Jewel of Shonan Enoshima Illumination

Enoshima is a small island in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, located just over an hour away from Tokyo, and is famous for its historical shrines and beaches in summer. Yet this little island is at its most beautiful and romantic in winter, with its winter illumination lighting up the entire island.

One of the biggest and longest running annual winter illumination starting from late November and ending in mid February, the Jewel of Shonan Enoshima illumination centers around the 60-metre tall Enoshima Sea Candle (light observation tower) in Samuel Cocking Garden.

The garden is like an enchanted forest, and at certain areas, perhaps even reminiscent of Avatar’s Pandora Forest at night, with the trees and grass all set aglow by thousands of fairy lights. A tunnel of purple fairy lights adorned with chandeliers made with Swarovski crystal lead the way to the Sea Candle, and reminding one of hanging wisteria, bioluminescent in the dark of night. It can get very crowded in the garden, especially at the purple tunnel, but the crowd does little to detract the romance in the air.

Right before the Sea Candle, a cluster of psychedelic jewel-shaped spheres appear to float above ground, with a huge rainbow-hued “jewel” rotating slowly, sparkling like a magical gem. If you head to the top of the Sea Candle, you will be treated to a panoramic view of the island lit in multicoloured illumination. But it took about 2 hours wait in the cold for us to reach the top of the tower, so remember to bundle up before heading for the winter illumination, for the winter wind gets really chilly at the island!

Even better if you visit Japan Valentines Day

To top it off, if you head to Enoshima around Valentine’s Day period, there is also a specially illuminated place for Valentine’s Day. Ryuren no Kane (The Bell of Dragon’s Love), located at Lovers’ Hill facing the Sagami Bay, is a sacred bell built to commemorate the legendary love story between the five-headed dragon and the sea goddess, Enoshima Bentaizen.

It is said by that ringing this bell and attaching a padlock bearing their names to the surrounding fence, a couple will be blessed with eternal love. There is also a place for couples to place their handphones or cameras to immortalise this romantic moment. Built to face the sea, the romantic spiritual site is even more heavenly as the sun sets into the sea. We were fortunate to be there during dusk to witness this majestic sight, and had our photo taken when the golden lights seemed to shine even brighter against a glittering backdrop of the golden sea.

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About me:
Hi, I am Seraph, a travel and beauty blogger, if you love travel and beauty like me, visit my blog at seraph-sun.com. I’ve also written a related blog on how to get around Kamakura and to Enoshima Island that you can find by clicking here.

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