FIRST Time in KAMAKURA Japan | The BEST Day Trip from TOKYO! 2025

FIRST Time in KAMAKURA Japan | The BEST Day Trip from TOKYO! 2025

Welcome to Kamakura in Japan. [Music] Hi everyone, how’s life and welcome to another one of my videos. So yes, today we have come to Kamakura which is a day trip away from Tokyo. It’s about I want to say 70 minutes from central Tokyo. We got a tour. We had a driver come and pick us up at Ko Plaza Hotel where we’re staying at in Shinjuku, Tokyo. And the journey by car from Ko Plaza in central Tokyo, Shinjuku, to our first stop in Kokuro took about 70 80 minutes. So easily done as a day trip, it’s actually recommended. It’s one of the most popular places to go to from Tokyo if you want just a day trip away. First time here, very much looking forward to it. We are with the tour guide which we booked from Get Your Guide. He’s just driving us around some of the major parts of Kamakura today. And our first stop, you can see there behind us is the Hokuji Temple. Now this is a Buddhist temple. There’s also meant to be a bamboo garden nearby. And yeah, we’ve got about 45 minutes here. So, we’re going to go and have a little wander, see what it’s all about. There’s actually some information here. It says this temple flourished as the family temple of both the Ashaka and Uizuki clans. I hope I pronounced that right. And there you go. That’s the name of the temple. Hokuji Temple. It’s open from 9:00 a.m. until 400 p.m. today, this afternoon. But yeah, without further ado, we’re going to make our way in. And I’m already loving the gardens around it. So, so beautiful. There’s a statue of a Buddha over there. Actually, I’m not completely sure what statue that is. So, please ignore what I said earlier. It’s just a beautiful statue over there. Um, but yeah, really, really lovely weather as well today. Actually, it’s about 19° C. And then we’ve got another one over here. But again, unfortunately, I’m not finding any information around it. And shout out to a lovely guest who’s visiting at the moment. Um, they’re here with tour guide, and I asked them what their tour guide said, and they said that this is meant to be a guardian for travelers and kids. And the bib and the hat was put on the statue as a way to respect the statue for being their guardian. And we’re just walking again around the gardens. We have another statue here with some flowers right next to it. Very, very cool. And we are slowly but surely making our way up this garden. And we have now made it to the top of the garden area. You can also pay to actually visit the temple, which I think we might do. I’m here with my aunt, my cousin, and my mom. So, kind of just going along with what everybody wants to do. We only have about 45 minutes or so, so we’ll see. I think the fee to go in is about maybe the equivalent of about 2 UK. So really not expensive. But the first thing I’ve already decided from the I don’t know 10 minutes or so that we’ve been here is that I wish we had a tour guide. Obviously we have a driver that you know brought us here and that’s been very helpful. But especially if you want to actually learn and see what’s happening. It can be a little bit tricky if you don’t have a tour guide with you who speaks Japanese. So that was my recommendation. But I’ll let you know, you know, towards the end of the day what I think of our whole day here in Kamakura. We have got our tickets. Now, we’re going to slowly but surely make our way into the temple. I’m not sure how much of it I’m going to be able to film, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s exciting being in a new place, new Japanese city for me. Got some koiish over there. You can hear the birds tweeting. I love the different types of trees they have all over this area as well. We’re now walking through this mini bamboo garden over here. Reminds me a little bit of the bigger bamboo garden near Kyoto. This is beautiful and my mom’s loving it too, which for me is really important. And like I mentioned earlier in the vlog, I am here with my aunt cousin and my mom. It’s my mom’s first time visiting Japan, so it’s really lovely being able to see her excited and happy. But look at this. They seem endless. All these bamboo trees here. Look at all of these here as well. I presume these are meant to be different gods. Please correct me in the comments down below. Again, I really do wish I had a tour guide here with me because there’s no information or any like sign next to them. Understandably so. But it’s very pretty nonetheless. Very cool. And even up there, you can see over there in like the what looks to be like caves to me, maybe there seems to be quite a lot of statues there as well. And we’re going through the little bamboo garden. It’s called a bamboo garden. The one in Kyoto is like a full-on bamboo forest. This is a smaller one, like I said, but still I wish I already, even though we’re only meant to be here for about 45 minutes, I wish I could spend much longer here. Like I could easily spend 3 hours just walking around these gardens, going into the temple and taking everything in. And if I had more time, I could also when I see things, I could maybe look them up online and research them and try and figure out what I’m looking at. You know what I mean? So this is the thing. Japan has so much to see and so much to do that you’re never going to get everything done in one day. And even though this is meant to be a day shift to Kamakura, I already wish I had more than just one day here. But look at this. Look at this tiny bridge crossing right now. So cute. And they have more of these little statues over here, too. Wow. So