With Valentine's Day approaching, Tokyo's lovers dust off chocolate-tempering pots, scope out sweet shops and reserve bouquets of roses. Of course, savvy romantics know a midwinter stroll along a back street, with requisite snuggling for warmth, works nearly as well to stoke affection as edible or olfactory aphrodisiacs. Better still if the chosen route includes the "Shrine of Love."

OK, it's not really called that. Tokyo Daijingu is its actual name, and there's a lot in a name; dai means "grand," and jingu indicates a shrine of especially high status, with Imperial connections. In the top echelon with the likes of the uberfamous Meiji Shrine, Daijingu is known as the place in Tokyo to pray for success in love and relationships. I head there strictly in the name of research, of course.

I emerge from Exit 4 at Iidabashi Station, south of the Imperial Palace moat and across the JR tracks from the trendy cafe and restaurant slopes of Kagurazaka, into an atmosphere gritty from massive skyscraper-construction sites. A few small homes and businesses tremble in the dusty shadows, and fast-food chains dominate this stretch of Mejiro Avenue. It's a dire start to a romantic journey, and my inner Cupid quails.