Big Buddha

Our last stop during our trip to Kamamura was to the Diabatsu where an old big Buddha is located. It is made of bronze and stands at 13.3 meters tall, it is the second largest Buddha statue in Japan. It was made in 1252 and used to be inside of a large temple which was washed away once by a typhoon and once by a tidal wave in the 14th and 15th centuries.

There were many visitors to the temple the day we went who cam to pray to the Buddha. Since this is such a tourist attraction there is a gift shop where one can buy small replicas of the Buddha, even in candy form on a stick! There wasn't much to see here except for the large Buddha but it was an interesting sight to see nonetheless.

After leaving we meandered the streets back to the train station passing several gift shops and food vendors. One gift shop sold everything from ninja articles (swords and ninja stars), to sweets in the shape of Buddha's head, to porcelain wear, to small figurines. The small cafe we stopped at sold doughnuts topped with ice cream, we ordered a chocolate doughnut with green tea ice cream. The doughnuts are baked and are not as sweet as Americans are used to. The ice cream was delicious, sweet green tea with no bitterness like is often found in the states.

As we neared the the station, we came upon a shop that sold all types of edible items, most made with nuts. Some were easy to determine what they were, glazed almonds, cashews, and such, other items were more difficult to figure out. Luckily, beside each item was a small dish to sample the item. Some of the things had the consistency of malted milk balls with a nut in the middle and were all kinds of flavors. Chocolate, peanut butter, apple, and lemon to name a few. One I tried was wasabi flavored, it was a little unexpected. There were also small granola-like clusters made with ginger and sesame and they were quite tasty.

Finally we got back to our train station and began the trek back to base. On the way is another beef bowl place and since we hadn't eaten a meal since breakfast that day, we stopped in to eat. This time, I got a beef bowl with a side of curry rice. It was rice with the curry, made from several different veggies and the sauce, on the side.  Apparently here, curry is a big item, I know of at least four different place I could get curry just around the base. That curry rice was wonderful! Better than anything curry I have ever had. Alan got the braised pork bowl with a soft boiled egg. You can get the egg soft boiled or raw and you mix it in your dish right before you eat it. Our class instructor from last week told us that this is a common Japanese way of eating.