Japan, Day 5. Kamakura and Yokohama, Big Buddha, Hasedera Temple and Japanese Chinatau
The fifth day was full of traveling to small cities adjacent to Tokyo.
The Hasedera Temple in Kamakura made me take back my words about the "toy" nature of Japanese temples. In front of the statue of the eleven-headed goddess Kannon, I froze in awe and stood rooted to the spot. She has great strength. Almost 10 meters high, the gilded wooden statue is the tallest in Japan. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures of it.
In the cave at the temple, you can put candles with wishes. For ease of writing, candles have flat sides, that is, they are square in cross section (see photo).
At the temple there is a place where mothers of unborn children come. Day after day, year after year, women erect small stone statues of buddhas, which over the centuries have turned into silent hordes (see photo). It is not only beauty that is striking, but also a huge number of these statues.
We visited the Big Buddha Statue (see photo). Impressive size, nothing more.
In the center of the town, the boulevard with a huge number of shops is of interest. Refined hand-made souvenirs, bags, glassware differ from Chinese stampings prevailing in other places.
In the modern city of Yokohama, we climbed the Land Mark Tower observation deck. I wonder how the Japanese are not afraid to build such tall buildings with such seismic activity. As we were explained, the technology involves mounting the building on bearings that allow it to move freely in some small interval. Iron bearings were replaced by vacuum bearings in new buildings. On the top floor, the Land Mark Tower literally sways - it is constantly in motion, imperceptible to the eye, but noticeable to the vestibular apparatus.
In the evening we visited the Japanese Chinatown. Narrow streets, lots of people, dirty eateries and red "lights" everywhere - I almost forgot that I was in Japan.
A small, dressed-up temple was a less significant point than a collective purchase of Chinese steamed pies.
