Fireflies get an early start in one of the only places where they can be seen in the city center.

Japan likes to mark the passing of the seasons by going out to see the beautiful sights of nature throughout the year. In April, of course, the sakura/cherry blossoms bloom, followed not too long after by the fuji/wisteria.

Next on the list of delicate but breathtaking seasonal beauty? Hotaru, which aren’t flowers, but fireflies.

Usually, if you want to see fireflies in Japan you need to wait until early summer, and also head quite a ways outside of the big cities, since the luminous little creatures need sufficiently clean and calm water to set the mood for their mating-season meetups. However, the Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo is one of the very few places in the downtown Tokyo area where fireflies can be seen. The hotel’s expansive garden is an attractive habitat for fireflies, who tend to become active a little earlier than their counterparts in most other parts of Japan.

▼ Chinzanso’s garden during firefly season

This year, the hotel’s staff observed the first firefly larvae in the garden’s soil on April 24. Since it takes a few weeks for them to mature and develop their wings, the fireflies are expected to begin taking flight in large numbers from mid-May, right about now.

To prevent overcrowding, from May 16 to June 30, there’s a reservation system to visit the garden between 6:30 and 11 p.m. Reservations can be made here, with a fee of 2,000 yen (US$14) for adults or 1,000 yen for elementary school-age children (with younger children admitted free of charge with a parent). No reservation is required to enter the garden for guests staying at the hotel or attending functions being held in its ballrooms, or for diners or shoppers who spend above a certain amount at the property.

For those looking for an especially memorable experience, the hotel is also offering a Private Hotaru Night one-night stay package which allows access to the garden after it is ordinarily closed at 11 p.m. Only three such packages are available per day between May 23 and June 8, with both dinner and breakfast included for a price of 114,500 yen for two people (Chinzanso is a luxury hotel, after all).

While the hotel says that fireflies can be seen on the premises through early July, from late June they’re displayed in a biotope, so if you want to see them floating freely in the garden, you’ll want to plan your visit for before then.

Related: Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo
Source: PR Times, Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo (1, 2)
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo
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