Gods of stone and visionaries of metal
So here I am, week 4, on the other end of a nice 3 day "weekend". I started things off by taking a few pictures of Fujisawa Tuesday morning.
This is my room. You can see the bookshelf/desk/filing-cabinet I bought from the 100 yen store (the pieces were 100 yen each, it cost me, maybe $20.) It's modular construction means I can add more pieces later, or rearrange it as needed. You can also see my floor pillow, my fan, and futon stacked up. That's all there is to my room. Nothing fancy, but I like it. 
This is the exterior of my apartment building.
This is the view up the street towards the train station.
The area around the train station has a lot of shopping and is often quite busy.
The head of the Goddess Cannon made out of white stone in Ofuna. (Seen from a distance because I'm too cheep to spend $3 to get closer.)
The giant Buddha of Kamakura, cast in bronze in 1252, which has survived tidal waves and earthquakes alike. Also a locus for tourists, foreign and native.
Have some Tori.
Today I got up, and not being certain what else to do, walked along the river that runs along by my apartment until it emptied into the ocean. Again, I think today's walk was about 2km long. The river flows out right near Enoshima. Near the end I noticed a large white dome on the top of a mountain and decided to go have a look. It turns out that the dome is part of a large temple complex.
The Stupa I saw from a distance. It sits on the top of a very large hill. In the center sits a golden Buddha.
Also in the temple complex, a large pagoda.
After wandering around the temple for a while I caught the Shonan-Monorail back to Ofuna (then the train home.) The Shonan-Monorail is just like a train sized roller coaster. It zips in-out-and-over the mountains near Fujisawa/Kanagawa.
I now sit writing this and doing laundry. It's been really nice to have a few days off, especially since I've been working a lot in the past month... wow, it's already been a month. Anyways,
Jaa Mata Ne!
Vibrating Futon
This morning at 2:21am local time I was awakened by a prolonged shaking of my bed. This was my first earthquake experience since I returned to Japan. According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency (who are in charge of such things) it measured 4.9 on the Richter scale. I felt the shaking, heard the dishes clinking in the sink, and went back to sleep. Luckily, according to news sources, no one was injured and nothing damaged in this moderately strong earthquake.
I'll be off later this afternoon to my last (and half-) day of work before a glorious "three day weekend". I'm thinking of going to Oofuna, Kamakura, and perhaps the aquarium down by Enoshima (which I hear is really cool. I suppose that's all the news from the land of tomorrow.
Jaa Mata Ne.
