Sosuke and Yosuke

We had to make our final trip to Yokohama to see Kaz and Kazumi's beautiful new twin boys. (Kaz and Kazumi lived with us in the states for 6 months or so before we came to Japan.) The boys were born on March 23rd and immediately, of course, stole everyone's heart. They are absolute sweethearts and brought back so many great memories. Now... if I have it right...Sosuke is the one who is wide awake and Yosuke is the one sleeping peacefully.

Hasedera Temple

While the great Buddha is by far the most famous place to visit in this region, there are many more temples to enjoy.
The Hasedera Temple is the location of a famous statue of Kannon, carved from a camphor tree. As the story goes, 2 statues were actually carved, one placed in the Hasedera Temple near Nara. The 2nd one was tossed in the ocean (so that it would some day reappear to save people - hmmmm). It did indeed wash ashore on the beach near Kamakura so a 2nd Hasedera Temple was constructed. It has made it famous as one of the holy places in this area.
The grounds of this temple are quite extensive, featuring some wonderful, secluded, peaceful meditative areas - a very pleasant hour walking about it. The statue was gorgeous though, alas, we could not take pictures of it.

Kamakura

We finally had the opportunity to visit the Great Buddha of Kamakura. It is a bronze statue that is located at Kotokuin Temple. At one time it was inside a large temple but a tsunami 500 years ago wiped out all of the buildings, leaving the Buddha statue in the open air. This one is the 2nd largest in Japan though someone made the distinction that the largest one in Nara (Todaiji Temple and yes...at some point we went there) is the largest bronze Buddha statue that is inside a building and this is the largest bronze Buddha statue that sits outside. Who knows...