Rock4four - the sound of choice for Kamakura beach beatniks

1.2 the place

Kamakura reminds me of Brighton, in many ways. Both owe much to the patronage bestowed upon them, by powerful and influential regents. Brighton's origins, as the sophicated beach retreat of choice, for the residents of the nation's capital go back to the days when the Prince Regent, later George IV, used to visit his mistress, in the town, and built, facing the beaches, a pavilion, rivalling in its splendor, and ostentatiousness, anything that Kublai Khan could have conjured up, in Xanadu.

Likewise, Kamakura was the home of the Hojo regents, who ruled Japan in the thirteenth century. Wise and strong, the dynasty, which began with Masatoki, introduced Zen, and several other forms of Buddhism into Japan, repelled the Mongols, and left the small, beautiful seaside city with such a plethora of fine temples, statues, and other cultural artifacts, that even nine centuries later, tens of thousands of tourists descend on Kamakura, from Tokyo, and beyond, on a daily basis.