Date & Time: Wednesday, February 12, 9:20 a.m. – 4:50 p.m.
Spots: Houkokuji Temple, Komachi-dori Street, Kotoku-in Temple (Great Buddha), Koshigoe, Enoshima Island
Visitor: Geraldine, A Chinese American
Attendant: 1 KSGG member
Language: English
Geraldine, the visitor, was familiar with and knew Japan well because she had been to Japan numerous times. Therefore rather than visiting historical spots, her interest was to stroll around the town to discover and taste the local cuisine of this area. At Houkokuji Temple, she had matcha*1 in the quiet bamboo grove. While in the temple garden, she was attracted to the fragrance of plum blossoms in full bloom. At Kotoku-in Temple, she liked the appearance of Great Buddha coated with copper rust. We travelled on the privately owned railway called Enoden*2 to Koshigoe Station. She had the best seat behind the train driver. This is a popular local train ride and she was fully satisfied because she had a good view of the seaside from her seat in the train. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant Shirasu-ya*3, in Koshigoe. She ordered a rice bowl topped with boiled and fried whitebait each half, and a glass of beer. At Enoshima Island, she tasted “tako senbei”*4, which is a specialty in this island. As she wanted to get on Shonan Monorail, we took the monorail back to Ofuna Station. This suspended monorail is rare and well known across the world. We disembarked at Ofuna station, and from the observation deck the silhouette of Mt. Fuji against the evening sky caught our eyes. It was such an impressive scenery.
*1 Powdered green tea
*2 Enoden is formally called Enoshima Electric Railway. It is a scenic railway line connecting between Fujisawa and Kamakura stations.
*3 “Shirasu” means whitebait and “ya” means shop.
*4 “tako” means octopus and “senbei” means rice cracker.