Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Last summer (August 2023), we went to Kamakura for a weekend with the whole family to visit some local friends that we have there. It was not our first time there but our first visit in a while, so we decided to revisit some of our favourite spots. Riding the famous Enoden line from the station to our guesthouse made us feel very nostalgic, like we never left.
As an important former cultural and political capital of Japan, Kamakura is famous for its temples, so the main sights always stay the same - the sitting Buddha of Kotoku-in, Hasedera temple, the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine but also the slightly further away temples such as Meigetsu-in are well worth a visit, if not least for the hike and their natural beauty.
But for us, Kamakura is also popular in our family for the variety of cute little cafes and great food spots - some of our favourites that we (re-)visited this trip include Kakankamakura Honten for their Mapo Dofu, Caraway for Japanese curry rice, and Nagon Shiruko for traditional Japanese desserts.
(Recently, Kamakura has been becoming a bit crowded, with tourists disrupting the daily lives of citizens of the city, as they go about their daily lives. Please make sure to stick to the sidewalks (do not stand on the train tracks to take photos) and not walk onto private properties.)
Kakankamakura Honten: 3-11-1, Kamakurayama, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa, 248-0031
Caraway: 2 Chome-12-20 Komachi, Kamakura, Kanagawa 248-0006
Nagon Shiruko: 1 Chome-5-10 Komachi, Kamakura, Kanagawa 248-0006, Japan
Frederike Luise Engeland Minegishi
I am a German girl living in Berlin with my Japanese-German family. I’ve been learning Japanese for almost 4 years now.
Comments