Nabana no Sato

So, we made the most of our car rental and after swinging by Yoro Park, we hopped on over to Cotsco and loaded up on all of over favorite goods. It is so nice having a car to make these Costco trips since it is an hour one-way by train. After Costco we swung by home to unload the car and then headed over to Nabana no Sato.

We did write a blog post about Nabana no Sato last year (titled Christmas lights). Last year was the first year we went to Nabana no Sato, and while we heard great things, seeing it in person ended up leaving us floored! You can get a glimpse of what we saw in this

picture (including the magnificent tunnels of lights- 2 tunnels- one green- one white), but understand that there is no way to truly capture the beauty of this place on camera.

Since last year was our first time making this trip, we made some newbie mistakes. For example, we took a bus and buses were extremely crowded. We also got there late and did not have much time to explore. Getting there late also meant that there was an enormous queue to enter. Lastly, since we were short on time we skipped entering the greenhouse as well.

This year we were much more prepared. Again, we went by car which was since a nice treat. We also planned our time well and arrived in the late afternoon so we were able to enjoy the park by daylight and also after sunset! We went into the greenhouse and, wow, so glad we did! Instead of waiting in a long queue to enter the park, we

pre-purchased tickets from a convenience store, which enabled us to cut out the queue entirely. Have we ever mentioned how amazing convenience stores are in Japan? You can do just about everything there besides buying convenient items including: buying tickets for events, wiring money, printing documents and photos, paying bills, sending packages. The list goes on and on, and convenience stores are on just about every street corner in Japan!

Here's a bit of background on Nabana no Sato and winter illuminations in Japan. First, winter illuminations in Japan are quite popular and draw people from near and far. Nabana no Sato is one of the most popular winter illuminations in Japan due to the vast scale and also its magnificence. We just so happen to be lucky enough to live rather close (about a 40 minute drive from our apartment) so it is rather easy for us to get to, and that is why we will

make it a point to visit every year that we live here.

Nabana no Sato itself is a 210,000 square meter area that has over 8 million lights for its winter illumination! This includes 2 tunnel of lights that are both over 100 meters long. The greenhouse inside of Nabana no Sato is specifically a 'Begonia Garden' where over 12,000 flowers bloom at one time. There are also various beer gardens and places to eat inside. If you are ever in Japan, this is a place that is absolutely worth visiting!