Day 7: Kamakura

Tokyo, Japan: Dave's colleague from back-in-the-day was once transferred to Tokyo and decades later, Michael is still living in Japan with his wife at the base of Mt. Fuji. Now retired, he came into Tokyo to spend the day with us, and to take us out of the city to a small town down-island, south of Yokohama - Kamakura. We traveled less than an hour by train to reach Kamakura. It seemed to be a lovely little seaside town, on a bay. The waters were filled with windsurfers and small sailboats. Kamakura is a very popular weekend destination, but the main attraction is a massive Buddha and the Hasedera Temple. We simply had perfect weather. It was warm, but not hot. Cloudy, but no rain.

The Hasedera Temple houses a very famous gilded Buddha (carved 1538), thought to be the largest wooden statue in Japan. (Or I could be completely wrong.) Photos of the gorgeous gold Buddha are not allowed, so you may have to google around to see the Buddha. The temple is also famous for the gardens.

Then we began a walk up a very slow hill to visit The Great Buddha of Kamakura, a 37 foot tall bronze Buddha, seated on a pedestal. The statue was created in 1252, and the complete area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After visiting the Buddha, we walked back into town for a very nice Japanese lunch (which I forgot to photograph), and then Michael took us to the cutest street to do a little window shopping... except I found a few souvenirs. The shops on this teeny street sold high-quality locally-made merchandise, and everything was just so interesting to me. Where Michael lives on Mt. Fuji, the government has an annual deer cull and local craftspeople make a sort of lacquered leather, called inden, with the hides. Beautiful products, and so unique. There were numerous tea shops, cookie/candy shops, housewares, restaurants, fish markets, cosmetics, clothing (and a few tourist junk shops). After our time shopping, we boarded a train back to Tokyo and said goodbye to Michael. He was a great tour guide, speaks/reads Japanese and knows so much about his adopted country. Dave and Michael had so much to talk about - reminiscing about the good old days when they both worked in Asia. I loved listening to these tales (a few I had not heard before).

We returned to our hotel for a nice rest, and a few appetizers (our dinner) in the executive lounge before heading over to the stadium by 7p for the beginning of the heptathlon.

With the hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200m events completed this evening, American Anna Hall has a nice lead in the heptathlon. She is looking strong and determined! Other events tonight included the women's javelin qualifications (no Americans advanced). Even though Duck Cole Hocker managed to get himself boxed-in again near the end of the men's 5000m final, he was able to sneak out without pushing anyone out of his way to finish 3rd in his heat. Americans Nico Young and Grant Fisher also made the final.

Reinstated after falling in the 800m qualifying rounds, Duck Jessica Hull ran 1:57.15 in the semis to make the final, setting a new Australian record. The men's triple-jump final was also exciting - but as it was held on the complete opposite side of the track from our seats, we had to watch the action of the big screen. The event title moved around on the last three jumps, with Pedro Pichard of Portugal earning gold on his final attempt.

400 hurdles: Rai Benjamin crossed the finish line first in 46.52, donned a gold crown and American flag "cape" and paraded around in the front of the stands... until he learned the Qatar and Brazil teams had filed a protest to have Benjamin disqualified - feeling Rai had "impeded" their racers by knocking a hurdle a few inches. After ONE HOUR-plus of deliberation, it was determined his bump of the hurdle next to his lane in no way impeded anyone and he was finally declared World Champion. Whew.

Femke Bol (Netherlands) won the women's 400m hurdle gold, followed by American Jasmine Jones and Emma Zapletal of Slovenia. Zapletal set a new national record for Slovenia. American Anna Cockrell was 4th and Dalilah Muhammad was 7th.

You know Noah Lyles won the 200m, Kung Fu Kenny was second. For the women, American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won gold for the USA. A great day for the Americans in Tokyo.

Tomorrow, we are planning to do a little shopping and a lot of resting - Saturday and Sunday will be crazy exciting.

Pedometer: 12,578 steps

Until my next update, I remain, your Red, White & Blue correspondent.

Links:
World Athletics Championships | Tokyo 2025
Meet Schedule
How to watch from the US
World Championships Results
Tokyo Weather

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