Enoshima Sunrise - Going Home

After the sunrise, I climbed up the island to this beautiful, vermillion Shinto shrine.

When visiting a shrine, it's customary to wash your hands at the water fountain prior to approaching the shrine. Many such fountains use bamboo for the water pipe and a dragon's head for the water tap/spout.

This colorful dragon is an uncommon sight at a Shinto shrine. I don't know the significance, but it could be a means of warding off evil spirits from the Kami (God) enclosed in the shrine.

In the Shinto tradition, natural items like rocks, trees, etc. are considered to be gods themselves or have god-like powers -- not unlike what you might find with some of the Native American traditions.

Many people write messages of hope or appreciation and hang them on this red rack. 

One last shot of the morning sky before heading home. 

OK. One more last shot of the morning sky before heading home. This one was taken from where the shrine was located.

A furin windchime ringing in the morning breeze along the shopping promenade as I head back to the parking lot. 

And then suddenly, there is this modern-looking sculpture at the bottom of the island which completely clashes with the traditional mood of the island. Japan has a lot of this mixture of old and new mixed up together in a rather haphazard manner!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Enoshima - Sunrise

Cloud cover on the horizon might could make for a beautiful sunrise or a mundane sunrise.

The pier near Enoshima Island for cruisers and small boats for outings.

Starting to get some nice contrast on the horizon.

The clouds are turning out to offer some interesting possibilities.

Love the contrast in blues and reds and yellows.

She'll be rising soon!

Love this time of morning!

Can't quite tell if that is the actual sun in the middle or just sunlight . . . 

Zooming in doesn't help much.

There she is -- the sun has risen.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Enoshima Approach

Left the house early around 4:30 a.m. to and head to Enoshima Island to catch a glimpse of the sunrise.

Shops with goods on display along the main street approaching the main shrine.

It's still dark at this time in the morning. This street is usually bustling with vendors and tourists.

A nice light is implanted into the sidewalk giving the evening walk a romantic flair.

The lights are low enough to the ground to provide sufficient light for walking, but don't glare in your eyes or through the windows of the tightly and closely built buildings, homes, inns, etc.

The main shrine on the island. The lookout point for taking pictures is up and behind this location. 

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Zushi Beach

Visited this beach in the summer of 2012. Very few people where I was but the waves were a bit rough and overwhelming for enjoying time in the water. 

The wind created perfect conditions for sailing and windsurfing.

Splashes of water feel good on sunburnt skin, but kind of freak me out if the camera gets wet!

Some folks lay out a towel on this rocks to chill out and "worship" the sun once they dry off during low tide.

Wonder what a lone windsurfer is thinking at this time. Where he wants to go? How to get back to the beach?

Beautiful sunny day and extremely lucky that the cloud cover dissipated before reaching our end of the bay. 

Am sure these rock were once sharp and jagged. Amazing how water, wind, and ice and transform them into smooth rocks that look like molded putty!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Glass and Steel

The Yokohama Grand Inter-Continental Hotel is one of my favorite landmarks in the waterfront area of Yokohama. I'll probably never be able to stay in this hotel, but at least we can take pictures of it from outside!

The Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu is a little bit older and more affordable. Depending on the room, you get a wonderful view of the entire bay. By the same token, depending on the room, your "wonderful" view might be blocked by Yokohama Grand Inter-Continental Hotel.

With all the fireworks we had tonight, a full moon was also shining down upon us! A night of nights for sure!

Around the area, they have pieces of old equipment, pumps, etc., that were used when this area used to be an industrial dockyard. It's fun to see what countries these items came from and love to imagine how they were able to offload such huge and heavy items of the ships back in the days without hi-tech cranes!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Nippon Maru

After getting something to snack on and something cold to drink, headed back to the train station on the way home. Tonight, the Japanese sail training ship, Nippon Maru, was on full display and lit up tonight.

Not only did the water reflect the surrounding skyscrapers, hotels, and the ship itself, but also the rainbow of colors coming from the Ferris wheel nearby.

The ship was built in 1930 and retired in 1984. Now, volunteers work to provide visitors to the ship educational programs about sea life on sailing vessel. There is a museum nearby that is also a big attraction for tourists and students.

The ship is moored in what remains of the original dockyards there were here in Minato Mirai before the city of Yokohama converted the dockyards into a waterfront park. 

My favorite picture of all. I like the old ship, the modern skyscrapers, and the colorful Ferris wheel in this shot.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fireworks Food

During and after the fireworks show, many small stalls were located nearby selling all kinds of western-style and Japanese-style snacks ranging from hot dogs to squid-on-a-stick.

Other stands sold beer, snow cones, and just anything you could think of to help one cool off in the hot, humid weather. I wonder how the folks living in the nearby condos feel about having a front-seat view to the fireworks and a front-seat view to the garbage left strewn all over the place the following morning? 

Yakitori is still one of my favorite foods since coming to Japan. It's still a bit pricey, so I only enjoy it on special occasions. 

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.