We paid a visit to the Buddha today. Not wishing to stay on the base on a Saturday, Melba and I again braved the Japanese rail system by taking a trip to the city of Kamakura to see the Great Buddha. Cast in bronze, it has sat solidly on its foundation stones since the 13th century. Not even a devastating tidal wave in 1498 that swept away the huge temple it was housed in could budge it from its base. Standing, or rather, sitting 44 feet high and weighing approximately 93 tons, it isn't going anywhere.The serene and well-kept grounds that surround the Buddha leave no doubt as to the spiritual nature of the place. What is odd is the mix of visitors that came to see it while we were there. The crowd was large. It was a blend of the devout and the secular. The quiet that hung in the incensed-filled air was disturbed only by the cadence of Buddhist prayers from the mouths of the faithful and the digital click of dozens of cameras in the hands of the tourists, Japanese mostly.
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The biggest kick Melba and I got out of our day trip was coming across a machine that dispensed Coca Cola in an ice-filled 6-ounce cup. I don't believe I'd seen one of those since the late sixties. Cost: ¥1.50 ($1.40 by today's exchange rate)---
Here is another example demonstrating how less is sometimes better. On the 10-minute walk from the train station to the Buddha I snapped this photo of the smallest cement mixer I had ever seen. It must have a load capacity of about three yards.
