I visited Enoshima (江ノ島) for the first time during my second trip to Kamakura. I arrived at about 4 p.m. to see the sights and take in the sunset. Strangely, as the weather was perfect and the skies were clear, nearly everyone was leaving the island. After walking up hundreds of stairs I reached the top and began my descent to the back side of the island. Although there was space (and restaurants with stunning views) for thousands of tourists only a few of us were there; half were fishing.

How a place (稚児ヶ淵, chigogabuchi) with such an incredible sunset could be so deserted on a warm, Friday evening in September with a population of 15+ million living less than an hour away baffled me. I didn’t complain though. The experience, like many sunsets, seemed surreal. Many of the restaurants mentioned above sat completely empty or were closed. Either this place is something of a secret or the numbers change dramatically on the weekend.

The giant hawks at this place (photos coming here soon) were a welcome change from the typical sea gulls at places like this around the world.

Posted on October 3rd, 2009 under Japan • Tags: enoshima, mt. fuji, sunset. • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed