So last weekend was a long weekend. We decided to spend our Sunday at a place not so far from Tokyo; a place I've seen in the Terrace House series - Kamakura!
I spent the whole Saturday researching about Kamakura; where we should go, temples we should visit, etc. And of course, since Kamakura is famous with its beach, I figured we should make a trip there too. There's a small island there called Enoshima which is well-known to travellers for its lighthouse and stunning illumination at night - but it would take another day to explore.
Next time, for sure.
So on that Sunday, we started our journey from Funabashi JR station at 9 am, taking the rapid train to Kamakura. The journey took 1 and a half to 2 hours at most - makes sense, since Funabashi is about 30 minutes journey to Tokyo.
Kids having their onigiri breakfast while waiting for the train.
When we got on the train, there weren't too many people thank God. With a stroller and 3 kids we pretty much needed more space than anybody else on the train, and thankfully people were accommodating. We got a 4-seater facing each other so it was easier to monitor the kids.
Tips: when at the train platforms, look for the disabled/stroller-friendly signs coach so that you can get on those designated coach as they typically have more space for strollers.
And after approximately 2 hours, we reached Kamakura!
Kajiya
First stop in Kamakura was the place for lunch cause we were starving lol. Found this restaurant with a halal menu on Google - Kajiya, and thank God it was open. Had to wait for a while to get our seats.
I swear we were so hungry that I was so happy seeing the halal menu haha.
What we ordered - chicken teriyaki, chicken katsu and ebi tempura rice sets.
I still remember that first bite of chicken teriyaki, husband turned to me and mouthed, "so good". Not sure if we were really really starving or the food there is really good! But a halal chicken lunch in Japan on any day is a good day I think.
Then we were off to our next stop, a temple.
Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu temple
It's the nearest temple to Kamakura station, so you just have to walk along the Komachi street (famous street in Kamakura with lots of shops lining up) until you see the temple. You cannot miss the temple cause the street is so gorgeous - sakura trees lining up the main street!
The line up to the temple was SO. LONG. I gave up once I saw it haha. There was no way we could make it up there anyhow with a stroller.
So tips: this place is not exactly stroller-friendly.
But thankfully the ponds around the temple make up for it!
Look how pretty the view is.
I was entertaining the boys with the ducks while baby girl was sleeping in the stroller.
So then we moved to the next stop - Kamakura-kokomae station!
Kamakura-kokomae station
When I was researching about Kamakura, I came across many reels on instagram on this particular train station. It's dubbed the prettiest train station in the whole of Japan because of the view - an old train railway called "enoden" passes by this old-school train station, which is located by the beach - who wouldn't think it's pretty??
So my heart was set on visiting this station. Also lucky for us that we can walk to the beach from here!
Kamakura beach
So from the train station, we crossed the main street and went down to the beach. The kids were so happy!
Finally meeting the clear blue sea and white sands since we moved to Japan 😭
We brought some beach toys for the kids to play. Best decision ever, by husband (I was initially against the idea, considering we had to lug the toys arounds in and out of trains which did not seem like a good idea. But seeing how happy the kids were playing in the sand with the toys - thank you husband for not listening to me)
Spent quite some time there so that kids can enjoy themselves. The boys, I think they grew attached to the beach since they were small - we always bring them to visit the beach whenever we were back in Dungun, so they practically grew up with it. The amount of seashells they've collected over the years were so many that we still had bits and pieces of them lying in their toy storage somewhere. So it made sense that the highlight of this trip is the beach. They collected some sea shells to bring home as usual, and made some castles too. There were not many people around so we had some privacy to have our own quiet time. I wish I could tapau home the sea waves' sound. Missing the place already.
And the weather was so good, Alhamdulillah.
Pretty sure we made some core memories here that day.
Then, we moved on to our next stop - the Buddha statue. Felt so sad to leave the beach somehow.
Kotoku-in
Kotoku-in, or the Buddha statue is easily accessed by the same enoden train. So we went back to Kamakura-kokomae station and took the enoden to Hase station. From there we walked following the signs for about 7-8 minutes before we reached the temple.
Paid 300 yen to enter.
Passed by this dorayaki shop so we bought some. Omg, so good. The boys finished them all lol.
Then since it was already 5 pm, we made our way back to Kamakura station to catch our train back to Funabashi. The boys were already so tired from the journey, and they slept the whole way back haha thank God it took 1 and a half hour so they could have ample rest.
So some things I've learned from this trip:
- Start your journey early. We took the train at 930 am and reached there by 11 am, which by then we were already so hungry
- If possible opt for weekdays rather than weekends, cause it was so PACKED with people. Kamakura is a tourism spot so it makes sense
- The enoden train is not very stroller-friendly - with jam-packed people, bringing a stroller is such a bad idea. I wish we had gone on a less busier day so that we could ride the enoden without being cramped with people
- Bring a tripod! So many photo spots that you wouldn't want to miss
- Try all the street food at Komachi street - they are so famous and one of the main attractions there (we couldn't try them all since the queue was so long sobs)
- If you have time, try hiking at the temples there. For our next trip I'm determined to go hike and explore the nature
- Also if you have time, visit Enoshima island - it's one of the main attractions there that I wish we could go if we had a little more time. Winter illumination there is so pretty
That's it I think. Probably one of the most memorable trip we've ever had so far 💛
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