When the Lord of the Rings is released in Japan in February, that is unfortunate. But Valentine's Day or not, this British comedy about one week in the lives of eight loosely related couples is a Christmas movie, and should have been here then. Inspite of director/writer Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary) and lead (among about a dozen others) Hugh Grant (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary) there are only one wedding and a funeral.

7 points

This shrine is typical of Tokyo in that it is hidden away in a modern city quarter (in this case actually right next to the infamous Kabuki-cho red light district in Shinjuku) and quite unexpectedly appears between office buildings.

Hanazono was the second shrine we visited today. In the first one, our request for the red ink stamp was turned down because the head priest was not in. And as I could witness at Hanazono it does take a calligraphy master to issue the stamp: First, an inscription is done with black ink and a big brush. After that, the seal is stamped in red.