Kamakura

When my video shooting schedule was disrupted by spring flowers not blossoming fast enough, the only thing to do was jump on a train to Kamakura for the day.

Kamakura has beautiful Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines with some over 1200 years old. The most famous is the Amida Buddha, an outdoor bronze statue that dates from around 1252 CE. It towers above both the tourists and the faithful at 43.8 feet high.

The day trip went great until on the way back to the Shinjuku train station my iPhone died along with the directions back to the hotel. I took one long, last look at the map as we pulled into the massive train station and tried to memorize the number of turns and directions.

This did not work.

Forty-five minutes later, when I realized I was completely lost and the sun was long gone, I flagged down a taxi and showed the driver the business card for the hotel. This did work. It is one of my best secret travel tips for Asia and it has saved me several times. Never leave your hotel without a local language business card for your hotel.