Over the years I’ve visited many really interesting and quirky buddha statues in Japan of varying sizes and materials but arguably the most impressive and famous one is in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Kamakura was a slight detour en-route to Izu as I wanted to get some different angles for match-up shots for a movie which was shot at this temple a long time ago! The last time I visited the Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in Temple was seven years ago and that was for a similar mission! That was for shots featured in ‘House Of Bamboo’ (1955) and I wish I had just taken various shots from all angles then to save me returning! Still, it’s always nice to see this 13.4 metre tall buddha and I reckon this must’ve been my sixth visit overall.

After that I continued west onto Shizuoka Prefecture where I disembarked at Usami Station (below) on the Izu Kyūkō Line.

About eight minutes west of the station on foot is a quite unique building. It is the former Minesaki Clinic which is known locally as Monster Hospital.

Staying at my parents in law’s house in Ito for the night gave me the chance to spend some quality time with just Cocoa. It was lovely to give him my full attention rather than splitting it between him and our own dog.

The following morning I was on the kurofune (black ship) train (below) to Shimizu via a quick transit at Atami which never easy due to a mix of crowds, limited platform space and only one or two sets of steps descending into the station concourse.

Having just missed the free shuttle bus on my arrival at Shimizu Station, I walked for about 20 minutes to S-Pulse Dream Plaza; a shopping mall (below) located on the harbour front with a big ferris wheel outside.

The mall includes many shops selling Shizuoka produce and one of the main points of interest seems to be Chibi Maruko-chan Land; a museum devoted to a manga series that is set in Shimizu. No doubt it’s a popular must-go place for fans of Chibi Maruko-chan but I had never even heard of it!

It was another museum inside the shopping mall that I was more interested in seeing. I was curious to see the content of Shimizu Sushi Museum (below) as I didn’t really know what to expect would be inside it.

Once I was done at the shopping mall, I crossed the road to check out the S-Pulse Dream House which is basically an official club shop. After that I perhaps foolishly decided to  walk in the drizzly rain for four kilometres to IAI Stadium Nihondaira (below) to see the the J-League match between Shimizu S-Pulse and Kashiwa Reysol.

At the full time whistle I didn`t hang about and was out of the stadium right on the final whistle as I had to be back at Shimizu Station by 5:30 pm to venture west onto Hamamatsu, Toyohashi and Nagoya before finally arriving at Ogaki Station (below) in Gifu Prefecture just before 10:00pm.

Click here to read `What Can You Expect To See At Japan`s Sushi Museum?`

Click here to read `The Former Hospital Which Is Shaped Like A Monster`

Click here to read `Sitting Amongst The S-Pulse Faithful In Shimizu But Quietly Supporting The Opposition!`

Click here to read `Tokyo Daytripper: Kamakura (2018)`