One of my favorite Japanese movies is Kamikaze Girls (Japanese title: Shimotsuma Monogatari). I remember the last fight scene of this film, which was taken place in front of a huge Buddha statue, looked really familiar to me when I first saw it.
Of course it did because it was filmed in my local city Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture. This time I visited this giant Buddha statue, Ushiku Daibutsu for the first time over decades.
Ushiku Daibutsu is located in the northern part of Ibaraki Prefecture.
It takes about an hour by train from Tokyo station and another 20-30 minutes’ bus ride from the local station, Ushiku station.
Once you get to the site, you will be welcomed with Ushiku Daibutsu’s head and the actual Ushiku Daibutsu statue in the back!
The actual head is this head statue’s 1000 times bigger!
After you pass by the gate, finally you can see the statue from the front!
Do you want to know how HUGE this Buddha statue is?!
Well, this bronze statue is 120 meter (about 390 feet) which equals to an 18 story building.
You will also be able to find Ushiku Daibutsu as the tallest Buddha statue in the world in the Guinness Book Records, which means it is way bigger than the statue of Liberty or Evangelion.
The proof of Guinness Book Records
I found an interesting comparison on site.
(from left to right: Ushiku Daibutsu, National Diet Building, Statue of Liberty, Buddha statue in Nara)
This might be easy to see how gigantic Ushiku Daibutsu is as well.
(from left to right: Ushiku Daibutsu, Statue of Liberty, Evangelion, Ultraman, Gundam [RX-78-2] and Buddha statue in Nara)
What also amazing about this Buddha statue is that you can actually go inside of this statue and climb up to its chest area as a view point by an elevator.
There are small windows where you can see the view in all directions; north, south, east and west. Windows might be a bit small but on clear days, you might be able to spot Mt. Fuji or Sky Tree if you’re lucky.
There is also a small petting zoo where you can play with squirrels, rabbits, praire dogs, or goats. They have Japanese monkeys shows daily excpet Friday and you will be entertained by these energetic monkeys for good 30 minutes!
If you are interested in visiting Buddha statues that not many tourists would go to, Ushiku Daibutsu, the greatest and tallest Buddha statue will be a perfect spot for you!
Ushiku Daibutsu
2083 Kunocho, Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture 300-1288, Japan
Source & Image:
http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/visit/5-beautiful-japanese-travel-movies-009370/
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