Kamakura is a VERY old city. It became the political center of Japan, when Minamoto Yoritomo chose the city as the seat of his new military government in 1192. The Kamakura government continued to rule Japan for over a century, first under the Minamoto shogun and then under the Hojo regents.
After the decline of the Kamakura government in the 14th century and the establishment of its successor, the Muromachi or Ashikaga government in Kyoto, Kamakura remained the political center of Eastern Japan for some time before losing its position to other cities.
I chose to go to Kamakura because it was relatively close to Tokyo (I could get ther by train), it had a lot of cool shopping, more than 17 Shinto Shrines and Temples, and best of all, the second largest bronze Buddha in Japan (maybe the world? not sure). Also, you Kamakura is relatively small, and you can see almost everything by walking. Obviously, there are too many things to see everything in one day -- but I was able to see one Shinto Shrine, the Buddha, and a place called "Shopping Town" -- lol!!
Here are some pictures from Kamakura Shopping Town:
Here you can see the sign that lets you know you are now in "Shopping Town" -- just in case you didn't know, or you were confused by so many shops! hehe.
Many of the shops have an old or rustic look to them. This street is one of the original streets dating back to the 1100s when the town was founded -- I can just imagine that these are the same or similar shops to those that have existed here for nearly 1000 years! Its crazy to think that -- but it could be so!
One of the cookie/cracker/candy making shops had these two animatronic robots that were pounding out cookies -- they were really neat! No -- these aren't real people -- they are ROBOTS.
I had to take a picture of this restaurant's sign -- who on earth names their restaurant "oxymoron"????? I have no idea....
This little girl was riding down the street in a rickshaw with her mother (?) in traditional dress. It seemed like maybe it was a special day for her, or her birthday or something, because even the Japanese people on the street were wishing her well and smiling and taking pictures. The little girl looked thrilled to have so much attention!
2 comments:
hahaha - shopping town! I wonder if those dolls are part of "it's a small world in Disney Japan?". I wonder if they've seen Chuckie? ricksha's are cool. did you get anything neat there? after all it is called Shopping Town, not Window Shopping Town. (budabump) I'll be here all week - try the veal.
lol-- you are a very funny guy!!! I did spend some money there. I don't remember what i bought though. That's the scary part!~
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