Sunday, 30 November 2025

Although I’m staying in Tokyo I didn’t stay in Tokyo today (or maybe I did as the metro area is huge). Anyway today’s target was the Enoshima area, and specifically the island and it’s observation tower. I’d been to Kamakura when the IETF secretariat escaped for the day during the IETF in Yokohama back in 2002 but Enoshima is a bit west of it and should have line of sight to Mount Fuji, if the weather played nice. As an added bonus there was an interesting railway line to ride. The day started though with nearly an hour commute out to Ofuna.

make sure you stand in the correct place

I thought that a Sunday morning train wouldn’t be packed, I was wrong, but Japan controls the potential chaos by doing things like this. Give the people getting off some space and get people who want to get on stand in orderly queues. It also indicates which car of a certain length of train should stop here, which helps in navigating at the other end if you know which exit you need.

The train that turned up was a Special Rapid on the Shonan-Shinjuku Line. Special Rapid gives an indication to people how often it is going to stop. The train that turned up seemed like a stock standard JR East Tokyo commuter train, although it did have two double decker cars, and the upper deck (at least) was a “green car”. All very curious but I got on a regular, unreserved car.

standard looking train

At Ofuna I got to ride the quite bizarre Shonan monorail, that hangs from it’s track. The route it takes is full of corners as it weaves its way down to the coast, but it also goes up and down as it negotiates some hills. It’s a mild little roller coaster of a ride, especially if you stand up.

incoming train

negotiating a bend into a station

At the Enoshima end of the route there is a viewing platform and you could see Mount Fuji loom in the distance.

Fuji-san

With a cloudless day, and the sun rising higher in the sky this turned out to be my best shot of Mount Fuji as it got hazier and then Fuji-san just faded away into it.

Still after a long walk, many steps, a lift, and more steps I was at the observation deck on the Enoshima Sea Candle.

not any better after all that effort

I had made a point of doing the observation deck first so it was a more leisurely walk down, although a lot of steps.

Enoshima has a lot of shrines but it also has Samuel Cocking Garden with it’s illuminations so it’s a bit of a strange place. I didn’t stay for the illuminations but you could see evidence of them and in a small area I’m sure it would have been packed on a Sunday night.

a particularly busy shrine

whatever this is

Note all the led bulbs around whatever this is. The whole garden seemed to be overlaid with these bulbs.

the sea candle

And yes people did come down that staircase. I wasn’t one of those people.

a pretty archway

This was pretty during the day. I imagine they do all sorts of effects with it in the dark.

not trying to steal the water

another popular shrine

If you were patient, or exhausted, enough then you got the shrine to yourself.

bath time

If you’re a crow then you don’t queue you just dive right it.

face plant

Did I mention the steps?

some steps

more of them that I had just come down

don’t often get the view from above

I don’t know what this is about

And it wasn’t just a climb within the shrines. This is looking down to the bridge off the island.

maybe these people were coming in for the light show later

I took the monorail back again. This time I stood behind the driver’s compartment and got thrown about as it weaved left and right and up and down.

different car this time

And I was off to visit the Great Buddha of Kamakura.

The Great Buddha of Kamakura

And it was then time to limp back to Tokyo. First by a train of the Enoshima Electric Railway.

Enoshima Electric Railway

And then just a couple of regular commuter trains.

On the walk from the kombini to the hotel I noticed a vending machine that juiced oranges and even though I had just bought an orange juice in the Family Mart I thought I would try it.

juicing vending machine

Oranges at the top, machinery in the middle to extract the juice, and when it’s done you get a cup of OJ sealed with plastic film. I really shouldn’t have had the bottled juice after this one, chalk and cheese.

Anyway that’s it for day 45.