Holiday at Kamakura and Enoshima

This past Monday was a holiday in Japan. It was Health Day or Sports Day, some such thing as that where schools will have special sports festivals. The holiday was started after the Olypmics were held in Tokyo in the 1960s, as I've been told. But maybe you shouldn't quote me on it (or anything I write in this blog about things unknown to me!) Most of the people simply take a day of rest or take a day trip somewhere.

A hike at the historical Buddhist temples of Kamakura was organized by one of the Kyodo church elders. It was a perfect day for some sightseeing, and a walk in the beautiful autumn gardens. Flowers are a treasure to the Japanese. One of their valued cultural customs along with tea ceremony, is flower arrangement. They often point out and name flowers with such a sense of pride and affection. I have learned that there are at least two things that the majority of Japanese people have a knowledge of more than most Americans I know: the names of flowers and the names of fish. Maybe it's just me, but I can hardly ever answer when they ask me for the English names of flowers and fish.

Of course, Christians don't participate in Buddhist activity, but it is still a famous national park for all Japanese. I even asked if some of the temples were still used and they told me that, no, most of the area is only maintained for sightseeing

(Random Japanese Fact #2: It's kind of a rule to give the peace sign when taking pictures in Japan. I suppose it's more popular with the young people, but I know older women do it too. They think it is so cute to do this. The word for cute is kawaii and you could hear this a million times a day because anything can be cute and if it is it's worth announcing!)



After lunch Arita Sensei took me to the shore, a place called Enoshima. It was too cool to swim of course, but it was a busy place and quite beautiful.