min walk away. I was wondering if the whole walk was going to be in the sun until I found, I could walk along the river in the shade. I crossed the river when the map told me to, and ended up un the subway station as I had seen pictures of it online and the station had been left from any upgrades apart from ticket gates and machines. It was aged with water leaks inside. I probably shouldn’t have visited the temple in the area and went in the other direction instead. Being a Sunday it was extremely busy and crowded. I walked to the temple, turned around and walked back the way I came as I seen all the tourists. This was actually the first time outside of Gion in Kyoto and train stations, where I had seen that many people with the exception of Shinjuku. There was another area that I was going to head to and that was the Sengaku Ji Temple around 20 mins away though I started off on the wrong train as I went looking for track 1 and jumped on that one. It was the wrong line, so luckily I got off before it left as it would have gone to Shibuya, not anywhere near where I was. The next train I lasted one stop as I thought the limited express would miss the station so I got off one station later and got the local slow train to my stop and it stopped at every station.

 

The reason for the visit to the temple wasn’t because I wanted the temple, but it was for where the 47 Ronin were buried. They are known for avenging their fallen master as they were Ronin masterless samurai. They got revenge for their late master and then all committed ritual suicide. They had a range of ages too. I laid down some incense for them and got thanked for doing so. It was here that I had to stop to put a band aid over a blister on top of my toe and that was getting painful, once it was covered it got a little better. The next stop was Tokyo station as I wanted to see the outside of the building. I went looking for the line that would take me out to Kamakura tomorrow, especially when I seem to have a thing for getting on the wrong train. I want to make sure. Then I popped outside at a random spot to the side of the building. I was thinking of going to the imperial palace area, but it was starting to get a bit hot and I was getting overly hot even though I had been drinking. I decided that the Nihombashi bridge was my next destination. The bridge was once the starting point of several roads including the Tokaido road that went to Kyoto. It was pretty old and apparently is known as a 0 mile marker.

 

I had to walk around 20 mins to the next station that would take me out to Akihabara, which I thought would be the last place before heading back as I was getting pretty tired. I found this area too was really busy around the station. I knew they closed some of the streets to traffic on a Sunday, but I had thought that would be the main road. I barely made it to the main road before doing a loop back to the train station. Before that I ended up wandering into several buildings and enjoying the aircon, but finding some of the contents like claw machines interesting. One building on a whim I decided to follow a huge line up several escalators as there was some event going on, but I have no idea what. Some of the statues you could buy were interesting and might not be allowed in Australia. I still couldn’t believe how crowded the store was and it was like that the entire 7 floors. I did find the tanks and even army girls with rocket launchers, so I don’t know about getting those. It was much better wandering inside that it was outside. Though it was that time of day I thought I should head back as I was at the point if I sat down, I might not want to walk any further.

Japan tour 2025: Day 13 Off to Tokyo

 

By the numbers

22,646 steps

17.82kms

 

Level of Chaos: Busy train stations

 

The day started off with a donut and a pastry that included shrimp, and I was kinda happy that I had coffee even if it would be the only one that I would be drinking that day. After having something to eat, I took a walk out of the building to see a street that was a shopping street to see what was down it. It happened to be selling fish hence the sign with fish so that had my curiosity quenched, I went back to get ready to leave as I didn’t want to be late for the train. What I did not realise was just how busy it was at the station, I had a half hour to wait, but people were everywhere and the constant flow of trains did think them out, but they were still flowing into the station. The time came for the train to come and go. I was on it with my bag at the back of my seat as I thought it was over sized and no one asked about the bag at all. An hour and half later we were in Tokyo with the train running on time. The driver had said as much when he passed a certain station.

 

Once we arrived in Tokyo I was off and running until one of the ticket gates had issues that the station guys were trying to fix, so I had to find another one. It was pretty easy as there was another set that you could only go one way through. It was also busy in Tokyo station and I wasn’t sure which direction I should be walking in until I seen a sign for JR lines and I seen the line I was after, which was the Yamanote line as that takes me to where I am staying. Within 15 mins of leaving Tokyo station I was at the station I needed to be as I didn’t need to wait very long at all. I found where I was staying pretty quickly and sorted out my bags before leaving the main bags at the desk. I decided to head towards Ueno park where some of the museums are located. I ended up following a shopping street that was full of people and that wasn’t what I really call fun. The temperature had apparently hit something like 32 during the day. I was going to visit a museum, but decided not to as I would likely take longer and I had other places to be. I wandered to at least two stations for stamps, although they didn’t always stamp properly as the ink had mostly dried. Wandering towards one of the stations just past Ueno station and the museums. I found a cemetery that had graves for those who had committed ritual suicide in the 1600s and were considered to be a cultural heritage asset. Around this time enough time had passed that I could make my way back so get my gear in my room.

 

I was just on time to check in at 2pm and once that was done I had a brief rest in my room before heading out to Shinjuku an area with a very busy train station and known for the alcohol type places especially Golden Gai. I was going to see a show called Samurai Restaurant, which was the old robot restaurant thing. The whole area was full of host clubs and maid type cafes with a police announcement telling people not to go with touts as they would fleece them. I did get to see Godzilla at the top of one building that is a hotel. I went to the building where they were performing the show and I couldn’t believe the stairs and the walls were full of colour. I had ordered a meal when I booked the show and that was my early dinner, pretty easy. When that finished I went for a wander to have a closer look at Godzilla, but found the cinema didn’t have anything, but the hotel I could view it. The hotel didn’t like people who were not guests up there and I had to take a quick photo before leaving as I didn’t want to get into trouble. I did find a Godzilla manhole cover. A little wandering around I found a bookstore that had 8 floors and even had an English section. I didn’t stay there for long as there was a building that showed movies on the side. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government building was showing Godzilla and Gundam shows on the side. I just made it, but didn’t know where I could watch the show properly. I could see the show pretty well so stayed for a bit. Then I made my way down towards it to catch the train back to the hotel. That was then I found all the people camped waiting for the next show to start. I waited with them and the show had sound, which was something I hadn’t expected. I left for the hotel after the show finished.

 

I am amazed so far how easy Tokyo seems to be to get around as I had walked a fair bit of Shinjuku even if some of it was in the dark. Not sure if it would always be that easy, but I might have jinxed myself. I didn’t get to see Fuji as I think it was behind the clouds so missed it. I doubt I was at the wrong side of the train.