Kamakura

Our final day of holiday — what better place to spend it than in Kamakura, one of our all time favourite places. Leaving the thawing mountains behind, we took a 3 hour train journey to the opposite side of Tokyo. A bit of a struggle with heavy cases and packed trains!

We dropped our cases, transformed into ‘hiking’ mode and met up with some of our good friends for a stroll through the Kamakura hills. We found a picnic spot en route for a touch of bento as well as a shrine where you can smash little plates on a big rock to rid yourself of bad feelings.

It felt quite tropical with birds singing and bamboo groves all around — we even found some fresh bamboo shoots that may have been gnawed by a wild boar. A bit further round was a cafe serving local craft beer (which we craved when we lived here for a change from the usual watery lager). Eventually we came out in Hase where there is a great temple with beautiful gardens, a huge rotating octagonal bookcase, a cave and a massive golden Buddha. Also a great view of Yuigahama beach and the sea!

Our final Japanese activity was to make soba (buckwheat) noodles from scratch. This involved very careful mixing, rolling, kneading and cutting of nothing other than buckwheat flower and a little water. The cutting was especially fun, using a special knife and a certain technique to get the noodles 1.5 x 1.5 mm square cross section. After making the noodles we were able to eat them fresh straight away. Delicious!