The Great Buddha

If you get a chance to take a day trip from Tokyo, Kamakura should be your destination. The most famous resident of Kamakura is the Great Buddha.

It's magnificent! The Great Buddha was once housed in a temple, but a huge tidal wave destroyed the structure and it now sits outside. I love the patina.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. He apparently likes grapefruit too 'cause the alter was stacked with them and also flowers.

It costs about $2 to get in and an extra 20 cents to go inside as the Buddha is hollow. Everyone leaves coins inside and rubs its belly for good luck.

I love how serene it looks. It almost seems like he's lookin' at ya.

"Hey you! Yeah you ya little punk. Leave me something good to eat."

We took the bus up to see it, but you could easily walk from the train station. Kamakura is a very cute small town. I could live there.

The grounds are beautiful too. One thing which kind of shocked me were a few Japanese men taking a leak in the bushes. What's up with that? It's in the country, but c'mon man this is a shrine!

I was wishing I had brought my pencil and paper. This would have made a great rubbing.

These are the Buddha's slippers. They're about ten feet high and about five feet wide. Those are some BIG flip flops! I kept waiting for him to wake up, put them on and walk away up into the woods, but he just continued to sit there and meditate.

TIP-O-DAY: When returning to the train station, take the tiny cable car which traverses through the backyards of some resident's homes. It's pretty cute.

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