Buddhaliscious

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... I don't think your ready for his belly

... I don't think your ready for his belly

... I don't think your ready for this .... cause his body's to Buddhaliscious for you babe.

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My appropriate shout out to our favorite Buddha, Diabutsu and of course, Beyonce, who will be in concert in Tokyo next month. If I didn't already witness her Divaness in Baltimore a few months back (thanks Val for the best night of my life), I would be a guaranteed attendant. DO NOT count me out, however, since I still may try to bedazzle my way into the first row and back stage with all my Single Ladies! Stay tuned ....

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I will pick up where Rebecca left off ..... our educational stay at Mai's house in Chiba. We awoke to a similar scenario that we found the night previous. A very tasty traditional Japanese breakfast that included a number of new foods. The only problem? We only had one hour to eat, shower, change, and get ourselves to the train station or else we would miss our date with Diabutsu, our 121 ton Buddha friend in Kamakura.

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First things first, we eat! We feasted on salmon, rice, spinach, miso soup, roots of different varieties, eggplant, cucumber, and an interesting egg souffle of sorts that may not make our top food list (think salty egg pudding .... we will probably leave that breakfast treat in Japan).

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Eat: Check!

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Next, we shower. Imagine a cute, small bathroom with 4 girls all trying to get ready at the same time. We officially recorded the fastest shower times in history and spitting in the kitchen sink is now permitted. Thank god we are not high maintenance females.

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Shower: Check!

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Change: Check! (That all happened in the same bathroom where we were showering, brushing our teeth, and washing our face .... pretty incredible)

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Next, we book it to the train. This is where the morning reached its true comic hysteria. In order to reach the train we all had to sprint through an underground shopping complex filled with daily shoppers. If you know anything about train etiquette in Japan , it is taboo to rush for trains. Rebecca and I, however, make our living doing this. On most days we are the only ones but this day was not most days and following suit, we weren't running alone. As Gan Chan , Rebecca, Mai, and I were sprinting past the underground food shops and clothing stores, one woman kept pace next to us.

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It was as if we were running the steeple chase in the Olympics. We had to jump over shopping carts, avoid food stands, spin around innocent bystanders. Luckily, the tako tomodachi are all well trained athletes so this was a race we were well prepared for. For our mysterious running partner, however, this was not the case ... she made one false step and BOOM !.... she smacks right into a nice old man, who immediately turns into a mean old man, screaming at the top of his lungs, obviously airing his displeasure at the situation. In the midst of all this action, Gan Chan proceeds to drop her underwear in the middle of the shopping center. With the grace of a true Olympian, she sweeps it up and continues on pace with the rest, never missing a step.

Laughing, sweating, and panting we make the train.

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Train: Check!

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Feeling so accomplished already and it was only 11am we ride the train with ear to ear grins as we look forward to meeting our friends for a fun day in Kamakura.

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When we reach Kamakura, we were met by our team trainer, Shimichan and teammate, Yayoi. The six of us perused the streets of Kamakura eating all the Japanese delicacies. This included, octopus balls (basically octopus and vegetables surrounded by a tasty filled pastry ), ice cream, cookies, Japanese chips, and Becky's Donuts (this one needs a little more explanation: first off, our team calls Rebecca, Becky, since I guess that is easier to say than Becca .... bygones ... ... and the Japanese LOVE donuts. Krispee Kreme is known to have 3 hour lines on any given day .... don't ask me why).

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[We can't emphasize enough how well we are taken care of. The entire day our teammates were very adamant that we were their guests, meaning, we don't pay. This didn't just include food, but also small gifts to serve as memories from our trip to Japan and charms to forever connect us as friends.]

. After eating, our next favorite activity is to document this entire trip in photographs. Each member of the group has their own camera and everything, and I mean everything, needs to be documented ...... shopping, walking down streets, sitting outside temples, riding trains, eating food, talking, not talking .... welcome to the first ever Kamakura photo shoot. Our very own version of America's Next Top Model: Tokyo Style!!! (ANTM). .

Location 1: The streets of Kamakura - theme: I'm a tourist! Location 2: A temple in Kamakura (forget the name ... but it seemed very important and it is really fun to sneak behind the American tour guides to get the historical background .... although sneaking is quite hard when you are wearing a Japan head band .... ah well) - theme: spiritual oneness

Location 3: Trolley Trains - theme: Intrepid travelers

Location 4: Japanese Dessert and Tea houses - theme: Sweet tooth

Location 5: Diabutsu (the second largest Buddha in Japan. It weighs 121 tons and is 13.4 meters high) - theme: Buddhaliscious

Location 6: The Ocean - theme: Pacific Waters (swim suit edition)

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As you can imagine, there were probably over 200 photos taken throughout the day and while I don't have the final prints (we are under contract with the Japan version of Covergirl so they own the rights), I have attempted to attach a sneak preview. Please do not distribute these and we will be sure to bring home the Japanese Covergirl for all to see. Tyra Banks would be so proud.