Sea , Japan & Sun

My journey across Japan is slowly reaching the end. But is not yet finished.
For my last destination I’m going to the coast to find the sea. I’m going to a small town called Kamakura loacted less than an hour south of Tokyo. After all theses mountains I was excited to reconnect with the sea. I knew this will be a great place to slowly end my journey.

After a train journey from Nikko I have finally reached Irodori Guesthouse in Kamakura.

Welcome !

The owner “Tomoya” or “Bushi” (samurai) was a wonderful guy. I felt right away at home in his guesthouse. The people is what matter the most in creating nice places. The guesthouse also have a lot of charisma as it used to be an abandoned house. They renovated it to give it a second life. I love when people like Tomoyo do that. You can feel the past. You can feel a story behind it which is always inspiring. Make sure to try this guesthouse while visiting Kamakura.

Kamakura is a small city and a very popular tourist destination. Sometimes called the Kyoto of Eastern Japan, Kamakura offers numerous temples, shrines and other historical monuments. To be honest I started to be a bit tired from visiting new places. After a while your body just need to BE. To simply BE and Kamakura is a perfect place for that as it’s just by the sea. This will be my program for a few hours , the temples will have to wait.

Life is always good with a sandy beach and some sun.

How good it felt to be there after a long jouney in Japan. Somehow gazing at the infinite horizon have something powerfull. The horizon represent an infinite space where your mind can feel at rest. It’s exactly what I needed.

Kamakura is also home to many water activities like windsurf and surf.

On a sunny day like today many surfers were in the water.

Many windsurfers too.

I already love the vibe of Kamakura. It’s always nice to see different crowd when you travel. This little town has a cool vibe. You can really feel that by walking in the streets. To me it felts like a mix of California , Hawaii all with a Japanese twist. Take a look at the shops.

Shops , restaurant and cafés in Kamakura.

Hawaii vibe.

Hawaii dancing class. Kamakura has an intersting blend of Hawaiin , Californian and Japanese culture.

The best way to understand a new town is to go to community spaces and chat with the locals. A cute little cake store was attractive so I went in.

Welcome to “aah bit” , a cake shop with an intersting philosophy.

The owner would ‘nt use artificial sugar in any of the cakes. She will use an homemade liquid apple sugar to give extra sweetness. “aah bit” is a place where you can indulge treats without getting “crazy high” on sugar. This place also attracted intersting people. I spotted two girls with “trail running” outfit. Trail running seems to be a thing here. This would make sense because Kamakura is surrounded by hills and has many hiking trails.

“Vegan tofu cheesecake” with Chai latte.

In case you wonder a “vegan cheesecake” uses nuts to replace the cheese. It’s a heavy treat by nevertheless healthy as the nuts containt happy nutrients. The owner of this place spoke good english and was soo sweet. I have met an intersting guitarist as well.

Happy times. This guy played guitar in the café and was good !

Okay I have only been in Kamakura since a few hours and I already like the vibe of it. The crowd seems to be made of happy and healthy people.

I feel Kamakura have two side. On one side an alternative energy and on the other side a more “trendy” and “chic” energy. Remember , Kamakura is only one hour train from Tokyo so it will attract the rich kids as well. I have spotted many fancy cars , chic bakeries and trendy shops. But also some more alternative cafés and vintage stores.

It was the right time to catch the sunset at the beach.

Sapporo bear with “snapeas” (green peas snacks). Enjoying the life.

Dragon ball Z “Kamehameha” session with young salary men. The beach is always a good place to catch funny scenes. It made me happy to see all theses Japanese people relaxing. It’s a another face of Japan that I’m unwrapping.

Beautiful sunset by the beach.

This small day in Kamakura was a real gift. I couldn’t ask for any better. I feel this is a great place to spend your first or last days in Japan. Being very closes from Tokyo it’s a good place to transition with ease. For diner I went to a local recommendation called ‘Magokoro’.

Magokoro is a restaurant , café , stores and community space all with a sweet hippy vibe. The concept of that place is all around Hemp. For food you can actually try hemp based meal made with organic and local ingredients.

Vegeterian set menu with tempeh. This was so good. Each ingredient had a lot of taste and the cooking was creative too. The small salad on the upper left side used orange skin which gave a fresh taste.

The food was definetly awesome but the vibe behind it was even better. I have met very nice people . I also got lucky to see a “music show”

Two very funny comedian. Apparently they were a bit famous.

Their performance was around music and jokes. Even thought I couldn’t understand the most part it was still fun. They will take famous song like “hotel california” and remix the lyrics. They were also both talented musicians. I loved the atmosphere in the café. Just watching at the local people around having a great time made my evening.

Magokoro flyers found in the toilet. Rainbow gathering in Japan ! Something else to try.

After a very nice evening I went back to the gueshouse for a good night of sleep. A last day in Kamakura (and in Japan) was waiting for me.

I got the chance to share the breakfast with two Japanese families this morning. I realised that my Japanese actual improved quite a bit in 6 weeks. If you push yourself out of the comfort zone you’ll learn a lot.

First stop of the day : the Kamakura Daibutsu or “Great Buddha of Kamakura”

Second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan

I went there first thing in the morning so It wasn’t crowded. You could even go inside the statue.

Kamakura is home to many great temples and shrines. I went to a few.

Temple next to the beach.

At Hachimangu Shrine I assisted a traditional wedding.

Beautiful cloothings.

Around that shrine many Japaneses were dressed in traditional clooths. It must be a special place that means a lot to them.

To get to Hachimangu shrine you can walk along a shopping street filled with many temptations along the way.

Clooth stores and sweet shops everywhere. This walk was a real challenge for me. The smells were wonderful.

Busy street isn’t ?

For my last lunch in Kamakura I went to a lonely planet book recommandation. After a few minutes getting lost in the backstreets I have finally found it.

Wander Kitchen. A hidden gem.

This place had a really cool vibe with retro vintage furnitures and some soothing world music. The food here was also very yummy. I went for the only vegetarian dish on the menu.

“Egyptian power food” as my waitress called it.

This was an intersting mix of ancient rice , spaghetti , tomato/chilli sauce , chickpeas , lentils and dried onions. After mixing it all you can taste it and WOW , what a surprise. Again every ingredient of that dish were of a hight quality. The sauce was homemade which made the difference. This lunch was yummy , healthy and filling. But as you probably know by now I always have room for dessert.

Homemade apple tart with whipped cream. Fantastic..

Chai latte to conclude this wonderful meal.

Wander Kitchen is a hidden gem where I had a very relaxing time. Food was not so expensive regarding the high quality of it.

This short episode in Kamakura was just perfect. It gave me a brief overview of that town. I loved the laidback and healthy atmosphere that I have felt. Kamakura is an interesting places where Yogi , runners , surfers and artistic people cohabitate. It’s a inspiring place where you can slow down and just enjoy. Kamakura can become quickly pricey if you indulge to much but it remains a really cool little town that must be experienced. I’m already looking forward coming back there.

It’s now time to head back to Tokyo. Ready for a last night before my return journey back to France.