Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Will Miss #429 - Kamakura

I've got a beautiful, desktop-wallpaper-quality picture of the big Buddha statue in Kamakura, but so does everyone else out there. Therefore, I am giving you this cheesy souvenir shop item instead. 

Kamakura is the home of the "daibutsu" or "great Buddha" statue. While it isn't the biggest one in Japan, it is one of the most appealing. It's serene countenance is one reason. Another is that it's almost certainly the only Buddha statue in Japan that you can go inside of. It also has quite the colorful history of surviving natural disasters. Kamakura is also a good place to go because of the beachfront and the plethora of food shops that sell traditional snacks and sweets. Fresh and hand-made goodies can be had en route and not too far from the Buddha area as well several other tourist attractions. There is a satisfying mixture of the old and the new in the area which is easily accessible and tourist-friendly without being a tourist trap.

Kamakura isn't far from Tokyo and is like a taste of old Japan a stone's throw away and I will miss having easy access to it.