Love Locks
In Enoshima, a small island just south of the coast of Kanagawa prefecture there is a small bell tower on the highest point. At the bell tower young couples have a tradition to hang a lock to symbolize their eternal love. The couple write their names and the date when the lock was hung. I am sure similar traditions exist in other places but I don’t think I’ve seen it anywhere else. The bars around the bell tower would fill up pretty quickly if it weren’t for the fickle nature of Japanese lovers or the lock picking skills of the local council workers. I assume the latter reason is why most of the locks hanging up there seems pretty new. So, if you happen to be looking for a way to show your undying love as a couple, perhaps this could be a cool tradition to start in your home town?
Tokyobling's Blog 
Hey, I’ve been there and seen this with my own two eyes!! So cool to see it on your blog. I loved the trip we took there, it was very enjoyable.
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Thanks FN! Glad I could bring back some memories (happy – I hope) to you! Enoshima sure is on the top five list of places you must visit in Japan. Fun, lost of things to see, a taste of old Japan and easily accessible from Tokyo hence to the world. Can’t beat it!
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I have seen them in Italy as well – looks like the tradition is spreading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_padlocks
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Jonny! Thanks for the information! It never crossed my mind to google the phenomena. Perhaps it’s time to create a lovlock hub-webpage? Thanks for the comment!
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I never heard of that before! For the truly dedicated, they could always use a Kryptonite bike lock! lol
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Haha… I’d love to the faces of local council workers when they try to cut that one loose! (^-^)
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i actually saw these at the top of the umeda sky building in osaka last year. it seems a lot more . . . umm . . . formal there (not my photos – googled them):
btw, love the blog. please keep it up. have you ever thought about doing a post on the gear you use? i’m sure a lot of your subscribers are amateur photogs striving for the kind of results you achieve so regularly. would love to read your thoughts on equipment!
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Hi Josh and thanks for the links! Yep, that is a lot more formal. I haven’t been up on that building yet (Osaka is not on top of my travel list for the near future) but someday I’ll go!
And thank you for the kind words on my blog, I am so happy you enjoy it. I do get a lot of questions about my camera gear, and in the blog posts where I have done more creative photography I usually list what I have used. In the others, well, it’s just me, the camera (either a Nikon D700, D90, D60 or Ricoh CX1 and in case of the Nikon, a few lenses). But since you so nicely ask it, I will probably take a couple of hours and throw together a blog post on the gear that I am using, where to get it in Japan, maybe with a nice ranking to it, price info and how frequently I use it. Hopefully that will help other people (like you?) who are looking for more information on photo gear and when and where to use it. How does that sound?
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very cool! far be it for me to tell you what to put on *your* blog, but i don’t think you’d need to be too technical: i’m just curious what you use and why. for example, what lenses do you use when you want to do street photography and why? what do you like to take with you when you are just out and about with no specific subject in mind?
i’m guess i’m most interested in your opinions, as your shots are great and you seem to enjoy taking them. thanks for even humoring this request, btw!
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Hi Josh! Ok, I’ll be a bit technical for the tech heads and then a bit soft on the street photographers. BTW, if you are into street photography, check out today’s post, it’s pretty heavy on the subject. I used a 135mm prime lens. Prime lenses are not optimal at all, but in Japan it doesn’t really matter since you get so many chances on interesting subjects. I could have gone with a longer lens, but a it would have drawn more attention, been much heavier and impossible to use a night. So my 135mm (which non-photographers think looks fairly ordinarily large since they are used to zoom lenses) with a f2.0 super bright aperture was perfect for the job!
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In Italy this thing becomes a “tradition” since the charachters of a popular book (among the teens) did this at the Milvio’Bridge here in Rome. From Rome it spreads all around the country! It’s a new”tradition” :).
Nice blog,by the way!
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Hi Simona and thanks! I think it’s your first comment here right? I hope you come back a lot! I didn’t know about the book and it’s influence on Italian teens. Naturally I know of Milvio Bridge (who doesn’t?) but not the lock tradition! That is a great new Italian tradition!
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Did you see mine? It’s on the fence nearest the sea, at the top right. I hope it’s still there.
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Hi Kyna, long time no see! Nope, I didn’t! Next time I go I’ll keep an eye out for it, but there are hundreds… (^-^;)
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Love Locks in Cologne (Germany)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swen/sets/72157624308457486/
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Guten tag! Sie lassen sie länger hängend in Köln! Thanks for showing us. I have to go to Cologne some day…
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[…] Image by: tokyobling.wordpress.com […]
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