To make the most of our last remaining month in Japan (where did the time go!?) we are doing as much as we can any chance we get. I'm lucky though since I've managed to do so much in that time - if you google search '100 things to do in Tokyo' there are many lists that come up and surprisingly I've done a good majority! I know I'm here mainly to study but it really is unfortunate that my school schedule interferes with my playtime.. Luckily we don't have classes on Wednesdays so that leaves one day during the week to go off exploring.
We went to a place in Chiba prefecture, about 2 hours away from Tokyo by train. Emelie and I realized after this trip, what a great team we make! I found this place by searching for things to do/see near Tokyo that were 'off the beaten path' and Emelie is a pro at figuring out which trains to take and when.
According to the internet searching I did before our adventure, at the top of Mt. Nokogiri there is a giant stone carving of a sitting buddha, on the grounds of Nihonji Temple.
This sign looked like it had been taken down and left to fade in the corner but it says Japan's Buddha! It was at the entrance gate to see the buddha and temple. Cost 600yen ($8) to get into the park.
To get to the top of the mountain you can hike or take a cable car for 900yen ($11) roundtrip. Would have loved to have hiked it but unfortunately we were on a time limit (I had work that evening) so we took the rickety old cable car that looked like it had not been changed since it was first installed... way back when. Since it was the middle of the week, it wasn't crowded with tourists, the only other people on the cable car with us were mostly those older in age, and a few couples.
The view at the top was beautiful! You could see Tokyo Bay, the town at the bottom and just an outline of Mt. Fuji because it was a bit cloudy.
These statues were all over the mountain! I think there are about 500 in total scattered about. Each one has a unique expression or pose. Some of them didn't even have heads! (Think that's just from all the weathering though..) The Buddha, temple, and statues were crafted in the late 1700s.
Pretty entrance gate to Nihon-ji Temple.... unlucky for us the temple was under reconstruction so we weren't allowed to see it.
Carving of Hundred Shaku Kannon - also quite impressive, it was carved as a memorial and prayer for victims of the war.
Statue of Jizo, found at many temples.
Finally - the Buddha! The statue is about 30m tall and it is in a clearing on top of the mountain. Right as we got to it, the sun came out so we had ourselves a picnic, Emelie took a cigarette break, and then we took some goofy pictures.
Emelie had a bit of trouble mastering the cartwheel.. lucky for us there weren't too many tourists about so we could take these goofy photos.
More goofiness in the garden near the Buddha.. trying to avoid having to walk back up all the steps we walked down to get to the Buddha.
We were a bit sore the next day but it was such a great trip! Definitely one of the best sites to see off the beaten path in Tokyo.
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