The second half of the day tour is Enoshima Island, well-known for its shrine to the goddess who brings love to those who pray for it! Enoshima is a mountain island, with observation decks on the peak, and the shrines spread out in two levels. There’s also a light house, an aquarium, and tons of stores and shops as it is a famous tourist destination, both for foreigners and locals alike.

Enoshima is part of Fujisawa City, known to be as Japan’s version of Miami. In fact, there is an annual marathon that happens along the beach, as the view calms the runners (according to our guide).

Enoshima Island

Upon arriving in Enoshima island, we started heading up to the shrines and the observatory deck. We were only given 75 minutes on the island before heading back to Tokyo – which is actually quite limited as there’s a lot of things to explore! The climb up reminded me of Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, with narrower streets.

Enoshima Shrine

Our guide told us that a sea goddess is enshrined on the island. However, Wikipedia says it is a Goddess of Music and Entertainment (which explains why she’s holding a biwa (musical instrument like a guitar). The story as per our guide is that there was an evil dragon living on the island, causing disasters to the people in the mainland. The goddess came down to stop the evil dragon, but the evil dragon ended up falling in love with the goddess, and asked for her hand in marriage. The goddess declined the proposal, saying she will only accept when the dragon changes his ways – long story short, the evil dragon became a good dragon, and they got married. This is said to be the reason why people come to the shrine in search for their life partners, or if they’re already a couple, for their relationship to be strengthened by the goddess.

There’s also an area where you can wash your money (coins), and then use that as donation prior to praying to the goddess! To pray, you must ring the bell to wake her up, bow twice, clap twice, say your prayer, and then bow again before leaving.

There are two shrines, the one on the higher level is said to be for the elder sister of the goddess (but I couldn’t find this on Wikipedia)!

Observation decks

There are two observation decks on the peak, one is on the level of the 2nd shrine, where you get a view facing the mainland. The other one is on the top most peak, with the view of the other side (I’m guessing it’s the Pacific Ocean, or that sea south of Japan).

There’s also a lighthouse that you can climb up on, but there was a queue so we didn’t have enough time to go up anymore.

There’s a cafe as well – a welcomed site after going up all of those stairs. For the lazy ones, there is a paid elevator that you can take, too! I spent the rest of my free time drinking iced coffee and having a quick chat with our tour guide. He gave me his calling card since I mentioned to him I wanted to visit Kamakura again for a longer stay. He does walking tours so I can contact him whenever I come visit!

Enoshima Garden

There’s also a garden at the 2nd to the highest level, with flowers in bloom for spring. I only got to take photos of the flowers on the way down back to the bus!

I lost track of time taking photos going down so I basically ran after this and made it in time as one of the last people to make it to the bus! Haha. I feel asleep on the bus ride back to Tokyo!

I definitely recommend this day tour for those who are interested in visiting places outside Tokyo but need to be back in the evening. It’s a bit costly (this specific one is at 12,500 JPY per person) but considering the convenience, the information you get from the tour guide to supplement the sights you are seeing, the delicious and authentic Japanese washoku lunch, and the comfort of the chartered bus – I would say it’s worth it, especially for single travellers. If you are a group, you can plan for DIY and assign tasks/destinations to your party members to save up – these places are accessible by train from Tokyo but you just need to properly plan for it!

There you go! Tomorrow, I have another day tour, this time to see Mt. Fuji! I hope the weather is going to cooperate and give me a clear day! That’s all for now, Oyasumi!