Lights, Camera, Action! - Light-Up at Nabana-no-Sato

Lights! They're good, aren't they?

Don't agree? Don't read this post. There's bloody loads of lights in it.

Two weeks ago I was in the midst of a streak of failed weekends. I try to do something worthy of note every week on my days off, but the days come and I lie in bed and potter about and suddenly it's mid-afternoon and too late to make a proper trip anywhere before it gets dark. Winter puts up obstacles; there's not much daylight and the outdoors is mostly a little unpleasant. Indoor things to do are a bit limited. There's coffee houses and a handful of local museums, and a couple of cinemas that show films that came out three months ago in the West that you didn't want to see anyway. All in all, I hadn't really done much since my trip to Nagano at the beginning of the year, so on Friday I steeled my resolve, set my alarm and prepared to go to Nabana-no-Sato, a tourist attraction famous for its winter illuminations (or light-up, in Japanese. Not even the Japanese translation of light-up. Just: light-up.)

Getting there seems a bit of a hassle at first, but isn't too bad in practice. Quick train to Nagoya, change to a local train heading into Mie Prefecture, get off at Kuwana, get a bus directly to Nabana-no-Sato. That's if you do it correctly. If you're an idiot, like me, you get the bus from Kuwana to a completely different nearby tourist attraction because you thought they were the same thing. We wandered around Nagashima Spaland - a theme park/waterpark/shopping mall complex - for about half an hour before slowly realising that maybe we weren't in the right place. After stopping in one of Nagashima's cafés for a commiseratory bagel (Nick) and cup of tea (me), we got the bus again, this time to the correct location. Fortunately it wasn't far away, and we got there in plenty of time for the illuminations. Nabana-no-Sato is a kind of artificial village/botanical garden/resort-type...thing, which is probably not at its best in the harsh icy daylight of February. We whiled away the time until sunset wandering around the flower gardens for a bit, but there weren't really any flowers in bloom so we then we switched our tactics and wandered to the bar instead. The local German-style craft beer was decent, though served with the requisite Japanese-style nine centimetres of foam.

The green line is to show where the beer starts.

After dark is when the magic happens. What was previously a totally out-of-place model of Mt. Fuji rises up from the ground and becomes a totally out-of-place UFO-like viewing platform.

To reach the heart of the illuminations, you walk through the gardens and through tunnels threaded with squillions of coloured lights:

The centrepiece is a giant projector wall cleverly camouflaged against the sky. Against this screen, waves of light appear to crest and tumble like a waterfall crashing in from another dimension. It's only a light show, but it's a bloody good one. Very good to enjoy with a chocolate-and-ice-cream waffle (which sadly I had to pay for myself, as it wasn't covered by the 1000¥ of food vouchers you receive when you buy your entrance ticket. Guess those vouchers don't cover anything that's too delicious.)

I'd definitely say these illuminations are worth the trip if you're in the area, especially since Nagashima Spaland is nearby so you could easily do both in one day - rollercoasters, onsen or shopping in the day, and then getting the bus to Nabana after sunset. Or do both accidentally because you're stupid like I am. That is also an option.