cool. So interesting. Anyway, we’re now slowly but surely making our way down from the bamboo garden. And for me, a sign that my mom is enjoying herself is when I see her take photos of things. And she’s been taking loads of photos today. Look at this lovely shot of this really cool looking tree over here. And right next to temple, there’s this graveyard here, which my mom said based on how big that tree looks, it’s probably, you know, very, very old. What I’m going to do is that as soon as I have access to the internet and I can actually take some time to learn more about this place, I’m going to research. I should have done it before. Again, I’ve said it before a couple of times, but I really wish I knew more about what I’m looking at. However, I think the temple, you know, the ticket that we bought was actually just to kind of walk around the gardens. You can’t actually go inside the temple, but this is the temple here. So, as you can see, you can’t actually properly go in it. It looks amazing, though. From my understanding, the temple is open, but only really open to actual Japanese people or people that want to go there and pray. So, it’s not like a come and visit, just as a tourist kind of situation. And on the way back to the car, I noticed this tree, which look how interesting it looks. So, starts from there, then it goes this way, and then it goes up. I’m pretty sure obviously they’ve made it look like this. I can’t imagine it being naturally like this. I could be wrong, though. But it looks phenomenal with that statue in the back as well. Mesmerizing, truly. So much history and culture. Going to have to research more about this place when I get home later. But next stop, I think we’re going to another temple actually. [Music] We’ve come to our next stop now, which is the Hatchimangu Shrine and Kamachi Street. So, we’re going to start with the shrine first and then go onto the street and maybe eat something as well for lunch. My cousins also found some gosh here. There’s quite a lot. Also, some inside. I’m going to have a quick look. It’s really interesting to see them literally all across Japan. I mean, there’s loads of them in Tokyo, but even in the, you know, smaller cities around Tokyo, they have loads. There’s so many of them. And I’ve got some coins here with me. I’m trying to decide what to get. My heart wants something good. My mom’s saying that maybe one of the princesses. I’ve decided to go for one of those keychain down here. So like a Disney 100 keychain situation. Yeah, of course. Thank you. I got it same, too. So be careful.
Oh, well, thank you so much. I got
Oh, you got the same one. Oh, bless you. Thank you. So, we’re going to open that in a second because somebody got two of the same. But I’m going to try one as well. I got one. And I’ve still got this one as well that the lovely person got me earlier. Let me let me quickly open them. Oh, we’ve got Anna. Princess Anna. Very cute. I love how tiny these are as well. And I think this might be like a figurine where you can put it on your desk. And this one’s already been opened, but I wonder what character this is going to be. Rapunzel. That’s really cute. Okay, so we’ve got Rapunzel and Anna. My first Shopens of this trip in Japan and my first one in Kamakura. Also, completely random, but I needed to show you this bin. You push it up and it goes in rather than throwing it inside. This is my mom tea that she had on her way there. We found some mo Shopens over here. This one says pins with memory of travel which is very cool. Different icons. And then down here, I think this is the one I’m going to try for. There’s a Kamakura pin. There’s also some of the big Buddha statue which we’re hopefully going to see later. And I got it. And from what I can see, I’ve already got one hand with me and my mom’s currently in the shop having a look at what’s inside. But it looks like it’s the Kamakura pin. So this one here, which is the one I kind of wanted to be fair because it’s like everything that we’re going to see in one day rather than just one thing. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that’s the entrance of the temple over there. However, there are so many cool looking shops to look at that we decided to maybe have a look at some of the shops first before we go into the temple. Like look at these. They look so cool. These are obviously little Japanese shoes that you can have as beautiful art pieces in your house. They’re beautiful. They actually sell proper ones as well that you can wear over here. Yeah, there’s loads and loads of shops to look at. So many beautiful things. A lot of them handmade, different types of souvenirs that you can purchase on your way to the shrine. And I think down there, these are all meant to be mirrors. But again, they all have a different design. Pretty sure they’re all handmade. They look stunning. And smaller mirrors here as well. Look. Oh, there’s me. They are so beautiful and so like delicate. The art on them. Look at that one for instance. the different flowers they have. That rose looks absolutely stunning. Truly, truly beautiful. Everything that they have here in the shop, they also have a lot of chopsticks here. But like look at that plate over there with the roses or right next to it, the slightly bigger one with the fish. This is amazing. Even if you don’t decide to buy anything, just looking at everything almost feels like a little mini museum. If you’re wondering what shop I was just in, by the way, this is it. Unfortunately, I don’t know the name in English, but it’s just over there, right opposite the entrance of the temple. And honestly, the shop