Kamakura Daibutsu at Kōtoku-in

Symbol of Kamakura, the Daibutsu represents Amida Buddha, the "Buddha of the infinite light". Although thousands of people come to visit him every day, you can feel serene and peaceful and forget all the visitors around you, just by looking at his face. Earthquakes, tsunami, typhoons could not destroy the 13th century's 11.3 meter high and 121 ton statue. It stands in the open since 1335, when a typhoon collapsed the wooden temple which housed the huge statue.

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The Kamakura Daibutsu is the second largest statue of Buddha in Japan. The Great Buddha towers 13 meters and is the most popular of the hundreds of temples and shrines that pepper the area. Kamakura itself has a history of nearly 2,000 years and is just a short train ride from Tokyo. Take a five-minute walk from Hase station to the Kotokuin temple grounds where the Kamakura Buddha resides. On the way, buy some matcha green tea ice cream, enjoy the scenery, then take photos of the serene sculpture for an enlightening experience. During his 1892 stay in Japan, Rudyard Kipling wrote of the statue questioning, "is God in human image made no nearer than Kamakura?" Admission is 200yen and for an additional 20yen you can venture inside the bronze Buddha for a different perspective.

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