Big 'Ole Buddha

Now that we're finally mobile, we decided to take Reese out for a day trip to the world famous Big Buddha at Hase. It's a relatively short train ride (:45) from Atsugi to the scenic costal enclave of Kamakura. The statue itself stands about 45 feet in height and is constructed entirely of bronze. It's the principle shrine among the seven others in this area and it's construction originally began in 1252, taking 10 years to complete. Without going into much more detail in this writing, it's suffices to say this thing has survived a lot of ugly weather and turbulent history. It also plays a prominent role on the aviation side of the house as it's sort of nice gouge point for flying course rules back into Atsugi, (although it's embarassingly difficult to spot from the air). It's one of those things that we fly over with regular occasion and then say to ourselves, "Y'know, I think I'm gonna go down there this weekend and check it out". ...And so we did.

Charlotte and I had made several "pilgrimages" to the shrine when we were here years ago, but this was Reese's first Buddist shrine, so we wanted it to be a big, American-style "cadillac of all the shrines" just for good measure. You gotta start the youngins' out right, I say.

After two weeks of typical Japnese winter chill in the 30's and 40's, the weather turned suddenly hot and muggy reaching up into the 80's yesterday afternoon. A perfect day for a field trip! Reese really enjoyed the train ride and insisted on holding onto the safety handles along with her old man!










Even the normally lethargic surf along the Fujisawa shoreline was alive with 10-15 foot waves. (We've got a running joke about surfing in Japan as we fly over hundreds of surfers lounging on their boards in the Sagami wan, waiting for waves that never come: All you need to surf in Japan is a surfboard and the ability to fog up a mirror). Check out this candid snap of a Japanese surfer with a pretty unique method of getting his ride to the beach!


Inside the grounds of the shrine Reese busied herself with crawling up on things she wasn't supposed to, collecting rocks and visiting with the locals. ...All-in-all, it was a pretty good day in Japan.

Until the next update,
Hick family -- out