was gorgeous. We may have bought a couple of things from it. My mom wanted that plate with the boys on it. It looks beautiful. And the name of the shop is actually Yogo, I want to say, based on the plastic bag that we were given. But yeah, really lovely stuff in there, too. And there’s loads more little shops across the street as well, right in front of the temple. Look at these plates over here. These picture plates were made about 100 years ago. There are several hundred different designs. Wow. These plates are easy to use in practice as everyday table wear, accessory holders, etc. Really, really pretty. And the shop itself looks beautiful. Like as soon as you enter, you’re faced with this giant statue of the Buddha with so many of these little plates with different designs around it. Anyway, a little bit more about the shrine that we’re about to visit. So, it’s called the Tsuru Gowoka. I hope I pronounced that right. Hachimangu shrine. It’s apparently the most important Shintu shrine in the city of Kamakura. And it’s dedicated to the Hatchiman, the patron god of the Minamoto family and of the samurai in general. From what I understand, there’s also a couple of museums around the shrine, which unfortunately I don’t think we’re going to have time to go into today. But we’re going to make our way in now. And there you go. We’re on the other side of that main entrance now. Look at this view that we get from the shrine from this area all the way in the distance. Looks beautiful. And they also have a map here with where everything is. It looks to be quite a big space. Look at this though. So that is actually a bridge which they’ve closed off right now, but I guess maybe normally or in some occasions you can walk across it to get to the shrine over there. And again, look at these picturesque gardens over here around the shrine. And it looks like on the way to the shrine, they have these little stands that sells mainly fruits. This one’s selling an pineapple. One was selling grapes earlier. And I’m still loving this view. Also, look at those cherry blossoms on the other side. We’re here in April of 2025. In case you’re interested, today is actually the 20th of April, 2025. So, it’s not necessarily cherry blossom season. Most cherry blossoms start blossoming around like the middle of March, but there’s loads around at the moment, which is nice to see. For instance, those two in the distance look so pretty. They’re out in full force right now. And we’re making our way to this little section here now. And I think this is part of the shrine over here. Again, this is where I wish I had a tour guide to be able to explain everything. It looks pretty. At the moment, I’m just here appreciating things. Also, I wish I could read Japanese. I’ve learned a little bit of hiragana over the past few years. So, I can read hiragana, but I’m pretty sure this is mainly kangji, which unfortunately I cannot read. And even if I could, I wouldn’t know what it means. Anyway, one cool thing that I wish you could experience that I’m currently experiencing though is the smell of these cherry blossoms. Like, it smells absolutely gorgeous here. And another beautiful smell that I’m absolutely loving is the smell of these steaks being cooked over here. I think it’s wagyu beef. The queue for them is really long. It’s definitely the most popular stand here by the shrine. They’re also selling some fresh strawberries over here. But that Wagyu beef, the smell, I’ll say actually this evening, I’m pretty sure we have a restaurant booked in our hotel where they do serve wagyu beef. So hopefully I’ll get to my steak later this evening. But for now, we’re going to carry on making our way to the shrine. It looks like something is happening over there where people are gathered. We tried to ask some of the police officers and some of the staff members, but unfortunately nobody could tell us exactly what’s happening because obviously the language barrier. So we’re going to carry on making our way here. And look at the back of the temple right here. So many details. Look at that. And it looks like something’s going to be happening inside this area. I wonder if maybe that’s what that whole crowd was waiting for over there. We’re not quite sure, but there is somebody in there. Maybe there’ll be some kind of performance because look over here. They’ve also got some seats available. We are unfortunately quite short on time as well. So even if we could, I don’t think we’d be able to stay here and watch whatever’s about to happen. But also, you can see up there is the second part of the temple. In fact, the main part of it is up those stairs over there. However, I’m here with my mom. And if you don’t know, if you’re new to my channel, my mom was unfortunately in an accident a couple of years ago where somebody hit her and her leg was completely shattered. She’s had to have loads of surgery, so she struggles with even walking, let alone going up so many stairs. So, we’re not going to skip going all the way to the top for now. But, um, yeah, the experience here so far has been beautiful, and I truly wish we had more time here. And we have just made it to Kamashi Street, and look what I’ve spotted here. It’s Stitch and Minnie. Disney never escapes me. Yeah, this is meant to be a shopping/rest district. We’ve only got about half an hour. We’re going to see if we can grab a quick bite to eat maybe before we head back to our car. You can see they sell some sausages here. This place has some ice cream, some sweets, some savory options as well. My cousin got this ice cream, like a lemon flavored one. You said yuzu. Okay,
it’s really good.
