Location, Location, Location

It's all about location, baby, and we've got it narrowed down to two. 

Now, H is in favour of the main shrine, Hachimangu, in Kamakura, a city about an hour down the coast from Tokyo. You can find English info and pictures of the shrine here. I love Kamakura, but then, so does every single tourist (Japanese and foreign) to come within a three-hour radius of Tokyo. I don't really fancy being in that many photos, or having that many telephoto lenses aimed at me. But, it is a lovely shrine.

My first choice is a shrine at another major tourist destination, Hakone, although it is a little more out of the way. It has hugely tall cedar trees and is in the "mountains" (they don't seem quite high enough to be actual mountains...), on the edge of the nice, big Lake Ashi. Hakone Jinja (scroll down that page for more pictures) even has a torii gate in the lake, and, on a clear day, a view of the Fuj (um...that would be Mt. Fuji) - it's just fantastic.


After H and I visit Hakone again in person, I will post clearer pictures of my own.