Kamakura has many historically significant Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, some over 1,200 years old. Others are just replicas, as the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 destroyed some temples and shrines.

We started our visit by getting of at the Kita-Kamakura train station and entering the Engakuji temple, which is an important Zen Buddhist temple, built in 1282. There are 18 different buildings on this site, they are arranged rising up a wooded hillside.

After the large wooden Sanmon main gate we reached the temple’s main hall, the Butsuden (rebuilt in 1964), which displays a wooden statue of the Shaka Buddha, the main object of worship. Usually, Shaka Buddha statues wear simple clothes and put on no accessories such as crowns or jewelry. But in this temple, the statue has its hair dressed up with a crown on top of the head.

We then came across a small pond, designed by Priest Muso, the founding priest, who was also famous as a garden designer. Today’s pond is muddy – it must have looked quite different from the original one.

Further into the temple grounds, the Shariden is a beautifully designed hall in which a tooth of Buddha is enshrined. It is designated a national treasure, but can only be seen from a distance during most of the year. It the oldest building in the whole Engakuji complex and the only building in Kamakura that is designated as a National Treasure. It was first built in 1285 and rebuilt in the early 15th century.

Walking along the path, we saw a few entrances to temples and shrines – some are only open to the public on specific days. Other areas are closed completely, as they are the living quarters of the priests.

The garden is green and wonderful – lots of trees providing cover and shade on sunny days.

We walked back until we reached the courtyard of the living quarters of the priests again – this area is open to the public, and it is the area I enjoyed the most.

There are scores of stone figurines in the garden along the wall. Those are One Hundred Kannon statues, or the Goddess of Mercy, and all have different expressions on their faces.

In reality, there are around 70 statutes in this courtyard. But each and every one of them is very beautiful. Very peaceful, calming and relaxing.

Useful info:

• Some of the JR trains from Shinjuku station stop at Kita-Kamakura, get off there if you want to see the Engakuji temple. If you train does not stop there, don’t worry – you can take a shuttle bus from the mains station
• There is an admission fee of 300 yen for visitors to enter the temple complex and additional similar charges to enter a few of the buildings and enjoy some tea or Japanese sweets in a calm environment

The doll is modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen sect of Buddhism. That’s why many Buddhist temples sell them to use alongside goal setting. Traditionally, the Daruma was purchased as a household, and that only the head of the household would paint in the eyes. But it seems that nowadays it is a common gift and many people buy it as a souvenir.

Here are my favourite black and white pictures, taken with my OMD EM-5 and a 12mm/2.0 lens. The first shows one of the bigger market streets, where the trolleys whiz past you and you often have to jump out of the way to prevent being hit by one of the trolleys. If you get too close to one of the trolleys an angry driver will shout at you, if not more.

The second picture shows one of many scenes I witnessed during our two visits to the market – after the rush is over at around 8am the traders chat and joke with each other. They often share a meal together or just have a coffee, but there is friendly banter and lots of camaraderie to be seen.

The wholesaler shops are split into the fish mongers (all men) that do all the hard work – from dissecting the fish to wrapping and packaging – and then there are the women that sit in the small boxes and handle the payment. They are in charge of the money and keeping the books. They always seem to be concentrating and adding up the latest sales.

Once the traders have a break and they have caught up with their colleagues for a chat, we saw a few of them just reading the news papers or enjoying a smoke. Or doing both. Maybe something to calm them down after a busy day?

Finally the day ends for the traders, the stock has gone and the stalls are being washed and cleaned. The fish market is closing down for the day. Another morning, another day and trading will resume again.

Foreigners who wish to view the auction have to apply at the Osakana Fukyu Center (Fish Information Center) at the Kachidoki Gate, starting from 5am on a first-come, first-serve basis. A first group of 60 visitors will be admitted to the auction between 5.25 and 5.50am, while a second group of 60 visitors will be admitted between 5.50 and 6.15am. In total, 120 lucky tourists are allowed in. The auctions take place every day the fish market is open (except Sunday, every second Wednesday and some holidays).

However, even if you’ve missed the tuna auction, you can still see some of the huge bluefin tuna carcasses at the inner wholesale area of the fish market.

The Bluefin tuna are flash frozen to about minus-60 degrees Celsius. Labels on the side of the fish carry seller information, weight of fish and where it was caught. They all have their tails removed so that the buyers can shine a flashlight at the meat to inspect the fat content and quality of the meat.

Once bought, the tuna are cut. Some traders decided to wait until the tuna had thawed, before opening the tuna with a machete or large knife. This is really hard work and this trader was sweating a lot – but he still put on a show to demonstrate his skills.

Here are some already cut pieces of tuna, which have thawed already. They look like slices of amazing steak – but they are all tuna steaks (not meat). The colour is amazing, the texture looks smooth and I’m sure, if I had been allowed to touch them, the steaks would have felt like silk!