Oh, that’s good. It looks good to be fair. Yeah, there’s loads and loads of places available here to shop, to eat based on what I’m seeing. A lot of sweet shops. So, like there’s waffles here behind me, ice creams, etc. Loads and loads of little shops as well with little artworks that my mom is really enjoying looking at. This shop smells incense. And I have to tell you again, another beautiful smell that I’m smelling currently. So beautiful. I wish you guys could smell it. My mom’s having a look at some of the scents that you can buy. But it smells absolutely beautiful in here. And look how cute these are. I love the artworks on them. Very traditional Japanese artworks. This is cute. Over here it says this is a Japanese fortune. Fortune is 100 yen once, I’m guessing, per perune. and you can draw a fortune. Omi Kuji is a Japanese culture. So yeah, I guess you put 100 yen in there if you want to and you can see what your fortune says about you. Coming from Tokyo, it’s so cool to be in a more traditional city like Kamakura where we’re right now. Like you can see there’s not as many tourists around. Everywhere feels a lot more traditional as well, but they still have their iconic vending machines everywhere. And I love that you can get ice cream here, drinks, sometimes you can even get hot drinks from some of these vending machines. There’s also a dog cafe here. So for 30 minutes it’s 800 yen and if you want an hour then 1,500 yen. But then you get cafes like this across Tokyo as well. It does look like it’s mainly snack places and shops rather than proper restaurants. So we’re not sure what we’re going to get because I especially want something savory rather than ice cream or something sweet. Oh, I love these caps. Pretty sure it just says Japan on it. Very cool. There’s also this red one says Mount Fuji. This drink looks interesting. Down here it says Kamakura Warabimochi drink. So, I’m guessing it’s some kind of drink with mochi in it. Again, not sure if that’s what I want, though. I’m not overly hungry anyway. It’s currently 1:00 p.m. I haven’t eaten anything today, but I have had my coffee, which is the most important thing. So, I’m good. I can survive another couple of hours. However, I have just spotted these, and they look quite interesting. So, this is Shiasu cheese, and red pepper. We’ve got clam, canona, flour, and fried eggs. Interesting. Ginger, lotus fruit, ginger, and Japanese onion. This one’s the most interesting to me. It smells good as well. So, this one’s shrimp flavor mayonnaise dressing. So, I’m guessing a dressing that tastes like mayonnaise rather than actual mayonnaise. And then onion and Japanese onion. Okay, we’re going to have to try one of these, I think. And then right next to it, they’ve also got an octopus and ginger. Or if you want something a bit more normal or something that you’re more used to, I suppose they have these cheese cheese sticks over here or something called potato and butter, which to be fair sounds delicious. Please, one shrimp flavor, one this, and one potato butter. Thank you so much. Thank you. got the goods. I went for the shrimp and my mom went for the potato and butter stick thing, which she’s gonna let me try a little bit as well. This is what they look like. That’s the potato and butter one that my mom’s holding. And this is my shrimp. Let’s give it a go. I’m going to try the potato one first. It’s mainly potatoey. You can taste a little bit of butter. But I’ve got my shrimp to try now. [Music] I prefer this one. This one’s got so much mayonnaise in it, or maybe I should say mayonnaise flavored dressing. That’s why I love it. But the shrimp flavor in there is really good, too. I mean, there’s good shrimp. But it’s about 10 minutes past 1 now. We need to be back in the car by around 1:30. So, we’re slowly but surely making our way back to go to the next stop. [Music] We have now arrived at our next stop. That’s the car over there, by the way. Fantastic driver. Really nice, friendly, and knowledgeable. And this next stop, well, there’s a couple of things we’re going to be seeing here. Firstly, apparently behind me is where we’re going to be seeing the 11 Hands Up Channel. Our driver said that we should spend about 50 minutes there, 50 minutes to 60 minutes, about an hour. Then we come back to the car and he’s going to take us to the main Buddha, like the big Buddha that exists here in Kamakura, called the Great Buddha of Kamakura. There’s also a temple nearby called the Hassadera Temple. Sorry, I’m reading through my notes. Practicalitywise, by the way, most of these stops that we’ve had do also have restrooms/ toilets. So, plenty of options for toilet stops. This is the entrance of the temple. Looks amazing. And I think if you want to go and explore, we have to go that way. And there’s a bit of information here which says, “The principal object of worship at Hassadero Temple is the 11-headed cannon statues known to be some of the finest wooden Buddha statues in Japan.” So, I may have said hands 11handed cannon earlier. 11headed clearly. I misheard our driver. Anyway, we’ve got our tickets now. 400 Japanese yen. And as with most of the temples across Japan, it’s starting with a beautiful area of trees and gardens. So, before you enter the temple, they do have this little washing station here where you can use the utensils they have there to wash your hands. As you can hopefully see me demonstrating right now. And we are now heading up these stairs to continue our journey. And according to our driver, this place is pretty big. So, lots of stairs, lots of walking. We’re taking it quite slow so that my mom is able to go up the stairs at her own pace. And here we’ve got a couple of statues by the water. There’s another one over here. Really beautiful. And look at this sea of mini statues here. We’re not exactly sure what they mean or what they are, but clearly they’re very different to the main Buddha statues around. Very cool, though. Overwhelming. I’m going to have to do so much research about this place once I get home. My cousin reckons that’s the cannon over there or one of them. We’re not sure though. Again, we do apologize for not knowing much. Everything is in Japanese and we don’t have an actual tour guide here. And look, there’s some red ones over there as well, which