When I was planning my Japan trip, I wanted to visit a peaceful and relaxing place with nature to clear my mind, body, and soul from all the stress I was going through in the last 3 years. I didn't want to go too far outside of Tokyo since I mainly wanted to stay in Tokyo. So I thought why not visit the Hokokuji Temple with the bamboo grove garden in Kamakura. I have seen a few videos on youtube about this garden and it looks absolutely stunning and beautiful. Although probably not as beautiful as the Arashiyama bamboo forest in Kyoto. In comparison to the one in Kyoto, it is a lot smaller but it is definitely less crowded so you can really enjoy nature in peace.
Hokoku-ji is a small Zen temple in Kamakura (鎌倉) with a bamboo grove garden of more than 2,000 moso bamboos.
There are different ways you can get to Kamakura from Tokyo and it's about an hour away by train. I took the Yokosuka Line to Kamakura station. At the station, there are lots of exit sign with pictures that direct you which exit to take to where you want to go so you won't have to worry about getting lost. There are actually many temples you can visit in Kamakura including the Kotokuin Temple with the Great Buddha statue which is one of the most famous and popular tourist spots in Kamakura.
And right outside of the station, you will find a tourist map of Kamakura that shows you all of the temples and where they are located including which bus stop to board at to get to your destination. To get to Hokokuji Temple, you take the #5 bus at the bus stop terminal.
Near the tourist map of Kamakura, there is also a clock tower and even free wifi service you can connect to in case you need to use google map, very convenient!