The Nagasaki Lantern Festival gives the city an amazing ethereal atmosphere for just a few nights every February.
Multiple places claim to be the real-world inspiration for the Studio Ghibli anime Spirited Away. Within Japan, Dogo Onsen, in the city of Matsuyama, is regularly rumored to be the model for the bathhouse where protagonist Chihiro is imprisoned/employed, and some say that the stairs and streets of Taiean’s Jiufen are where director Hayao Miyazaki got the idea for his film’s visual design.
One place that isn’t usually mentioned in the discussion, though, is Nagasaki, which is kind of surprising when you see how the city’s rows of red hanging lanterns, which not only mirror Spirited Away’s color design, but also its atmosphere of otherworldly wonder as they float in the darkness of the night.
冬の長崎は2週間だけランタンに彩られます。まちを歩いて眺めるのも楽しいけど車窓から見るランタンも素敵です。4番か5番系統の電車に乗って「めがね橋」から「浜の町アーケード」間を通る時の風景は格別。おいでよ長崎! pic.twitter.com/eFDZ519sUv
— 羊食べる (@hitsuji_eat) February 4, 2019
Twitter user and Nagasaki resident @hitsuji_eat recently shared a video recorded on the train running between Nagasaki’s Meganebashi Bridge and Hama no Machi shopping arcade, but to anyone who’s seen Spirited Away, it also appears as though the train is on its way to the witch Yubaba’s Aburaya bathhouse.
▼ Making the whole thing even more beautiful is that lanterns can be seen on both sides of the tracks, adding to the feeling of riding through a mysterious magical realm.
反対側の景色もいいのです、途中からビルのガラスにランタンが反射して見えて幻想的 pic.twitter.com/ESbnhnILoT
— 羊食べる (@hitsuji_eat) February 4, 2019
So why the gap between how strongly Nagasaki resembles the setting of Spirited Away and how infrequently the city gets brought up when talking about the movie? Probably because Nagasaki doesn’t always look like this.
▼ Though it would be awesome if it did.
長崎ランタンフェスティバルの時期ですね😇✨#ランタンフェスティバル pic.twitter.com/DNHiq8pUWQ
— チャビィ卿 コロリーナ🇯🇵🇬🇧🇺🇸㌍ナ (@elilly_mam) February 5, 2019
長崎ランタンフェスティバル
— nagasaki-no neco (@nagasakinoneco) February 5, 2019
始まりましたねー。 pic.twitter.com/FTnxUCQhP7
The images seen here are all from the annual Nagasaki Lantern Festival, which this year started on February 5. The festival more or less coincides with the lunar new year celebration, since Nagasaki, as one of the first cities in Japan to be opened to foreign trade, has long had connections with Chinese culture.
Today is the first day of the Nagasaki Lantern Festival! Both the Shinchi Chinatown and the surrounding area are filled with over 15,000 colorful lanterns and lights🏮🌟 #chinatown #chinesenewyear #lanternfestival #nagasakilanternfestival #長崎ランタンフェスティバル #新地中華街 pic.twitter.com/gfAlSSy2ns
— Kazue (@japanese123) February 5, 2019
During the festival, which lasts for two weeks, some 15,000 lanterns are hung in and around Nagasaki’s Chinatown neighborhood. That number gets visually doubled, though, when the lanterns are strung above one of the city’s rivers, or reflected in puddles of rainwater, creating the appearance of floating in space surrounded by the colorful, usually crimson orbs.
2年前、長崎の祖母のお葬式の帰りに行きました
— か@低浮上になります (@ked0515hryk) February 5, 2019
水面に移ってるのも幻想的ですよね💗 pic.twitter.com/UaG72UyLbY
水たまりに映りこんだランタン綺麗#長崎ランタンフェスティバル pic.twitter.com/SWpI4A1XbJ
— 長崎市観光推進課 (@nagasakikanko) February 5, 2019
#長崎ランタンフェスティバル
— ダイゴTV🍊長崎YouTuber会会長 (@YouTubeDai5TV) February 5, 2019
今日からだね😊✨
点灯式とか撮影しよかな😁
ってか、
スケジュール何もしらない#長崎ご当地YouTuber😝#YouTube #ユーチューバー #長崎 pic.twitter.com/WWo972BlIt
▼ Castella, a sweet sponge cake, is a specialty of Nagasaki, but after seeing what happened to Chihiro’s parents after their meal at the start of Spirited Away, we’re not sure how hungry we are…
館内町 mocomocoカフェ
— もっちゃん Momo (@mochy1205) February 5, 2019
金魚とランタンの灯り
コーヒーとカステラで500円#長崎ランタンフェスティバル pic.twitter.com/dnaO4cTV32
Super beautiful! ! #japan #nagasakai #長崎ランタンフェスティバル pic.twitter.com/spxxoJMJUe
— AKADAMA JAPAN (@akadamajapan) February 5, 2019
As mentioned above, the majority of the lanterns are clustered in Chinatown. The Nagasaki Bio Park zoo, however, is also having a mini lantern festival of its own in the habitat of its bath-loving capybaras.
こんにちは。雨の日曜日、風も強いです 😢
— 長崎バイオパーク公式 (@ngsbiopark) February 3, 2019
2/5から長崎ランタンフェスティバルがスタートしますので、露天風呂のランプもランタンっぽくしてみました。https://t.co/CUuhMeIylx pic.twitter.com/PDrup44v6Y
The festival also features parades, acrobatic performances, and live music, some of which take place while the sun is still out.
明日から長崎ランタンフェスティバル!! pic.twitter.com/eXdIpP8YZ3
— つばさふぉとぐらひ~@TEAM NAGASAKI (@tsubachan7989) February 4, 2019
The best time to go, though, is obviously after sundown, when the lanterns light up the night with their crimson glow.
長崎ランタンフェスティバルは今年キングダムコラボしてるよー
— みくるさん@福岡出没 (@MayuyutaTsumuri) February 5, 2019
めっちゃ綺麗だよー
何年か前に撮ったランタン pic.twitter.com/ZSydrneLVT
長崎ランタンフェスティバルの時期かーー!去年行ったけど本当によかったからまた行きたい…歩く度にいろんなランタンあったしメイン会場本当に綺麗だった! pic.twitter.com/vfz5UkKl8a
— さんちぇ (@03hachi_11) February 6, 2019
リツイートをいただきましたので、もう少し🤗#長崎ランタンフェスティバル pic.twitter.com/aMy7MI5clD
— 高梅 仁 (@TP1fzb) February 5, 2019
This year’s Lantern Festival will be going on until February 19. Being located on the southwestern island of Kyushu, Nagasaki is a bit of a long haul from Tokyo (or Sapporo, if you’re in town for the northern city’s Snow Festival, which is also going on now). But in terms of taking a trip to another world, it’s definitely worth hopping on a train or plane for.
Source: Twitter/@hitsuji_eat via Hamster Sokuho, At Nagasaki
Featured image: Twitter/@hitsuji_eat
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