Some traders then cut the tuna meat into smaller pieces – depending on what their customers ordered. It was fascinating to watch the traders cut the meat, they all took their job very seriously and administered a lot of care. They lovingly touched each piece of meat, deciding carefully at what angle to cut it, before they made their first move with the knife.

Here are a few slices of cut meat – one of the traders had cut it off to show the different qualities to its customers. Amazing breadth of colour and the texture is just so soft.

Once the tune was prepared, the pieces were wrapped in papers to keep them fresh.

Other traders displayed big chunks of frozen tuna meat…

… some of the frozen pieces were cut into smaller loins using bandsaws…

… then weighed and packed.

We left the hotel at 6.30am in the morning as we had read that the earlier we went, the better the chances are to see the fish mongers, wholesalers and traders in action. If we had plans to see the famous tuna action in action, then we would have to get up much earlier as people queue up around 4am (if not earlier). My friend Monica went and saw the tuna auction. It must have been an amazing experience, her blog post makes me very envious that she got the chance to experience the live auction. But it would have been too early for me, to get there at 2.30am!

We took a taxi from the Hilton Hotel in Shinjuku to the Tsukiji fish market in central Tokyo. The market is located near the Tsukijishijō Station on the Toei Ōedo Line and Tsukiji Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, so we could have taken the subway too, but as it was raining and cold, we figured it would be easiest to travel by car.

The taxi dropped us off at the outer market, where there are stalls selling spices, fruit and vegetables, small restaurants offering very fresh sushi and sashimi, a few places that sold Katsuobushi, the Japanese name for dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna.

It forms the basis of many soups and sauces (for soba for example). The taste is fishy and smokey at the same time. I like when you place the Katsuobushi on a hot dish, and the delicate shavings move around as if they are alive. What a fun thing to watch!

The inner market is the licensed wholesale market, where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place, and where licensed wholesale dealers (approximately 900 of them) operate small stalls. The market is the busiest between 5.30 and 8am apparently – that’s what I’ve read on most blogs.

We arrived in the inner market at 8.15am and what we did not know is that visitor entry into the interior wholesale markets is prohibited until after 9.00am. But as it was raining and cold, not that many people were around and no guards were chasing us off the grounds (however, two days later we arrived on a warm sunny day at 7.30am in the morning and we were chased out of the inner market a few times before we gave up and had sushi for breakfast).

However, on our first visit at 8.15am we just walked through the aisles and enjoyed the sights of the huge amounts of fish, the seriousness of the traders and just the whole atmosphere of this old building.

In fact, the current building will soon close down and Tsukiji will be reopening at a different location in Toyosu come 2014. This new 408,000 square meter facility will be about 40% bigger than the current market. But the atmosphere won’t be the same again.

Inside the market you have to be really careful where you go – it’s a workplace and people are very busy around you. They lift heavy boxes, use tools and knives to open and dissect fish and lots of speedy trolleys will shoot past you if you rest in one of the main aisles. Whatever you do, just jump out of the way of the trolleys and let the traders do their job.

Of course, if you are smiley and friendly to people working at the market, they will smile back at you – or at least allow you to take a picture. There were only very few occasions that I could not take a shot.

But mostly, I was here to see the fish – and I was amazed by it. According to the official website over 400 different types of fish are sold in this huge market, but I did not count them. All I can say is that there is some amazing fish being sold in Tsukiji Market.

The colours of the fresh octopus are just amazing:

Useful info:

• The fish market is closed on Sundays, holidays and the second & fourth Wednesdays of each month. Check out the official website to see if it open
• Opening Hours for visitors: Wholesale Market 9am to 1pm (don’t be surprised if most shops will be closed by then, some started packing up at 10am already), Tuna Auction 5am to 6.15am (but you should be there at 4am the latest)

From the outside, the museum looks a little ugly. The architecture is definitely unique. It is clunky, lots of grey concrete on stilt legs. It has lots of edges and wedges and apparently it is modelled after an old storehouse in the kurazukuri style. But then the red escalator (like in the Centre Pompidou) sticks out like a sore thumb. There is a viewing platform on one of the higher levels, but as it was raining too much, it was closed. Not sure what we would have seen there.

The museum is huge. We spent two hours just in the permanent exhibition. But then it’s aim is huge too: The aim of the museum is to show what Tokyo was like in the past, starting from the Edo period, when Ieyasu Tokugawa entered what was a small fishing village, and going up to present day. So there is lots to show – and the exhibits focus on the politics, culture and lifestyle experienced by Tokyoites over the city’s 400-year history.