again, I’m trying to figure out what that signifies. Like, how are they different the rest of these statues here? Because there’s so many of them. Like look, even at the back, literally, this place is so cool. And then also here behind me. So many of them. And they all look the same for the most part, apart from some of them having slightly different colors. This is just never ending. Wow, there’s even more. There’s even more. This is what I just spotted over there, guys. These tiny people all across the walls up there. We’ve now climbed up to the top bit. That’s where the main temple is over there. They also have a lot of little I guess stands here that sells items and souvenirs that you can purchase. For instance, let’s have a look. These seem to be it says gate deio. So, gate means cake, but I think these are meant to be just biscuits with the face the Buddha on them. They have loads and loads of things available though, whether it’s accessories, jewelry, shoes that you might want to purchase. And I’m not sure what’s happening here, but there’s this little food item, maybe. I don’t know what it is, but he’s taking photos with people in front of one of the temples nearby. I have no idea what they’re saying, but he’s cute. This thing is cute. Please let me in the comments down below what you think this is, by the way, cuz I have no clue. I just asked one of the people that was with this little dude. I asked, “What is it?” And they said multiple times, “An annoying character. He’s an annoying character.” I was like, “You mean annoying character?” I’m like, “Yes, this is an annoying character.” So, I hope I got that right. If so, that’s hilarious. I just got a photo with an annoying character in front of a temple. The smell of incense here is absolutely beautiful. And then I think this is the main entrance to go inside the temple. So, it does say at the front entrance of the temple that you can’t take any pictures in the hall. It also says to be quiet. I’m going to love you and leave you here. I’ll go in, have a look, and get back to you once I have. So, I just got to see the 11headed Buddha. It was amazing. Obviously, no filming. We’re now in the shop next door where you can purchase things and obviously film as well. I have decided to buy myself this, which I think is some kind of prayer. It looks really pretty as well. And whilst I couldn’t show you the actual Buddha in the temple, understandably so, you can see a model of it over here. This is the exact thing. Oh, not the exact thing. Much smaller. The actual Buddha in there was huge and so beautiful. I literally spent about 5 minutes staring at it. But yeah, you can see all the heads on his head. Very, very cool. The shop I’m currently at is literally connected to the temple, the main temple over there where we got to see the Buddha. I’ve also decided to buy this because he looks so cute. It’s basically a little character praying and apparently it’s an ornament with a fortune. So, inside it there’s a fortune. I’m interested to see what I’m going to get, but also I’m going to keep this cuz it’s so cute. Also just outside the temple it says over there benzuru Sonia Pindola bar dwava and it says touch the part of the statue where you want to be healed which is such a cool idea. I absolutely love it. My mom just touched the leg because of her obviously accident a few years ago. I’m going to quickly touch some parts of the statue as well that I personally feel like I need to be healed from. Well that experience genuinely weirdly felt quite healing. Just touching it like the act of touching the statue felt quite healing for both of us. But I’ve still got this to open. My little fortune. And I’m really excited to see what I’m going to get in there. So, let’s quickly see what I get. Hopefully something good. I really need some good fortune. Firstly, look at this little guy again. He’s so cute. Like, his face looks so peaceful and calm and happy. We’re going to open it up now and see. Hopefully, the fortune is going to be in English. By the way, I didn’t even think of the fact that it might potentially be in Japanese and then I would know how to read it. I love how cutely wrapped it comes. Like a little mini letter. Okay, I’m going to put this away for now and open this up. Let’s see. Okay, so it looks like one side of it is in Japanese over here, but then they also have some English on one side. This is it. It says quite lucky. That’s good. At least I’m quite lucky. It says health early to bed, early to rise for good fortune. I’m a night owl. I very rarely get more than like 5 hours sleep. So clearly my health’s not great. Then it says, “Love the person of your dreams will appear.” Okay. Study. It pays to go back and reconfirm the basics. Do I need to go back and study? Travel. Southward travel recommended south business. Choose a new direction now. And it literally does say now. So, wow. Maybe I need to think about that. The most important thing though is that apparently I’m quite lucky. Although, jokes and everything aside, I feel very lucky. I feel lucky to be here. I feel lucky to be here with my family, to be able to travel so much, to be able to do what I love as my job, to be healthy for the most part. Obviously, I should probably be getting more sleep, but generally speaking, I’m healthy and my friends and family and loved ones are healthy and that’s all I need really. So really in my heart I feel very lucky. And look at these koiish everywhere. They’re so pretty. Those red ones. There’s also a lot more down there. Look at them. They’re so big as well. Majestic in a way. If you can call fish majestic. Also, before we head back to the car, I wanted to show you this beautiful view of Kamakura. Most of Kamakura anyway. You can see some of the houses. You can see the sea in the distance. Some mountains. It’s a really lovely viewing point. But yeah, a beautiful hour spent here. Unfortunately, it’s now time for us to make our way back to the car for our next stop, which is an exciting one actually. And you can also get yourself a little stamp of the temple that we just visited, which is very cool. Tells you how to do it. It’s free. My cousin is pushing very hard. Oh, that’s so beautiful. It’s got everything. There’s a smaller one as well. What’s that one going to be like?
