Kelli in Japan: Nagasaki Lantern Festival

The Japanese are nothing if not punctual. If a train is coming at 11:41am then it is coming at 11:41am. If the Nagasaki Lantern Festival is over at 10pm, then you better believe that the lanterns will be off at 10pm. On. The. Dot.

I'm not joking about that… I was merrily taking photos of lanterns and then they just went dead. Off. Dark. I pulled out my phone and lo! It was 10pm. They don't mess around here, people. Because of a slight delay in my flight due to the Great Snow Fall (part 2) in Tokyo, I was only able to catch about 45 minutes of this amazing festival when they shut it down until next year.

Before I show off my average photography skills, I'll throw a little info your way regarding what the Nagasaki Lantern Festival even is. If you didn't realize it (and I didn't), Nagasaki is actually very close to the rest of Asia and was an excellent port for trade. As such, there are a lot of different cultural communities in Nagasaki -- Chinese being one (and is actually home to one of the three biggest Chinatowns in Japan with Yokohama and Kobe). Initially started by Chinese residents in Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown as a "Chinese New Year Celebration" (or Shunsetsu Festival), this festival has since grown in popularity and also in generic name ("Nagasaki Lantern Festival") since 1994.

Apparently, it is believed that the spirits can be seen flying through the sky and since people are nosy, they decided to use lanterns to ensure that they saw the aforementioned spirits. I don't know, seems kinda creepy.

Because of my tardiness, I missed most of the shows that were put on, but I was able to "be entranced" (as the pamphlet put it) by the 15,000 Chinese lanterns and even sneak a few photos of two of the main areas before they rudely decided I'd seen enough and turned off the lights. If you'll excuse the fact that I still haven't mastered lantern photography, enjoy the below!