What makes the Edo-Tokyo Museum one of Tokyo’s best museums? The original artifacts and replicas of Edo-era buildings and landmarks, along with several large-scale models. It starts on the sixth floor with the replica of the famous Nihonbashi (Nihon Bridge), which was leading into Edo, and the Nakamura-za kabuki theatre.

The bridge is not only nice to look at and to cross, in fact it separates the museum into two zones, Edo and Tokyo. In the Edo zone are swords, armours, kimonos, lots of models to show harbour scenes, the inside of typical houses but also how ghost scenes are being played in the theatre. There are some incredibly detailed dioramas with binoculars available for you to see even the smallest items in them.

The Tokyo zone starts with the early twentieth century and covers the modernisation, the lives of the working class, the air raids of the second world war, as well as the Olympic Games in 1964.

Useful info:

• The Edo Tokyo Museum is in Ryogoku and easy to reach with public transport. Just use the JR or subway to the Ryogoku station and leave via the A3 or A4 exits
• Opening times are from 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday-Friday with longer opening hours on Saturday (until 7:30 p.m). The museum is closed on Mondays
• Admission is 600 Yen for adults, 300 Yen for seniors/children for the permanent exhibition

This time, when we visited in early April 2013, it was different. It was opening day and lots of people went there to visit the old theatre in its new glory. Lots of people stopped on the other side of the street to take pictures (me too) but traffic was so heavy that it was impossible to take a picture without cars blocking it. I believe all car drivers were slowing down to take their own pictures!

People were queuing inside and outside of the theater – lots of visitors were dressed up very elegantly for the opening. Some women came in Kimonos, despite the heavy rain.

The ticket office was busy selling tickets and we walked around the theater, but it was impossible to get inside on the opening day. So instead, we just walked to the subway station, which had also been redone (at least the entrance area to the Kabuki-za theatre) and there were lots of food and souvenir shops.

Walking through the streets of Ginza, all the colours seemed to be washed out by the rain. It all felt grey to me. Even my colour pictures looked grey to me, so I decided to process them a little further and turn them into black and white photos.

All I could see today was people carrying umbrellas. Wherever they went, the little umbrellas kept their owners dry.

We did not have an umbrella with us (but we had rain coats with hoods that kept us dry) but every now and then we had to escape into a camera shop. Like this one, it was specialised in Leica cameras. Patrick looked at all the different models in quite some detail, but I just stood in the shopping window, looking outside and watching the passers-by.

I snapped a few pictures of people walking with their umbrellas outside – the Leica models are surrounding them. Quite a nice little shot, which I liked an repeated a few times. These two are the ones that I liked best, all the other shots I’ve deleted. The store assistants were giving us space and time to look around, the must have been wondering what I’ve been doing – even more so that I did not shoot with a Leica, but with an OMD EM-5.

So we decided to stroll through camera shops in Shinjuku and eat some ramen and udon for lunch. We came back later in the afternoon and then the room on the 22nd floor was ready for us. The room was nice, but what was best was the view over Shinjuku and the huge skyscrapers. We’ve stayed in the Century Southern Tower Hotel before (which I prefer, it’s more conveniently located and the rooms are nicer – but it was fully booked) and from there we have had a view over to Mount Fuji.

This time we were looking into the other direction, over Shinjuku’s big skyscrapers. An interesting view too, which changed with the shifting light and also the changing weather.

We rested for a while and when we woke up again, it was dark and a big thunderstorm was over us. It was raining cats and dogs. The pictures out of the hotel room now look completely different.

Dinner had to be close by, so we decided to explore the underground walkways and walk across to the next shopping centre, which happened to have quite a few restaurants to choose from. Over the next days we tried different restaurants there, including a version of a Japanese pub with lots of different sake, soba noodles and small dishes to choose from. We had lots of fun in this pub.

Once back from our dinner, we looked out of the window again. It was stil raining. Hopefully the weather would change over the next days.

We then strolled south from the castle across the Metoba River until we hit the ‘frog’ street – apparently there used to be lots of frogs close to the river, but they moved away many years ago. Still, you can buy frog souvenirs in the street.

Apparently the frog mascot of Matsumoto is also as a pun on the Japanese word for return and you can purchase and give a frog as a charm, so that your loved one would return safely.

One street further down to the south, Nakamachi Street, is lined by several nicely preserved, old buildings, including a number of warehouse-type buildings (kura) with massive, white painted walls, a characteristic of former merchant districts.

Some of them house small shops, restaurants and ryokan. This is a nice area of the city to walk through, with lots of knick-knacks to sell, from lucky cats, red double-decker buses welcoming you to Japan…

… and some old-looking stamps.

We stayed one night at the average Hotel Matsumoto Tokyu Inn, because we had thought we’d spent more time in Matsumoto. But there was not much to do, so we took an early train to Shinjuku, Tokyo on the next morning.