Two Ports,One of them for the cocoaWhat do you call it? Yoko-hama! Ja!Und Nagasaki!

Well, only Yokohama, that evening. The train from Kamakura to Yokohama was fun: some of the cars, including the one we rode in, were double-deckers. Only...I think they might have been reserved cars because the half of our group that went upstairs got shooed out into the next car, but they left us alone on the bottom level.

*shrug* I got a small nap in a very comfortable seat, in any case.





Since it was getting on towards evening, we didn't have much time for a lot of wandering around all over town, so we pretty much headed straight to the Minato Mirai 21 area.

 

This is the Canon Cats Theater...which is exclusively for the musical CATS, which has been produced here since 1983.

 

Yokohama manhole captured!

 

I'm not sure, it was just in front of an enormous Toyota lot

 

Below is the Nippon Maru Training Ship, the Yokohama Port Museum, sail-less

 

Hard Rock Cafe and an small outdoor stadium (with fire-eaters) in or near Queen's Square

Adventures in Yokohama Cosmo World

Just across from Queen's Square and down the street from the Nippon Maru is Cosmo World, a small but cute amusement park boasting Cosmo Clock 21, one of the world's largest Ferris wheels, and...the world's largest clock. The sail-shaped building to its left is the Pacifico Yokohama, which contains the Conference Center and Grand InterContinental Hall of Yokohama.

There's no entrance fee for the whole amusement parks, just each ride/attraction has a different price. You get your tickets for a certain amount from nearby vending machines--which, by the by, several restaurants in Japan have you order food this way. Sun Young and I paired up to ride on one of the spinny, centrifugal rides, and Momo-chan joined us for a walk through Dr. Edgar's Haunted House.


It was cheesy but fun--somehow I still find maize mazes a bit scarier. And they give you these electric candles which you're supposed to keep upright throughout the walk through, and then they gauge your points at the end of the trip. I didn't really pay attention to what level I got on my candle, because I didn't realize the point of it until afterward.

Also, laughing is just as bad as jumping and screaming for keeping things like electric candles upright.

After a long, long wait, almost all of us had a go on Diving Coaster: Vanish, which is probably the main attraction besides the Ferris Wheel. It's aptly named for the seconds of the ride where the coaster "dives" into a tunnel in the middle of a pool of water, vanishing underground before resurfacing and throwing you for a double horizontal loop-de-loop.


A couple of shots I managed with the night setting on my keitai camera


The ride's short, especially when compared to the wait, but I'd say it's fun enough that it's worth riding at least once.

We managed to eat dinner at the food court of the mall across the street from Cosmo World, even though most of their restaurants were closing down. I also found a Hello Kitty vendor and bought my Yokohama souvenir charm: a little Hello Kitty hugging a glow-in-the-dark mushroom...I realize it doesn't mean anything with relation to Yokohama, but it struck me funny. Plus, glow-in-the-dark. Way cool.
Then we returned to the guesthouse, and I packed so I could get up early and leave to do some adventuring on me ownsome Wednesday.

The Grave, the Cave, and Still More Gardens

Our third and last temple visit in Kamakura was Zuisenji, famous for the gardens created by landscaper and founder of the temple, Muso-kokushi. The temple was built in the early 14th c, and lies in Momijigayatsu valley, surrounded by mountains which serve as a visual "hedge" for these gardens.

Here, in the wall of rock just behind the temple, is a large cave, Tennyodo, which is used as a meditation all. Inside at night, you can meditate with the moon reflected in the surface of this pond, called Choseichi. Though this part of the garden was carefully excavated, the pond's source is a natural waterfall behind the bridge there, which is hard to discern from this angle.

 

Landscaping, for Muso-kokushi, was meditation. He carefully constructed these gardens, surrounding and in harmony with the intrinsic poetry of the natural rock at hand. In this sense, it is said that we can share his thoughts and ponderings simply through consideration and contemplation of the gardens he left behind.

 

And a few pictoral after-thoughts leaving Zuisenji

 

And we can't leave out the continuing series of fascinating manhole covers

Tidy Garden of Thoughts

Once we left Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu, we meandered through the tranquil residential streets (and some pretty wooded areas) of Kamakura, winding our way towards the Rinzai Zen temple Houkokuji, famous for its bamboo grove garden.

Hokoukuji was the family temple of both the Ashikaga and Uesugi families. It is an absolutely gorgeous temple tucked away in the hillside; the gardens are beautiful, and bamboo is included everywhere in the temple's structure.

The main object of worship is a statue of Shaka Nyorai. The statue in the garden here is of the Miroku Bosatsu or Miroku Nyorai, Buddha of the future, or the Pensive Buddha--easily identified by the seated pose, hand pensively touching the chin and one leg draped across the other.

The Pensive Buddha is actually still a Bodhisattva, but will become a Buddha one day. (Bodhisattvas are beings who have obtained enlightenment, but renounce the state of Nirvana in order to stay behind and help others, all living things, to enlightenment and salvation.)

A small cemetery in the temple




I didn't actually make it into the bamboo grove, sadly: I got in line to get my nokyo-chou stamped, and after the fact, realized our group was in line for the entrance fee, but by the time my nokyo-chou was signed, the line to enter was really long...and we were short on time...

But there were a few smaller, undoubtedly less impressive groves in the front gardens

and this is what the grove is supposed to look like...poor substitute, I'm sure...

the Miroku Nyorai, again

In addition to seeing the bamboo grove, you can also order tea and sit under the parasols, simply enjoying the tranquil atmosphere. Houkokuji is also a fairly active temple, and offers beginning zazen classes.

Bamboo. Everywhere.

I see faces. I'm sure this one was deliberate...but it looks an awful lot like a Carnaval mask...very smooth and elegant.Oftentimes you see Oni faces on the roofs of temples