The shrine trip is less romantically charged than Christmas. Like with Hallmark movies, the Christmas moment carries a strong expectation of something outside of everyday life. In comparison, the shrine trips are more likely to evoke complaints about the weather, the crowds, the time of day as well as, with certain manga, worries about school. They are more likely, too, to supply jokes. The romance slides in unexpectedly as part of everyday life.
While I enjoy some sentimentality, a little goes a long way. Ultimately, I find the everyday life romance somewhat more enchanting. I will grant that part of that enchantment could be the cultural uniqueness (for me).
But even there, I rather like how cultural uniqueness is treated as "Hey, this is life!"