Really cute.
Oh my god, it’s the praying. Oh, I love them. Look at him. So cute. And we’re heading back to our car now for our final well penultimate place which is going to be the main big Buddha statue. And we’ve just been dropped off at the entrance of the big Buddha which apparently is meant to be in the distance over there to the right. And we’ve got half an hour here. Conveniently it is called the great Buddha. And I think I can already spot a little bit of it over there. And at the entrance again they have a couple of these statues. One of them has this bib again. I think for good luck. And this also seems to be quite a big place, but the main part of course is the great Buddha right in the middle. So, we’re here. That red sign, we do have to walk up a little bit to get to him. And this is the first entrance that we see with two guardians on each side. Let’s have a closer look at them. Wow. Firstly, very big. Look at their faces as well. Pretty intimidating. I mean, I understand why they’re guardians. Here’s another map of the entirety of Kanakura City. From what I can read up there, it says Kanakura City tourist map. And then over here as with most of the temples that we’ve seen is where you buy your tickets. There we have it. Entrance ticket adult, the great Buddha Kamakura. And there’s a little bit of information about the great Buddha on the back as well. The seated Buddha Amida Neorai known by the familiar name of the Kamakura Dutsu is the principal diety of Kotku in temple. Is a national treasure. Construction began in 1252 and continues for approximately 10 years. Wow. And it does say over here his height is 13.4 m. Height of the cast 11.3. weight. Wow. 121 tons. It’s going to be a huge one. This is a temple of Buddha and the gate of the eternal and should therefore be entered with reverence by order of the prior. Again, there’s a little washing station for you to wash your hands before you enter the grounds. And I think we’re about to get to the great Buddha. Wow. Oh my god. It’s bigger than I imagined it to be truly. Look at that. I’m not sure if it’s coming across on camera because I had seen photos of this before coming here and it’s truly a lot more, you know, overwhelmingly big than you see in photos. Like look, this is it. Going to get closer to it now. There you go. We’ve come as close to it as we can. Actually, this is the top floor. So, I’m going to show you behind us. That was the entrance over there. There’s a couple of flights of stairs to get up to, but really not too many, actually. And wow, look at the details. There’s also some incredible incense happening right next to him. And I just hope you guys can appreciate the grand jaw of this. So this is my hand. This is it. If I actually stand next to him, you should be able to see how big it is and how tall even more. And don’t forget it weighs something like was it 100 and something tons. This thing is big. Is big. And obviously he’s a Buddha. So you can pray to him. You can spend time. You can see a lot of people praying actually right now. I might have it at the moment too. Obviously I’m not Buddhist but I like taking little bits from different you know religions, different beliefs and the good parts of it. I always like to take and especially if I’m visiting a country, why not? Why not just enjoy that and embrace it as much as you can whilst you’re in that country, you know? Because this Buddha is so big. Of course, it also has very big shoes. So, my mom spotted his shoes over here. Look how giant they are. Makes sense though. It’s a huge great Buddha. This is it. This was the great Buddha. So cool to see it in person, honestly. And I would recommend it if you have the time. If you come to Tokyo, you find yourself with a spare day, then come to Kamakura mainly to see this, but also everything we’ve seen so far today has been really cool and very interesting. And even though, like I keep saying, this is meant to be a day trip from Tokyo. And it is easy because it’s not too far from Tokyo, one could easily spend more than a day here to look at everything in more detail. But yeah, bye-bye to the Great Buddha. And now we have one final place to go, which I believe is the sea. We’re going to a beach now. And on the way back to the car, which is just waiting for us over there, I thought I would get myself a drink. I kind of just want water to be fair. Although they do some really amazing iced coffee here in these vending machines as well and actually across the entirety of Japan. Like that up there. Aroma brew black coffee. Looks really good. And there you go. I kind of wanted water but it wasn’t working. So I decided just go for this aroma brew black coffee. We’ll see what it’s like. [Music] It’s very windy. We just made it to our final stop of this tour which is called a seaside park. Initially, our driver literally dropped us up here and it’s just like a park for children. My mom and I were like, “What is this? We don’t I think even the driver himself was a bit confused as to why he walked here. But in front of us here, there is a little river beach with the sea. Unfortunately, it’s windy, so it’s not the sunniest of days, but you can see into the distance the mountains down there. Oh my god. I don’t know. But it’s so windy. I’m legit scared I’m going to lose my hat. I’ve nearly lost it