Today, the band traveled to Kamakura. We first stopped at The Great Buddha, the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan. Then we went to Komachi-dori, a shopping street which is said to be the heart of Kamakura. It is near the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. This is the most important Shinto shrine in Kamakura. It is in the very center of the city, both geographically and culturally. For most of its history, it was not only a Shinto shrine, but it was also a Buddhist temple, which explains its layout that is typical of most temples.

There were many food vendors along the path leading to the shrine that we got our lunch from. I tried chicken skin with cabbage and kimchi, and I really enjoyed it.

After lunch, my buddy and I explored the shrine briefly. There was a wedding happening, so we got to catch a glimpse of what a traditional Shinto wedding looked like. After we were done exploring the shrine, we set off to do some shopping on Komachi-dori. As previously mentioned, this street is said to be the heart of Kamakura. It was absolutely packed with so many different shops and food stands. The shops ranged from clothing to kitchen utensils to jewelry. The food vendors also had a wide variety of treats to choose from, like bubble tea, crepes, and green tea ice cream.

One of the things I really enjoyed was exploring all the shops and seeing all the different products that were offered. I was able to find gifts for people back home very easily. I also really enjoyed seeing the shrine. It was really cool to see a piece of traditional Japanese culture so close to a very modern shopping district. There were also a couple of small happenings that I really enjoyed. The first happened when my buddy and I were finding something for dessert. She went up to a stand to pay for a piece of pineapple and the vendor asked to play Rock Paper Scissors with her, the stakes being an extra, free piece of pineapple. The vendor won, unfortunately. The second one happened while we were standing in line to get lemonade. There was remixed Disney music playing at this stand and two Japanese girls in line behind us were singing and dancing along. Overall, this was one of my favorite stops on tour so far, but we have so much more to do and experience and I can’t wait to enjoy everything single thing that comes our way!