Slightly damp

Visited Kamakura today, with our very helpful Tokyo local to point us in the right direction etc etc.

Here is an impressively large Buddha just a few stops on the street car away from the town centre. At 121 tons, I hope he doesn't have any hang ups about his weight.

I'm absolutely shattered, so I'll return in the morning to bulk this out. #yawn#

Edits
Awake and more capable of expanding.
On our way up to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Nori would dash off into some of the many little shops/bakeries and come back with things for us to try. Fresh soy rice cakes, sweet bean curd buns (flavoured with grasses and cherry blossom) - all very tasty. Then we rounded on the shrine and saw a kilted (and dreadlocked) man standing in front of the entrance. How odd.

While looking around the place we saw two wedding ceremonies, apparently it is a very popular place to get married and there is no denying that the scenery and location lend themselves to it. I'm not sure how I would feel about the throngs of tourists surrounding me on my wedding day though.

Just as we were leaving and looking for some lunch the rain started. It had been threatening this storm for the last couple of days on the news, even we can understand the ominous cloud, unhappy rain and wind symbols in amongst the incomprehensible (to non-speakers) broadcasts. Luckily we came across a place that was serving the local speciality - young sardines. And that was the start of quite a lunch.

I guess we stick out a bit here, but having Nori and Aiko around has helped us communicate easily. The was a bit of a stir in the restaurant though when the other diners started gesticulating towards us, and chatting. Turns out they were very surprised (and impressed, I assume) at how comfortable we were eating with chopsticks. This was the start of a long conversation with varying amounts of English, Japanese and much translation about us, them, our trip, Nori, the Bangladeshi owner of the place, the family and much more. Brilliant fun.

After all that we took the streetcar down to Hase for a look around the stunningly beautiful Hase-dera temple where we were warned to watch out for Kites stealing our food. Then on to the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) shown above. Maybe due to the rain, or the impending storm, Hase was almost deserted meaning we were able to walk around these temples in our own company to the strains of rainfall.

Back into Tokyo this evening for some food in Ginza. Passing through Ginza station I was looking out for Jiro's restaurant, but couldn't find it. Might have to head back another time. Dinner was delicious with Nori taking us to a place that served up lots of different types of dish, and many types of sake too. Highlight of the meal was the Swordfish with Miso.

We also made our best purchase of the year so far - an umbrella for 250¥, and it stood up to the (unbelievable by the end of the night) weather admirably.