On Thursday we were given a packet of papers that laid out the schedule of the upcoming Kamakura trip. We would arrive at the school by 8:30 am on Saturday, have a lecture in the morning and then head toward the train station at noon. Tanaka-san went over some guidelines and made some suggestions of what to bring. He also mentioned, in a tantalizingly hushed voice, that for the first night’s dinner we would be having steak. If I wasn’t excited about the trip already, I certainly was now.

The lecture in the morning was taught by Kato-sensei. Of the English speaking staff members at KCP, I have the most experience with Tanaka-san and Michiko-san, who work in the offices on the first floor and talk to the American students whenever there’s something important. Kato-sensei teaches the English support sessions, which I should really consider attending some time. I’ve heard from a number of Americans that it’s an invaluable resource for getting questions answered and clarifying things heard in class. Still, I hadn’t dealt with her much before this trip.

She went over the key places we would be visiting, explained some history that explained the significance of Kamakura, and at one point showed us an English video that appeared to be made in 1991 showing some of the places that she talked about.

After my lunch, which consisted of several breads, we headed to Shinjuku-gyoenmae, the typical jumping-off station for the various culture class excursions. We then took that to Shinjuku station and got on the Odakyu line. We spent about an hour on the train, which was moderately crowded. Around the half-way point, I was able to get a seat and started doing homework. Before I was able to accomplish anything significant, the train stopped at Enoshima.

As you could tell from the name (shima meaning “island”), Enoshima is an island south of Tokyo. It’s about 4 km in circumference, and is particularly packed with the sort of things that tourists love (without seeming too touristy). On this particular day, it was rather packed. Tanaka-san mentioned that it was the most crowded he’s seen. It didn’t really affect how much we enjoyed it, and it certainly didn’t hurt that the weather was about the opposite of my last ill-fated trip. We walked about a kilometer from the station, across a bridge, and onto the island. Everything was lush and green, and the interesting sights were close together in the way that you imagine famous cities to be.

We went to a number of shrines, passed many souvenir shops, and took many pictures. I think I actually took more picture on the island than I had taken combined in the previous month. Amazing what good weather can do. I dumped all my pictures onto my Flickr site if those that I’ve included in this post aren’t enough.

Speaking of pictures, a significant amount of time during the trip was spent getting group pictures. And whenever there was one group picture, every other student would hand the teachers their cameras and a nine-picture smile-endurance challenge would commence. Because my camera is complicated, I didn’t force anybody to take a picture with it except for one time. But I’ve already talked to some in the group and they will be sharing some of the pictures from the trip in the future, so they might resurface at some time.

Although there was no way to disguise that this was one of my least favorite ways to travel — being led around — it somehow didn’t feel constricting and frustrating. The teachers gave information that we would never have figured out on our own, gave us the freedom befitting 20-somethings, and never made us stay anywhere too long or made us leave before people were ready.

Tanaka-san explains something. Brian listens passively.

The island had a number of gardens, and as we got further away from the shore and the souvenirs (and higher in altitude) the views got much better. Depending on how much we wanted to climb stairs, we were able to go to the highest part of the island that you could walk to and it was a quite nice place.

There was also an observation tower in the middle of the island that we were able to scale via an elevator. At the base, there was a plaza with a stage that seemed to be devoted toward practicing musicians. While we were walking to the tower, there was an a cappella group practicing, which was entertaining, if surreal.

At the top of the tower, you could really appreciate the good weather. Although it’s theoretically possible to see Mount Fuji from the island, it must have been just hazy enough that it wasn’t visible. If you squinted in the direction that it allegedly was and used some imagination, then we might have been able to see a trace of it. Fuji or no Fuji, it was a great view and everybody got their group pictures in.

On the way back, I got a kakigori (shaved ice), which is about the perfect summer food ever. I don’t know why I don’t take advantage of shaved ice during the summer in the states (besides that it’s not nearly as convenient), but you should go have shaved ice right now. We crossed the bridge back toward the station and got on the Enoden line to Kamakura station.

(left to right): Trisna, Kato-sensei, Tanaka-san, Joyce, Me

At Kamakura station, we changed to the Yokosuka line and went to Zushi. There, we followed the teachers through the least easy to navigate series of roads ever. One of the Americans noted that if we didn’t have teachers leading us, there was no way we would ever find where we were headed, and I would agree. After turning down several roads that looked like every other road, we arrived at our destination: a Ryokan.

To put it simply, a Ryokan is a traditional Japanese “hotel.” All the staff wear kimonos and the doors have those sliding paper doors that are so “Japanese.” It also had a large backyard by American standards, and a huge backyard by Japanese standards. After walking around for a good portion of the day, everyone embraced a few minutes of chilling in the individual rooms. But at the same time, we were eager to get onto dinner.

I don’t know what you visualized when I mentioned in the first paragraph that we would be having steak, but what we were given was a little surprising. Yes, there was a steak. It was perhaps 5 ounces, pre-sliced, and looked delicious on its own merits. But surrounding it was the sort of traditional Japanese food that made the overall dish look much different than steak at Outback in America. A shrimp with its head and tail still very much attached to the body stared blankly off into the distance.

Despite my hesitation on the shrimp, sashimi, and sushi, I’m happy to say that I ate it all. I wouldn’t say that it was delicious — it’s not the sort of thing I would seek out in a menu or have a craving for — but it wasn’t bad. The steak was great, and there was plenty of rice. Definitely the best meal I’ve had so far over here.

After dinner, it had gotten dark. To finish up the day, we were going to the beach. The first thing we did was play a watermelon smashing game. There are two teams and they take turns blindfolding one of their members and trying to use their voices to help their representative smash a watermelon with a bat, while the other team tries to give purposefully wrong directions.

Our watermelon was very difficult to smash, and despite a direct hit from Stephen M, it stood firm. Finally it yielded from a hit from the other team, but by that time I had started trying to take long exposure photographs. Using my tiny little tripod, I was able to have some pretty good results, including this picture of Stephen M, which I absolutely love. There’s really no good way to get a picture as dark as it was without doing long exposure, so I was happy that I had some experience doing it and was able to get pretty decent results.

The entire night was very fun. Tall Stephen and Jared kept us laughing, and the fireworks were a nice way to finish it up.

Back in the Ryokan, it was about 9:30. Many of us went to the bath. You wash yourself around the edges of the bathroom with these shower-ish things, and then just relax in the bath. The water was way hotter than I’ve ever experienced, and I’m used to hot baths, but it was relaxing in its own way. Tall Stephen got in between Stephen M and I and said “chotto atsui desu ne” which made both of us crack up. Whenever Tall Stephen says “chotto [adjective] desu ne” it’s something like a catchphrase. You just have to be there.

Though we slept on the floor on a futon, it was much more comfortable than my bed in the dorm. I tried to get to bed as soon as possible because I knew the next day wouldn’t be any easier on my legs. I’ll post about that tomorrow.

I want to give a shout out to my friend in Nampa, Jordan Freiburghaus, who just got engaged. I’d hug ya if I could, Jordy. Congrats!