Day 7 - Coastal town of Kamakura

South of Yokohama about half an hour away by train is the popular tourist destination of Kamakura. Sometimes called the Kyoto of Eastern Japan, Kamakura offers numerous temples, shrines and other historical monuments.

A hearty brunch before the start of the trip

Hachimangu Shrine. Kamakura's most important Shinto shrine.

Cherry blossom trees

Yup, we all bought gloves half way thru the trip. lol

A warm meal and coffe

The Great Buddha of Kamakura is a bronze statue which stands on the grounds of Kotokuin Temple. With a height of 13.5 metres, it is the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan, surpassed only by the statue in Nara's Todaiji Temple.

Kamakura Daibutsu

Hasedera is a temple of the Jodo sect, that is most famous for its statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. The temple is built along the slope of a wooded hill. It has a pretty garden with ponds at the base of the hill.

Lookout point overlloking the coastal town

The beatiful temple grounds

Entrance to the Benten-kutsu Cave

Day 6 - Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise

1. 

Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise is an amusement park consisting of an aquarium, shopping mall, hotel, marina and amusement rides. It is located in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama. It  opened for business on 8 May 1993 - Wikipedia

She wants to eat this crab too!

The dolphin enclosure

Later back in Yokohama, had our mandatory KFC meal. Mind you it is expensive, about RM12 per piece of chicken. Their fried chicken is slightly more greasy. Thumbs down.

Day 5 - Shinagawa & Yokohama

Slept in late after a tiring previous day. Once checkout from the hotel, it was off to Shinagawa for our onward journey to Yokohama, the 2nd largest city in Japan.

Once at Shinagawa station, we made a detour to Luxe Dining Hapuna, Shinagawa Prince Hotel for a buffet lunch of japanese snow crabs. This turned out to be one of our highlights of our trip to Japan thanks to a recommedation by a work colleague who was in Japan just before us.

It is the usual better than average buffet with local and western offerings with the main offering of all-you-can-eat crabs. Mind you, the same crab is sold at Isetan, KLCC for RM35 per 100 gram with shell! The buffet lunch was 3,800 yen per pax which is about RM117, which is so affordable! My advice..don't miss it for whatever reasons if you are in Tokyo or for that matter in Japan.

The crab is not prepared in any special manner except cooked in boiling water. But the flesh is sweet and taste just great. Don't be fooled by the appearance of the long skinny legs and small bodies, there's plenty of crab meat to devour! I will let the pictures do justice.

Vital utensils to enjoy the crabs, The long fork like utensil on the right is to dig the crab meat from the long claws.  

Happy meal but alas Mandy does not appreciate crabs.

One of many plates of empty shells! Burp!! Excuse me!

That's what happens to a non crab lover!

The dining area is hugh

Kudos to the hotel. The restaurant staff keeps on topping up this dish as it is very popular with the diners. The hotel by the way is just across the street from the train station.

Satiated, we made the onward journey to Yokohama checking into our 5th hotel, Yokohama Isezakicho Washington Hotel. Our base for the next 4 nights and we will be covering another theme park, Sea Paradise, Kamakura and Hakone.