My trip to the land of the rising sun ☼ - Part 3

 After my previous two posts, I will be blogging on my visit to Kamakura's Kotoku-In shrine, the Hase Dera, the Hamarikyu gardens, the Asakusa shrine, the Yasukuni shrine and the island of Odaiba.

Kamakura is a coastal city near the twin city of Tokyo, Yokohama. While travelling past Yokohama, I spotted the Yokohama Landmark Tower, the second tallest building in Japan. We finally reached Kamakura. The city is full of Buddhist and Zen temples, but it didn't take us long to find the Kotoku-In. When we entered and walked a few hundered metres, we came facing to the massive outdoor statue of the Daibutsu or Great Buddha. Buddha is seated in a meditation pose. The air around the shrine is very tranquil and relaxing.


After visiting the Kotoko-In shrine, we went to Hase Dera, another Buddhist shrine. It is halfway on top of Mount Kamakura and overlooks the Yuigahama beach. The mountain is very beautiful with miniature statues and bonzai plants along the way. I was awed while praying in front of the huge statue of the Kannon or Buddha. We then entered the Benten-Kutsu cave, where there were statues of Buddhist dieties and a few words about them.


Back in Tokyo, my father planned an intra-city trip. To start with, we went to the Hamarikyu Garden at the heart of Tokyo. The Garden is very vast and is a treat for the eyes with different types of plants and trees.

As the Garden is at the mouth of the Sumida river, there is a special ferry named Tokyo Cruise Ship which is a water bus. It travels on the river, from the park, to Asakusa, a district in Tokyo. I loved the ferry ride and saw many of the great districts of this city. While traveling on the Sumida river, we crossed 13 bridges, all made in different styles!

We reached Asakusa! A unique suburb in many ways, one of their main ways of transport are Pulled Rickshaws! While exploring this intriguing place, we stumbled upon our destination, the Asakusa Shrine. It is one of the most famous Shinto shrines in Tokyo. The shrine is very big and has a different style of architecture.

After this trip, we visited the Yasukuni Shrine along with friends from India. The shrine is built to commemorate those who died in service to Japan in the Boshin war and the first Indochinese war. The shrine has a typical Zen garden with bonzai plants and a crystal blue pond in the middle. It has a museum with war machines and artillery as well.

As we had experienced the cultural part of Tokyo, we decided to explore the tech side. Hence we headed to Odaiba, a large man made island. It is a commercial, residential and leisure area. As a part of our journey, we travelled in the ingenious mono-rail. The train is driverless and is suspended on a elevated track. My jaws dropped when the mono-rail was travelling on one of the most beautiful bridges ever, the Rainbow Bridge. It simply blowed my mind away.

 I visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, also known as Miraikan. It is a museum with futuristic technology and robots. The museum even had a game where it would tell us Earth's future if a resource such as water has depleted. The island has a replica of the Statue of Liberty as well. I was amazed because it looked exactly like the original.

In a nutshell, it was an enriching experience. Please check out my future blogs.😃