Nagasaki Lantern Festival

We went to visit on the final weekend that wrapped up the annual Lantern Festival in Nagasaki’s Chinatown. Who knew there would be a Chinatown in Japan?! During the day it’s nice to see the huge displays, but it’s in the evening where everything comes alive.

Alley way in Chinatown.

To celebrate Chinese New Year, the district is covered with traditional Chinese style lanterns, and other artistic creations. It all looked really nice, very inspiring.

Dragon in an undercover shopping arcade.

It’s not Chinese without Sun Wu Kong
(aka. Monkey God)

Nagasaki Holland Village
Not far away from Chinatown, we took the streetcar to the Nagasaki Holland Village. Very cute cobble stone roads, brick walls, and Dutch merchant houses & buildings. During the Edo period, Nagasaki was the only port open to foreign trade while the rest of Japan was closed. Frequent foreign visits and influence came the formation of Chinatown and Dutch village. Buildings in the Holland Village are restored to commemorate the historical Dutch relationship.

Part of Nagasaki Holland Village

Certain areas can be a bit steep to walk down.
But it’s all lovely 🙂

Dutch-style church.

Sasebo Burger

Nagasaki’s three infamous eats:

1) Champon. Noodle dish, can be served either stirfry or in a soup.

2) Castella. It’s a kind of cake, and it comes in a variety of flavors.

3) Sasebo Burger. This Sasebo Burger is pretty good for what you can get in Japan, a non-burger-eating society. My photo might make it seem small, but it’s a pretty big burger. My recommendation: save your stomach space for this. Eat the Sasebo Burger first, then have all other snacks and festival foods after.

Certain venues may have special Sasebo Burger versions, there’s also the option of original. I tried the venue’s “Special Sasebo Burger”…because they were sold out of the original??…

sasebo burger. Burger with patty, two eggs, bacon, tomato, lettuce.
Sauces: light wasabi mayo & okonomikayi sauce…(from what I tasted)

Huis Ten Bosch: New Years Eve Countdown

Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki. Sad to be one of the busiest places for New Years Eve in Japan. The illumination display attracts many people from all over Japan and internationally. All hotels are fully booked for this night, and reservations are made a year in advance. Attempting to book 2 months in advance was clearly too late. Luckily, for this night only some trains provided extra temporary services, allowing us and many other visitors, to leave in the early AM.

Getting off the train.

Huis Ten Bosch

Similar to Disneyland, many amusement houses and shows to look at, just no rides. Everything was beautifully lit with lights, and the buildings seemed to take after many different European styles. Nice and cutesy like Disneyland but not so cartoony.

Many amusement sights & houses.
From teddy bears, to pirate treasure hunts.

Massive teddy at the Teddy Bear Kingdom.

 

Entrance & exit paths are divided by a small river.
View of the exit path, from the entrance.

Dutch-style buildings.

Lookout Tower. That had a massive line up!

 

A chapel for weddings.

We went walking around, but the main thing I had to go check out was the Thriller Fantasy Museum, with a newly renovated museum dedicated to Michael Jackson. This area also had a light show going every 20 minutes or so.

Thriller Fantasy Museum is made up of different buildings,
all with different “thriller” amusement shows.

 

MJ World

Dedicated to Michael Jackson and filled with the coolest memorabilia any crazy fan would adore. A pillow case he slept on, a concert sweat towel, etc. all framed for the world to see. THE fedora hats used in filming the music video “Bad” and “Smooth Criminal”, both autographed by the King ^^. Sorry…no photography allowed. There was also a theatre in the back where you could watch a performance for 400 yen.
In the audience seating, there sits a life size MJ dressed doll mid-centre with the area roped off. This is where MJ sat when he visited.

New Years Countdown

There were a couple stages around, all with different performances. We headed to the main stage where most of the crowd was, and though it was cold everyone braved it out. Especially those who came out, and stayed out this whole time to be up front by the stage. We weaseled ourselves far into the center as we possibly could – our attempt to steal body heat from others…not so effective…

Mainstage.
Optimized zoom, we were really farther back.

With less than 5 minutes to go before midnight the wind began howling like crazy, and then it began to snow! ‘Wow, everyone look it’s snowing!’ cried one of the MC’s on stage, wearing a bright yellow puffy ski jacket. Everyone began pulling up their hoods, tightening their scarves, and girls in mini skirts shrieked it was cold…
…‘Sucks to be you hunny!‘ I thought as I snuggled into my hooded down jacket like an Eskimo.

Countdown in GO, SHI, SAN, NI, ICH – Happy New Year!!

 

Eskimo kiss and que the fireworks.