Day 5: Kamakura (Click on thumbnails for gi-normous pictures.) Kamakura has a big buddha called "The Great Buddha." It also has a bunch of temples that are hundreds of years old. But perhaps the most fantastic part of Kamakura was the plug-in hot pot in our hotel room.

Join us for matcha (green tea) later? Perhaps at the bottom of the page?

We came to Kamakura with a mission. Many years ago, Lisa's Veteran Grandfather was stationed in Kamakura. He says he remembers scratching his name in the knee of the 800-year-old Buddha statue. Our goal was to find this permanent defacement and capture it on film.

Lisa is brimming with anticipation as we near the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) statue. The bronze statue is 37 feet tall and was built way back in the 1200s.	There used to be a huge temple covering the Daibutsu from the elements. But it all got washed away in the rainy 1300s when a big tidal wave hit the town.	Only the Big Buddha remained. They had to get new monks and everything.

For a while, things got pretty bad for the Daibutsu. Nobody took care of him, and he became a hideout for gamblers and thieves. Eventually they cleaned him up, and now over a million people come to see him every year.

There are doors in Buddha's back to help keep him cool, and a door under his legs so you can check out his insides.	He's been through a lot since the 1200s, but they've kept him up pretty good. Any graffitti on Daibutsu's knees has long since been filled over.	We found no trace of Grandpa's half-century old markings. Who do you think is more pissed, Lisa or Buddha?

Next we went to the Hase Kannon temple and saw the 11-headed Goddess of Mercy. No pictures allowed in the temple itself, but outside was fair game.

Intricate roof shapes...	"Jizo" statues represent fetuses lost in miscarriages or abortions. Parents sometimes dress them up in memory of the lost.	This pool is not shaped like a swastika - but at a glance was disturbing. It's actually a holy symbol that is the reverse of a swastika.

Near the temple is a cave called Benten-kutsu.	It was sort of like visiting the Vatican - Some people were praying, others were snapping pictures of the statues inside.
Later on, we decided to follow the path under this gate and see where it went.	Turns out it went to the most famous shrine in Kamakura, the Turugaoka Hachiman Shrine.

There's a tree at the bottom of the big stairway that's over a thousand years old. There's a sign under it that marks the place where the 3rd Shogun (Military Ruler) of Japan was stabbed in the back by his own Nephew - Way back in the year 1219... That night we made tea.

Mmmmm... Matcha...	We had just finished our Green Tea flavored Ice Cream from Baskin-Robbins.	The ice cream was okay, but Lisa's tea was better.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE THE ADVENTURE...