Last week was the tail end of the Obon holidays, meaning many people had traveled home to visit their families and the graves of their ancestors. What with the the overnight BBQ in Okutama, and group leader having told Tatsuya to take me to his home prefecture and show me around, we felt no qualms taking off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to go explore the areas surrounding Tatsuya’s hometown in Kanagawa, the next prefecture south of Tokyo.
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We picked up Tatsuya’s best friend from middle school and set off to explore Kamakura, an oceanside town with a very Hawaiian-inspired surf culture.
It was astoundingly windy, but that didn’t prevent scores of surfers from dotting the small waves, hoping to catch a big one.
Kamakura is famous for its Daibutsu, or giant Buddha sculpture, the second-largest in Japan. Cast in 1252, it’s survived various storms and tsunamis, even though the temple that used to surround it is long gone.
