On Thursday, our orientation class took us off base for a field trip to get familiar with the train systems and the area.
First stop was a park immediately across the water from the base. From the base gate to the park, there was this awesome manmade stream of water with interspersed fountains and small bridges that must’ve been almost a mile long. I couldn’t believe that it just kept going and going. At the end of the stream was a large plaza with an old decommissioned Japanese battleship called the Mikasa (which Charlie thereafter referred to as “his house”). The plaza is apparently also used as an evacuation location during natural disasters and therefore has a large decorative train car filled with a million gallons of purified water. Next to the plaza and the ship is a grassy area where there are concerts in the summer and there’s an elaborate pond with countless adjoining fountains as well.
This is a picture of the fountains at the park near the base.
"My house" Japanese battleship
The end of the mile-long series of fountains interspersed along the man-made stream on the walk to the park.
Next we walked through downtown Yokosuka and up to Blue Street - the main street called that because it’s lined with blue tiles. They pointed out the conveyor belt sushi place that Charlie and I had been to last weekend as a good example of “conveyor belt sushi” for those new to sushi and who want to see what they’re ordering first. Then we walked to the train station where Charlie and I bought Suica passes. Even though Japan is considered to be fairly technologically advanced, they’re still an almost entirely cash-based society. Very few places will accept credit or debit. One exception is cards you can buy for the train station that you can load with cash and then just flash the card at the turnstyle as you enter the station. You can also use the card to buy items at the small convenience stores at the stations. Charlie and I were excited to find pre-packaged cups of boba ball milk tea!
Four stops later, we got off the train at Kamokura, which was the capital of Japan in the 12th century under the first unified government/shogun. We first stopped for lunch - we chose conveyor belt sushi again. We had Baskin Robbin’s ice cream for dessert, but I tried Cream Soda, which was an interested mix of sorbet and ice cream with tiny candies inside. I’m probably not doing it justice, but it was a strange but tasty combination of flavors and textures.
After lunch, we walked to the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine. Japan’s two main religions are Shinto, which has shrines and Buddhism, which has temples as its houses of worship. We walked up a cherry tree-lined (unfortunately not currently blossoming) pathway in the center of the street towards the shrine. It started with a red toori guarded by two lions, one with an open mouth to represent birth and one with a closed month to represent death. The street was built by the shogun as good luck the anticipated delivery of his pregnant wife. The way the road was built, it gradually narrows as you approach the shrine in order to appear longer to approaching enemies.
At the shrine, we all took part in a purification ritual involving water at a fountain where you rinse your right hand, then your left hand, then take a sip of water, swish it around in your mouth and spit it out, then let the remaining water in your cup run back over your right hand. We walked up the steep steps to the central area of the temple (although taking care not to walk up the center, because that’s reserved for the gods) and then some of us prayed to the gods. This involves bowing twice, clapping twice to get the gods attention, praying, then bowing again at the end and throwing small coins in an offering. Charlie and I also bought fortunes by shaking a box to release a stick with kanji on it and then exchanging the stick for a paper with your fortune. Apparently some people get bad fortunes, but you can tie your bad fortunes to a box of hanging strings to get rid of it. On the way out we saw an adorable 3 or 5 year old girl in a traditional kimono (3 and 5 year old girls and 5 and 7 year old boys are brought to the shrine for a good luck ceremony). There were also several food and souvenir stands; Charlie and I tried large grapes dipped in caramelized sugar.
On the way back to the train station, I had to stop at the Hello Kitty store to get Kamakura pens. All throughout Japan, you can buy these pens with different intricately designed HK pendants specific to the location/city/attraction. So I got one with a HK archer samurai and one with a traditional dancer for the shogun. I’m going to try to get some for each place we visit in Japan.
Open mouth lion representing birth at entrance to shrine
Toori entrance to shrine
Bridge for Shogun
Water purification ritual fountain
Our second water purification ritual of the day
Tie up your bad fortunes here
Shrine with souvenir and food vendors leading up to it
Steep staircase to center of shrine
