Now that that’s done, here’s Kamakura:
We started in Yokohama, when we walked around Minato Mirai and stumbled upon Queen’s Square for lunch. We stopped by at a katsu place called Tonkatsu Saboten (とんかつ 新宿 さぼてん).
The menu looked pretty appetising (plus there’s an English menu)… and we were hungry, so in we went.
As you can see, Tonkatsu Saboten didn’t disappoint. We got to crush our own sesame too, which was fun. With so many options to choose from, each of us chose a set meal (because we were hungry and greedy)…
And we finished them all. I’d recommend this place to anyone wanting a good katsu set meal.
It was then when we decided that there was really nothing much to do in Yokohama. So instead of just wandering around aimlessly, we decided to take an impromptu trip to a popular tourist destination not far from Yokohama: Kamakura.
For those who don’t know, Kamakura is known to be the Kyoto of Eastern Japan due to the many shrines and temples around the area.
Once we arrived at Kamakura Station, we walked to Komachi-dori, a long shopping street with plenty to see… You can find the start of Komachi-dori pretty easily by spotting the torii gate and Fujiya restaurant (with Peko-chan sitting on second floor).
If that’s not obvious enough, walk a few steps through the torii gate to find a Totoro store and you’ll know you’ve got the right place!
I want to live in this store. Okay, not literally. But seriously, I totes adore this particular Totoro store. It has all-things-Totoro on one side, and a more all-rounder Ghibli store next to it…
It was hard to resist, and I’ve already picked up a couple of things but didn’t end up buying them. Looking back, I should’ve bought some for “memories” (or whichever excuse I could think of at the time).
Anyway, we didn’t go to Kamakura for Totoro… although we probably spent at least half an hour in the two shops.
Where were we? Shopping street! You’d find the signage “Shopping Town” in case you still don’t know where you are… There were plenty to see when we were there. Lots of souvenirs and snacks to buy. And cool buildings.
In the tradition of trying out as many different soft serve ice cream that we could find in Japan, I did buy a black sesame (covered in more sesame) ice cream and finished it up in no time.
The texture wasn’t as “soft serve” as I would like it to be, however those sesame, mmm…
So we walked some more (okay, the above image wasn’t of us walking, but I thought the ladies looked so gracefully cool with their traditional clothings)… And we finally reached the torii gate that leads to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu.
We walked in and I started taking pictures of every corner. Yep, this place is picturesque!
We walked across one of the red bridges that led to a small serene area where an old monk was sweeping the floor. Even though it was well and truly winter, there were still traces of autumn leaves that added a little bit of colour to the surroundings.
I took quite a bit of photos, so here are some…
And I also sneakily took a lot of candid photos of random strangers (it’s like my favourite thing to do!) as we walked around the ground.
From school girls in uniforms…
To kimono and yukata wearing ladies…
To a very funky silver lady that demands attention…
I even took a photo of a dog. He caught me sneakily doing this though, so he posed! :)
The main shrine area required a bit of walking up the stairs (by my standard, so maybe it’s not that bad haha). But hey, I had to take more photographs, so why not…
I love how the red and gold reflected the sun as it was setting. How gorgeous! I love sunsets.
Speaking of sunsets…
Yup. I was happy because Tsurugaoka Hachimangu was so photogenic. LOL. I’d recommend you to visit this place during sunset, because just look at those photos!
We then walked down the main street that led us back to the shopping street…
It was dark by the time we got to the busy end of the shopping street again…
We stopped by some shops selling traditional snacks and other things, but we knew we needed more than just snacks to fill our tummies, so we continued walking…
Once we reached Totoro shop, we knew we were close to the station.
The day started and ended with Totoro, and that made me a happy girl… Kamakura, what a beautiful little temple town.
I would recommend visiting Kamakura, especially for those who are not planning to go to Kyoto. It is a beautiful little town filled with temples and shrines and a cool shopping street. For many temple lovers, one day would probably not be enough to cover all the main attractions (like the big Buddha and all). But for the tourists who just want to get a taste of Japan, a day trip from Yokohama or Tokyo will definitely satisfy your travel feet.
Hi Julie,
Did you go to the Great Buddha as well? I am wondering if it is within walking distance from all these places you mentioned in this post, or we have to take another train journey to get there?
Before reading your blog, I was set on only visiting the Great Buddha (and its surrounding). But now you are telling me that there are more other interesting places in Kamakura that are also worth to visit! You just made me more confuse with more places to check out lol ^ ^ But seriously now I feel even more eager to visit Kamakura! *got to check out that Totoro shop!*
We didn’t go to the Great Buddha, as it was an impromptu day trip, so we only had the afternoon! If you are planning to visit the Great Buddha as well as the Komachi-dori area, I think you might need the full day. Recently, I did another 1/2 day trip and visited Hokoku-ji (with bamboo forest “better” than the one in Kyoto!) – no blog post yet, but I think that’s worth a visit and not too far from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu! (I know right, too many places to go, too little time! ;p)
Hi Julie,
Would you recommend to walk Komachidori after sunset? Read the shops close at 5pm. We will be there at the start of Dec (sunset at 4:30pm) and would only get to Komachidori around 6pm since we plan to visit nearby temples prior to that. And want to go for scones at Garage Blue Bell, which closes at 6pm. I know most shops would have closed but what’s the evening ambience of Komachidori like?