Entry 13

Yesterday was the best day by far that I have spent in japan so far. It began by waking up in our hostel getting something to eat and meeting our buddies at the G18 station. we then proceeded to a beautiful place known as Kamakura. when we arrived our buddies wanted us to try this dish that was made famous in Kamakura it was the strangest thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. It was raw and boiled fish but not like sushie or sashimie these little guys still had their eyes and everything else on them as well, this was over a bed of rice like most things in Japan. It was surprisingly not disgusting but it sure was hard for me to get up the nerve to eat it just because what it looked like. after the fishy surprise we went to a huge statue of Buddha in a very pretty place in Kamakura surrounded by nature. we where even able to go into the Buddha statue and see the history of how it was constructed. After the Buddah statue we did something that has been on my bucket list for a while, we went hiking in japan!!!! This is something I have wanted to do sense I was a junior in high school and it was so much better then I thought it would be. We saw some truly breath taking views of the coast line of japan and of the various mountains around the area. I also got to see some really cool bamboo forests and stuff around this area. Near the end of the hike we got to see one of the mot peacfule areas I have ever seen, it was a shrine area where there was a lot of statues and different types of Japanese architecture. One of my favorite things a saw was all the Japanese spirit gates that were around the area it was truly an awesome experience. After a mountain adventure we went back down to the city area of Kamakura and went on the hunt for some good food. Our buddies had a type of Japanese dinner food in mind known as Okonomiyaki which was basically a mix of veggies, meat and egg all heald together by some kind of creamy substance. how it went was they would bring the mix to the table and then have you mix it up and cook it the want you want to. It was covered with mayo and some kind of special Japanese sauce that was so so good. After we ate here we went back to our hostle and went to bed. what a day!!