Trip to Kamakura. Ramen – and then Japanese tapas planned. Could not find a Ramen shop that would take anything other than cash so we settled for a perfectly fine soba noodle place. 
This major tourist street is mostly food. We had a pigeon cookie (local thing).
Took about one hour on JR. A little longer if you count time getting to Tokyo station.
A lunch break of soba noodles. Tempura and separately a duck and scallion dipping sauce for the soba.
We arrive at the great Buddha. To enter the temple is ¥300 but cash only; we had no cash and there was no way around it other than a long walk back to the post office to get cash. Instead, some guy said here’s ¥1000 just take it and go in. He didn’t want change and didn’t want me to send him the money by WhatsApp or Apple Pay, just enjoy. A kind person.
George and Michelle acquired some items. It was drizzling outside so the stores wrapped these to waterproof perfection.
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I should have warned you that cash is still king outside the larger/tourist friendly shops (which is mostly to the older, local small restaurants and markets). Always my first stop after clearing customs is to the nearest ATM.
Kamakura is one of my favorite wanders in Japan – missed it last time because of the crowd I was running with had other priorities, but it was a regular weekend trip when we lived in Tokyo. Hachimangu, the large Shinto shrine you avoided climbing, is one of the oldest in the area and worth a visit; the trail behind it leads to a bunch of significant Buddhist shrines in the hills behind (some dating to the 13th century when Kamakura was the power center of Japan).
The yellow box is rather famous as well – Hato Sabure (Dove/Pigeon Shortbread), a common gift folks bring back from a visit.
As for the little guys with the red outfits, those are Jizo which are protectors primarily of children. Parents often provide the red bibs and hats, which are meant to ward off bad stuff, with prayers for their kids health. Sadly, there is a temple not far from the Great Buddha site (KOTOKU-IN) which has what seems to be hundreds of Jizo which, it was explained to me, were offerings for aborted children, helping them to the next life.
It always amazes me that the Great Buddha still stands, even though the temple it used to be in was destroyed multiple times – final time in the 15th century when it was wiped out by a tsunami and they finally left it to the elements.
Almost worth a trip to Tokyo right now to wander Kamakura…
Thanks for the garden at the hotel and all the other photos. I love that you went inside the Buddha! How cool. You’ll have to tell us about it sometime I mean, what is it like inside Buddha? I guess kind of dark and not much enlightenment.😀 Anyway, I’m guessing you’re on your cruise now or about to be so hope all goes well and look forward to seeing other sights! That was lovely that that person just gave you ¥1000 and said just take it and enjoy! It’s heartening to know that there are still good people in the world. Dee