For most city folk, the best thing about Kamakura is the reassurance that it actually exists. We don't need to go there so often: It's enough to know that, less than an hour away down the JR tracks, there really are quiet backstreets to wander in, temples and monuments exuding a whiff of history, brine and beach for the warmer months, and wooded hills for a dose of what used to be known (in classic Japlish) as "green bathing."

You don't visit Kamakura for the food. Most local tourists seem to be content with fast food, curry-rice or noodle joints that are identical to anywhere else in Japan. But there are times — perhaps with parents, relations, friends or business clients — when you want to break for lunch somewhere that reflects the history and setting of the ancient capital. You should reserve a table at Kokotei, just minutes away from the temples and bustle around Kita-Kamakura Station.

Just the walk there is worth the price of a round-trip ticket down from Tokyo. You make your way down the narrow unmetaled road that squeezes between the railroad and the steep hillside. You pass through a vermilion gateway into a tunnel that pierces the very rock face, and emerge in a narrow residential valley so tranquil and timeless you could be in the depths of the countryside.