Day 33/35 – Monday August 4th
Hamanako, Shizuoka.
After some long goodbyes, we left Okazaki City bound for Tokyo via Shizuoka. After a brief break at beautiful Hamanako (a tidal lagoon, famous for the quality of it’s eels) we arrived at Mount Fuji to see the usual summer view of Mount Fuji – ie, a mountain entirely invisible due to cloud.
A quick meeting, and it was decided that instead of the long climb up into a cloud to look at the inside of a cloud, we would head to the Miura Peninsula and Kamakura.
At Yokosuka the main attraction was the Battleship Mikasa, a museum ship, and the only remaining pre-dreadnought era battleship in the world. Tis museum ship is historically on about the same level as the HMS Victory or USS Constitution. It is a great museum. As with most Japanese warships of the time, it was built in England by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness (1899-1902). Mikasa was the flagship of the newly modernized Japanese fleet that defeated the Russian navy (both the Pacific and Baltic fleets) during the 20 month long Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. It was a war that changed our world.
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- Admiral Togo and the Mikasa.
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- You could actually raise, lower and traverse this 19th century breechloader.
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- Analog range finder.
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- Mikasa viewed from the adjacent park. Great views across Yokosuka bay.
At Kamakura, the Daibutsu and then the beach. Part of Kōtoku-in (高徳院?), a Jōdo-shū sect temple, the enormous bronze statue of Amida is considered a Japanese icon. It was not originally intended to be outdoors, but after two fires and a tsunami, the graceful but gigantic statue has bathed in the sun.
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- Kamakura Daibutsu
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- Enoshima (island), Mt Fuji, and Shonan beaches.
We then transferred to our Tokyo accommodations.
Return to Japanese Summer Program for High School Students main page.