The Big 40 in Japan - Day 3: The Big Day Trip
July 30th, 2026
I spent a lot of time curating each day of this trip, using Claude to help ensure I planned good routes and didn’t miss anything while we were out there. When I was planning our third full day of the trip, Claude gave me one warning: “This is a lot to fit in one day.” We wanted to use one of our days to go out of Tokyo and see more of Japan, and somehow landed on taking the train to Kamakura. We woke up at 6 AM, were down at breakfast at 6:30 AM, and out of the hotel a little after 7 AM. I struggled a bit to figure out the local trains, but eventually we made it to the beachside city of Kamakura.
The day was 90+ degrees, but we decided to take a walk. We went in search of a famous temple near the train station, but unfortunately it only took cash. It was 20 minutes out of the way, but we ended up finding another beautiful (almost abandoned) temple on our way back to town. Jake was mesmerized by the place. He made us walk around it all, seeing a few of the different shrines and gardens. We got so parched that we stopped in at a Starbucks and sat with water for ten minutes to cool off and hydrate.
With us cooled off and feeling more hydrated, we walked for another 25 minutes to the Great Buddha of Kamakura, also known as the Kotoku-in. The triumph I think we both felt upon arrival was immediately dashed by signs indicating the entrance was cash-only. We went in search of an ATM, found one in a post office five minutes away, and walked back to the entrance. After paying the three bucks each to get in, it was almost anticlimactic to find the giant Buddha sitting right past the opening gates. Fortunately, it was as beautiful and grand as we thought it would be, perched over much of the city and sitting tall after 750-plus years. There are always those moments when you see this grand artifact of hundreds (and in some cases thousands of years ago, and you marvel at all the people who have been there before and after you.
After touring the site, we grabbed an Uber and had it drop us off at the beach. The Uber driver, in his broken English, laughed at our destination and reminded us it was almost 100 degrees outside. We walked straight onto the beach, and honestly it wasn’t anything spectacular, just a pretty normal dark sand beach with a few tourists and locals trying not to burn in the midday sun. I do remember some young guys telling Jake to flex; it pretty much made his year in that moment, and shockingly, Jake obliged. We walked back into town in search of lunch. I found us a place for Japanese curry, but when we walked past Bliss Burger, Jake was sold. I won’t bury the punchline: phenomenal burger. We had their only combo with fries, salad, burger, and dessert, adding two beers to complete the meal. Everything was great, and it’s a burger that I think we will be talking about for years to come.
We grabbed the train back to Tokyo after lunch and, from there, took the subway to our hotel. We again avoided a nap, instead grabbing a coffee and going to the Mori Art Museum. As we arrived at the museum, Jenn landed in Tokyo and grabbed the same car service as Jake, and I took the Grand Hyatt. I couldn’t have asked for a better exhibit at the art museum. It was one of the most surreal, creepy, and memorable exhibits I can remember. The entire museum was showing Ron Mueck’s insane, lifelike creations. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was so good that we went and walked it a second time.
The museum is connected to the mall, which also connects to our hotel, so we made our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I met Jenn as she was checking in for her own room for the night. Jenn had a rough itinerary for her first 6-10 hours in Japan. After arriving, she went straight to bed, only to wake up at 10 PM, order room service (pasta), attend a 3+ hour meeting where she was presenting, then take melatonin and fall back asleep at 3 AM. Not an enviable start. Meanwhile, Jake and I walked to our 5-counter-seat restaurant near our hotel called Ise Sueyoshi. Three work friends from the US, here for work (we think at Nintendo), sat next to us for the 3-hour meal. We all went with the sake pairing, which meant that, along with each of the 10 courses, we would try a new sake. The experience was out of this world, even if the food wasn’t always as high. But more than anything, it was a great experience. The restaurant team tried to tie a story to the food and truly were great hosts.
As we got up to leave, the head chef told us he was just starting to hear thunder. We said Don’t worry, we’re only a ten-minute walk away. About 3, maybe 4 minutes into our walk, a torrential downpour began, and we quickly ran into a parking garage with a woman and her dog and waited twenty minutes for the massive storm to pass. Fortunately, it eventually left the city behind, and we walked back to our hotel, falling asleep right as Jenn was waking up to start her dinner and meetings.