a few times. This is my situation right now. As soon as I step back just one step, Yeah. That’s where when the wind comes because you get closer and closer to the waves of the ocean. This has been my situation for the past 5 minutes. But it’s cool. It’s cool to be able to actually see the sea, a beach, an ocean here in Japan. Our first time being so close to one. I don’t think I’m going to be going down because it’s not the best weather. I would have if it was like a sunny day perhaps and it wasn’t so windy. But right now, I’m happy to be observing this wonderful view, the scenery from where I’m at right now. You can see the sun up there as well. It’s currently about 4:00 p.m. I think the sun should be setting in the next hour or so. It’s so nice when I come a little bit further back. Truly, the wind its peak is just over there. But you can see as well if I keep going that park, the children’s park is just down there, which I still think is hilarious when the driver just left us there and was like, “This is the park. This is a seaside park.” And inside it was just like a a slide and a couple of swings and it was clearly just a small park for kids. was Kamakura. Yes, the seaside city. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you coming to spend too much time on the beach unless you’re here on a very beautiful sunny day. So, today the weather’s been fine. So, I think it’s currently actually, let me check, it’s 21° C. So, it’s by no means cold, but it’s windy. The wind’s been quite heavy all day, especially now because we’re by the beach. So, it doesn’t make it the most enjoyable of experiences, but if you’re a big sea person, still worth maybe coming for half an hour, been given half an hour for our tour anyway. And there are some people actually surfing. So if you’re a pro, you shouldn’t have any problems even in this weather. This is the park, by the way, that we got dropped off at. As you can see, literally a tiny park for kids. But we are now slowly but surely making our way back to the car to go on our journey back to Tokyo Ko Plaza where we’re staying at. I think it’s going to take about maybe 70 80 minutes. And I’m looking forward to getting a bit of a nap on the car journey back hopefully cuz I’m tired. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] We are back in our room now at the Ko Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku. The time is 5:35 p.m. I believe. So, really good timing. We actually do have a reservation booked at one of the steak restaurants, one of the many restaurants they have here in this hotel for 8:00 p.m. So, in just over 2 hours time. So, we decided to quickly hop into 7-Eleven, which we have one in our hotel as well. This hotel is huge, and we picked up a few things, so I thought I would quickly show you what we got. Firstly, we picked up a couple of chicken thighs. It said spicy fried chicken. So, excited to try those. Then, I saw this. It literally says chocolate bananas, so I had to pick it up because I love chocolate and it feels so nice and soft. So, hopefully going to try that. Maybe later today or tomorrow, but it just looked too interesting not to try. Got a couple of these salty potato snacks is what they’re calling them, but I presume they’re just crisps. This I’ve heard really good things about. It’s the egg salad, famous egg salad sandwich from 7-Eleven, and it’s meant to be phenomenal. Oh yeah, I forgot that we picked this up. I don’t like strawberry. You might know this if you’ve watched my channel for a while, but my mom enjoys strawberry. And this again is quite an iconic snack/ sandwich to get here. So, it seems to be just be strawberry cream in uh white bread toast. And my mom’s going to have this. Definitely not me. This is another thing that my mom picked up. It says ruibos tea. And yeah, she’s gonna try to see what it’s like. Oh my god. I just saw that my mom picked this up for me, which um is basically the type of cake that you see all over Japan. And I really enjoy them. I’ve never seen a chocolate one though, so we’re really excited to try this. We’ve got a tuna mayonnaise oni. And then I really wanted to try one of these chicken cutlet sandwiches with sauce. So, got this one. We’ve got some sliced apples to share. I love how they just come in this plastic bag. My mom just needed some regular milk. So, we have this. and I can always do with coffee, especially their amazing coffee here in Japan. So, this is actually a Starbucks standard one. It’s an iced latte. I did have something similar yesterday and it was so good. So, looking forward to having this again. But, we’re just going to rest a little bit for the next hour and a bit. And then, like I said, at 8:00 p.m., we do have a reservation at the steak place in this restaurant. Can’t remember the name of it. It starts with a Y. I’ll let you know when we get there. But looking forward to some steak later, but for now, I’m going to try some of these snacks off camera. And I know it might sound weird, by the way, eating snacks a couple of hours before you go out for a meal, but we really haven’t had much to eat at all today, my mom and I. The only thing we had were those little snacks from the place, the the street. I can’t remember. I had the shrimp thing, and my mom had the potato thing, and they were very small. So, we’re hungry.
2 hours later,
here we are. Tanyyaki Yamanamu, the name of the restaurant we dining at. Our reservation has just started. Let’s head in. We have this incredible view of I think the other side of our hotel. Actually, there’s a light show happening currently. And it’s a Teanyaki restaurant, so they’re going to cook our food right in front of us, which is awesome. We have the menu over here. We’ve got a selection of red wines. We’ve got
a drink menu.
Oh, it’s just a drink menu. You are absolutely correct, cousin. But there’s a good selection of drinks here actually.
Five ice cream. Five. Is that what you’re going to get, cousin?
You showed it to me. You seem excited. We’re just having a look at the menu. Um, it looks very good. Yama zaruka is the name of it. There you go. This is the menu. Tanyaki yama nami. And there’s a few different sets that you can get. We’re not quite sure yet what we are going to get. I’m probably going to want some beef. And it looks like they do have coobe beef here, which is nice. You can also opt out for the seafood option, the seafood tempyaki, which is called yunagi. And then this one, the kashiwa seems to be mainly the meat heavy one. [Music] Thank you very much. It’s so lovely. Really beautifully presented as well. Thank you. Thank you. So, we’ve got some onions, some Japanese uh spinach, I think, some oagene, and some mushroom. [Applause] [Music] So good. It literally melts in your mouth like butter. It’s delicious. Mine’s medium and my aunt and cousin all went for well done. But they said even theirs feels like melted butter in their mouth. It’s honestly delicious. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

► Check out the previous vlog: https://youtu.be/iuMQFNGlg4U?si=8LGniqismMd3wX8E

► Welcome to a tour of Kamakura in Japan!

► Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa8z0dypUP54sVlhVrOGavQ/join

► Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sam4god/

► Use code SAM4GOD2025 to get a 10% discount on any bookings made at Hôtel l’Elysée Val d’Europe before the 31st December 2025.
https://www.hotelelysee.com

Get 10% OFF Disney clothing at:
https://www.cakeworthystore.com/sam4g0d
Use Code “SAM4G0D” to get 10% off any item, including the Disney all over printed t-shirts like the one I wore in this video from Cakeworthy.

► Truffle Shuffle: https://tidd.ly/3dozKiz
——————————————————–
I post NEW videos on Tuesdays, Thursdays, (Some Saturdays) & Sundays.
——————————————————–
📧 Business Enquiries: sam4godyt@gmail.com
——————————————————–
► Cameo: https://www.cameo.com/sam4good (personalised video shoutouts)
► Instagram: @Sam4God
► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sam4G0d/
► Twitter: @Sam4God
——————————————————–
Affiliate Links:
► Shop my all over printed Disney t-shirts here:
https://www.cakeworthystore.com/sam4g0d
Use Code “SAM4G0D” to get 10% off any item, including the Disney all over printed t-shirts like the one I wore in this video from Cakeworthy.
► Truffle Shuffle: https://tidd.ly/3dozKiz
► Shop My Camera Vlogging Equipment: https://amzn.to/46cJFgS
► Travel Essentials: https://amzn.to/3DaCrOd
► More Disney T-shirts & Loungeflys: https://tidd.ly/45VHLBr
——————————————————–
WATCH NEXT:
1. Disneyland Paris Shopping: https://youtu.be/HWbzk6rEU7Y?si=lF90P3ex-Gc_4PrF
2. Disney World Vlogs 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usXG86SFMBc&list=PLq0I-Fq8QBz3R1pKdnKbfm84Z6NAKSQnS
3. Surprising Disneyland Paris GUESTS: https://youtu.be/ZfSDbKItz2o
——————————————————–
Disneyland Paris Vlogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuQYrrSAO_E&list=PLq0I-Fq8QBz3tqPtD4UaIdDcKCqn9Gb94
Disneyland Paris Planning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtB2jneXka8&list=PLq0I-Fq8QBz2IPyH3umJAWVy9_43Q#wy_
Disneyland Paris Food: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOy7oIS7TWA&list=PLq0I-Fq8QBz24IrU_GL4_Lsq0Ggcfh8j7
——————————————————-
#kamakura #Japan #japantravel
——————————————————-
TOKYO JAPAN VLOG JAPAN VLOG 2025 KAMAKURA JAPAN DAY TRIPS FROM TOKYO JAPAN APRIL 2025